Page 75 of The Unbound Witch

Raven gave a small cry, stumbling backward until she collided with a chair and plopped down. She buried her face into her hands. I was sure this wasn’t the time to tease her for making out with someone that could have easily been her grandfather, but I absolutely wanted to.

“Sorry, Little Witch,” Bastian whispered, crossing the small cottage to kneel beside her, placing a large hand on her thigh and one on the back of the chair.

“How could my mother have been friends with their daughter and not realize who he was?”

I took the other side of the chair, not kneeling but matching the king’s height. “In their defense, how could they have ever guessed it? It’s probably why Nikos knew so much about your family. How he eased himself in with your parents so effortlessly. How he knew exactly where to get that elixir. You have to remember, he appeared to be twelve. They would have never suspected him, and even if they did, he’s definitely been controlling them since we were kids.”

“I wish I could have killed him myself,” Raven whispered.

“It wouldn’t have changed anything. That betrayal you feel? The urge for revenge? It’ll never be satisfied,” Torryn said from the window. “Let your heart find peace knowing the weight of his life is not on your hands.”

“Or maybe he’ll come back as a wraith, and I can spend eternity fucking with him,” I added, not entirely joking.

Bastian rose, pulling Raven to her feet. He walked her to a different chair, casting toward the fireplace until it was roaring and crackling and heating the frozen room.

The door clicked open, and Atlas stepped in, rubbing his hands together as he stared at the king. “You just had to put the door outside, didn’t you, Bash?”

“For old time’s sake.” He flashed a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, and then filled Atlas in on his revelation.

“I don’t know. We’ve been with Eden for years. And she did come to the castle, sacrificing her entire life and all her magic to save the witches.”

I looped around the room, weighing all the truths. “At this point, I trust no one.”

Bastian’s silver eyes tracked me. “We know her father’s magic wouldn’t have held sway over her in the human lands. Even if he’d commanded her to take the Grimoire for some other unknown purpose, once she got there, she would have known.”

“Did you see his eyes?” Raven asked. “He might not have genuinely cared about anyone else in this world, but when he asked about her… before I…”

“He loved her,” Torryn finished. “He might have damned the world, but he loved his daughter.”

I shook my head, my hair billowing around me in slow motion. “If he loved her, he would have tried to find her.”

“I don’t think so,” Atlas said. “If he really loved her, he would have wished her to be as far away from this bullshit as possible. And he left the Moss Coven behind over a decade after she disappeared. He didn’t care about their power. Or maybe he did and recognized it fading, so he got out when he could, hoping he could give Eden a boost in power when he shifted covens.”

“She was his blood as well. A half Moon power, half Moss power witch,” I agreed. “I guess business as usual until all hell breaks loose?”

“Anyone have a better plan?” Bastian asked, his wings appearing behind him, stretching from one side of the cabin to the other before he tucked them in.

“I do,” I answered, coming to a halt near Atlas at the door. “You want to know if Raven’s still being chased by the Harrowing. I have to find the answers to save Nym, and we have six witches to hunt down. It’s time for me and Atlas to split from the group. We’ll find the answers we need while you three try not to let the world explode.”

“Crescent Cottage is still centric to this plan,” Bastian said. “Before we go back, does everyone agree that Eden can be trusted?”

“No,” I said.

“Yes,” everyone else answered.

“I trust no one. Not even the pup.”

“Smart lady.” Atlas grinned.

Bastian arched an arm, and a clear glass door appeared. Rather than step through it, we looked on to see Eden and Crow sitting behind the workbench. They didn’t notice the door. Nothing had changed. There hadn't been a great revelation, no big surprise, they simply sat, talking as if we hadn’t left at all.

The king was the first through the wide opening, and though he remained calm, he still tried to hold everyone behind him. I wasn’t the only one with trust issues. The witch and the captain looked up from their conversation, smiles melting as they took in the crowd of somber faces.

“What happened?” Eden asked, jumping from her seat.

“What can you tell us about your father?” Bastian asked, giving no warning at all.

She shook her head. “Not a lot. I always knew he loved me, but my mother hated when he would try to get close to me. He was around sporadically when I was young, less so as I moved into my teens. He and my mother discovered the Harrowing together, and, shortly after, I left. Why?”