WILLOW
The door to Gray’s rooms opened later in the day. I shot to my feet, tossing the book I’d been reading down on the couch beside me in
my anxiousness to get out of this room. Leviathan didn’t bother to glance up from his book, though I saw his smirk from the corner of my eye.
“You’re worse than a caged animal,” he said, his voice light despite the mocking words.
Grabbing the book from the sofa in haste, I threw it at Leviathan’s laughing face. He reached up, snatching the book out of the air and neatly straightening the pages.
I appreciated that even if I would have rather it hit him first.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t treat me like one,” I said, tipping my head to the side with a mocking grin to match his.
Gray stepped into the room, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe with his hands tucked into his trouser pockets. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt, leaving the top button undone far enough to reveal a small piece of the maze I’d marked him with.
His lips tipped up into a smile as his golden eyes heated, drifting over me from my head to my feet. “Witchling,” he said, his voice dropping low. I felt it in the deepest parts of my body, sinking into my stomach. My legs pressed together on instinct, blocking out that overwhelming need that he seemed to be able to create with nothing more than a word. It was worse now, as if consummating had only strengthened the bond that pulsed between us like a living entity.
I wanted to tear it from my soul.
His smirk spread into a grin as he sensed my reaction to him, and he pushed off the doorframe to make his way into the room. “I brought you a surprise,” he said. I swallowed as he came up in front of me, lifting my chin with a finger so that I met his gaze. He leaned forward, stopping when his mouth brushed against mine ever so softly. “Although maybe I should just take you to bed instead.”
“I want answers,” I said, shaking my head and jerking back from his touch. Just because he was able to convince my body that he was exactly what I needed, that didn’t mean I had to be reduced to a mass of flesh and desire.
Desire did not equal love.
Attraction didn’t mean we were allies.
I could want to fuck him and plan to slit his throat all in the same breath, and maybe that was the best way to do it. My breath hitched at the thought, and I brushed it away before he could sense the shift in my thoughts.
Jonathan came between us, slinking between my legs to glare up at Gray. The devil glanced down at the tiny creature as he pounced, sinking his claws into Gray’s pants. I grinned down at him, wincing when Gray grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and held him up. Jonathan bared his teeth, his tiny fangs ferocious.
“Useless pest,” Gray grumbled, dropping Jonathan to the couch with a twist of his lips.
“At least I like him,” I said, reaching down to rub the top of Jonathan’s head soothingly. My familiar settled, leaning into my touch with a look that I might have said was arrogant.
If he hadn’t been a fucking cat.
“Keep it up, Witchling. I’ll let your little pet watch so he can see just how much you like me when your clothes come off,” Gray said, earning a startled gasp from me.
“Gray!” I scolded, glancing toward where Leviathan had pressed his lips together and taken to reading my book as if he couldn’t hear the conversation.
His chest shook with silent laughter.
I needed another book to throw at him.
“Maybe next time you’ll think twice before you insinuate you like another man more than me,” Gray said, moving toward me and closing
what remained of the distance between us. His torso pressed to mine, leaving me to bend backward if I wanted any space. Jonathan hissed again, but Gray didn’t so much as glance his way as he pointed a finger in the black furball’s face.
“He’s a cat!” I protested, tossing an arm out to gesture toward my familiar.
“Is he, though? Is he really?” Gray asked, tilting his head to the side.
I peered down to the cat that had taken to swatting at Gray’s finger with extended claws, swiping them over his flesh and leaving shallow cuts that healed immediately. “Kind of looks it to me, yeah. Your jealousy is ridiculous. I don’t need to fuck my familiar to get laid. There are plenty of men I could choose from.”
Gray growled, as he buried his other hand in the hair at the back of my head, gripping it harshly and using it to yank back my neck. I bent, scowling up at him as he held me still and pressed his groin against me. “Let’s get one thing clear, Witchling. I am not jealous. I am possessive over what is mine.”
I ignored the way that growl hummed through me, resisting the urge to press into him. “I see no difference.”
“The difference is that to be jealous implies I do not already own you. He exists because I allow it. Never mistake that his very presence in your life is my gift to you, and I can take it away as fast as I had granted it,” he said, touching his mouth to the corner of mine as I twisted away from him. “Tell me you understand.”
“I understand,” I said, fighting through the words. His grip on my hair was too strong, the strands pulling only when I struggled.
He released me finally, straightening his shirt sleeves. “I didn’t come here to fight,” he said, sounding genuinely remorseful. He didn’t offer any more information either, instead turning to face the door. My eyes widened as I took in the sight of Della, Nova, and Margot standing there with uncertainty, having witnessed our entire display.
I glanced back at Gray quickly, shifting around him to approach the witches hesitantly.
What if they hated me, too?
“Willow,” Della said, her relief palpable as she took the first step into the office. I hurried to her, catching her hands with mine and reaching out with my free hand to take Margot’s. The blond witch flinched but recovered
as Nova stretched out to touch my arm with a smile. Then I glanced at Juliet, where she lingered in the background.
“Are you all alright?” I asked, ignoring the Vessel’s presence in favor of focusing on my roommates.
“Us?” Nova asked, her voice rising in concern. “What about you?” She waved a hand toward where Gray lingered behind me, observing our interaction with something between malice and boredom.
I looked down, unable to find the words to answer the question. I couldn’t answer it truthfully with Gray’s watchful eyes, and I knew what would come the moment I opened my mouth.
I sank my teeth into my bottom lip when it trembled, pulling my hands back from the girls and turning to face Gray as he spoke.
“I’ll be back in an hour. Juliet will escort the girls back to their rooms if you need privacy before that,” he said, stepping up in front of me. He touched my cheek with a gentleness that I shouldn’t have found comfort in. His eyes were so warm as he stared down at me, that I almost wished he would revert to the hatred I knew I’d seen there when we first met.
Mutual hatred was easy; I knew how to cope with that.
“I’ll be outside, Willow,” Leviathan said, following Gray out the door as Juliet stepped into the room. She watched Della as she made her way to the office, taking a seat at Gray’s desk. Della returned her gaze until the Vessel was out of sight.
“Della, she’s a Vessel,” I said, warning my friend from making the same mistake I had.
“And? You’re fucking the devil. I hardly think you’re in any position to judge me,” she snapped. I winced, shrinking back physically as I made my way toward the sofa and slumped onto it. I buried my face in my hands, huffing out a bitter laugh.
“That was harsh, Del,” Margot said, glaring at the other woman and sitting beside me. She reached up, prying my hand away from my face, even though I felt certain that the touch and show of care cost her.
“She’s right,” I said, shaking my head. “I fucked up. And I, of all people, have no right to tell you what to do or what not to do. I just wish I hadn’t made my mistake in the first place.”
“She’s not a mistake,” Della said, stepping toward us. Nova took a seat beside Margot, leaving the place next to me for Della.
“You care about her,” I said, the observation hanging between us.
She glanced over her shoulder to the area where Juliet sat, knowing as well as I did that she would hear anything she said. “I love her. She’s not like Him. She would never hurt me,” she said, as she wrung her hands in front of her.
I reached over, clasping them in mine and stilling the nervous energy as I smiled and spoke. “Okay.”
She paused, freezing as she raised her eyes to meet mine. “Okay?”
“If you say she wouldn’t hurt you, then I believe you. As long as she makes you happy, that’s all I can hope for in the end, isn’t it? I think that our history isn’t as black and white as we’ve been made to believe. It stands to reason that Vessels and witches wouldn’t be either. And if she ever does hurt you, she knows I’ll make her regret it. Don’t you, Juliet?” I asked, not bothering to raise my voice for the Vessel eavesdropping.
“It would be nothing less than I deserve, Consort,” Juliet called back, and Della smiled as she leaned forward and rested her head on my shoulder. Jonathan jumped down in all the shuffling, reaching beneath the couch with a stretching paw. He swatted around a single white feather, following it
as it fluttered across the floor.
I watched him play, held captive by the iridescent mix of colors that played on the feather in the light.
Nova stood from the couch and distracted me, moving to sit on the coffee table in front of me. She perched there, staring at me and waiting for me to crack in that silent, watchful way she does. It wasn’t often that she was highly vocal, instead preferring to keep quiet like a calm summer breeze. “What happened?” she asked, reaching out a hand to touch the bones around my neck.
She recoiled back as she felt the magic in them, her brow furrowing as she took in the black clothes. She’d probably thought nothing of them since I’d always preferred black to the greens of my uniform, though I watched the information dance in her head anyway.
“You’re a Hecate,” she said, her chest sagging with the realization.
Della went still at my side, and I felt her gaze probing into the side of my face. I nodded, not daring to utter the words. I’d assumed everyone would know the truth by now, that what had happened in the Tribunal room would have been shared in-depth with the Coven.
“Did you know?” Della asked. Her voice had hardened, a symptom of the secret I’d kept from them. We hadn’t been close enough to disclose
truths that would require them to go against the Covenant, however guilt still ate away at me. I’d come here to strip away everything they knew and loved.
“I knew. I came here to find the bones,” I said, watching as she leaned back on the couch. Her shock was palpable, ringing between us with the bitter taste of betrayal.
“I don’t understand,” Margot said, her voice uncertain. “You’re a Green.
We’ve all seen it.”
“My mother was a Madizza. My father was a Hecate who never made The Choice,” I answered, letting that confession hang between us.
Was.
Because Charlotte had killed him for what he’d done to me.
“Wow,” Margot said, her breathy voice echoing everything I felt from the others.
“Did you know? What he intended to do? Is that why you were practically attached at the hip the moment you arrived?” Nova asked. There was a tinge of anger in her voice, but more than that was disbelief. They didn’t want to think me capable of such a thing.
“I swear I didn’t know. He used me. Made me think he didn’t know who I was, and let me believe I was looking for the bones of my own accord, even though he wanted me to find them. He wanted me to use them since he needed me to open the seal. I had no idea he was killing the witches. Please believe me,” I said, unable to fathom what my life here would look like if three of the people who knew me the best didn’t even trust me.
I’d be completely, entirely alone, and in the wake of losing Ash all over again, I couldn’t bear it.
“Okay,” Della said, echoing the word I’d given her earlier.
I turned to her, watching as she processed the information and worked to connect the dots. “What?”
“If you say you didn’t know, then I believe you,” she said, sinking into my side. She felt the hitch in my breath, wrapping an arm around my back to rub soothing circles against the fabric of my shirt.
“I believe you,” Margot said, mirroring Della’s posture on my other side. A strangled sob clawed its way up my throat, forcing me to swallow it back and shove down the emotion threatening to consume me. I couldn’t
give in, couldn’t let the tears start.
I suspected once they did, I would never be able to stop.
Nova leaned forward, taking my hands in hers and rubbing the backs of them. “It’s okay to break,” she said, watching me fight it.
“We’ll be here to help put you back together,” Margot said, cracking my wall open. I pinched my eyes closed as the tears came endlessly, making my whole head throb with the pain of it. My hands turned, gripping Nova’s as my rage manifested into tears.
“I feel so fucking stupid,” I mumbled, shaking my head from side to side. I couldn’t believe I’d fallen for his lies, thinking I was so fucking smart.
“You’re not stupid. You were manipulated by the master of them,” Della said, her voice heavy at my side.
Nova caught my chin with a thumb, forcing me to meet her gray eyes. Her anger was tangible, even if it wasn’t directed at me. No, it was all for him.
“Now, what are you going to do about it?”
“The houses are fighting for power,” Della admitted when I’d subsided my crying. My face felt puffy, my eyes swollen and dry,
yet I felt more grounded than I had since waking up after my death. I had a purpose again, a reason to keep going.
I was going to make him hurt.
I would make him feel every bit of pain he’d caused me.
“Let me guess, Headmaster Thorne is encouraging the infighting?” I asked, rolling my eyes. Occasionally, I wondered how he and the archdemons had survived this long if all they wanted to do was kill.
“No, actually,” Nova explained, raising her brow at me. “He’s trying to keep the witches from fighting themselves and the Vessels and demons. He claims that there is far more reason our kinds should be able to live together in harmony now than there has ever been. Do you know what he means by that?”
“He means that Lucifer has taken a witch for his bride,” Juliet said, coming into the room and taking up residence in a chair on the other side of the coffee table. She lounged, propping her feet over one of the arms and
draping her back over the other to stretch. Della tracked the movement for what it was.
A tease meant for her.
Juliet grinned, knowing she’d had the desired effect as she righted herself and leaned forward.
“But who would he have married? We both know he’s been obsessing over Willow…” Della said, silencing when Juliet raised her brow in challenge.
“You?” Margot asked.
“It isn’t like witch marriages. There’s no ceremony. He marked me in a dream. I didn’t even know what it meant, at the time,” I explained, trying to make them understand how the hell I’d let this happen.
“That didn’t stop you from marking him back,” Juliet said, smirking at my discomfort.
“I didn’t know what I was doing. My magic has a mind of its own now,” I said, shame heating my cheeks. I peeked at each and every one of my friends’ faces, expecting judgment, but only finding sympathy.
They all remembered what it was like when we turned sixteen and suddenly came into our powers, that overwhelming feeling that we were no longer alone in our bodies. I had more magic than any of them even before the Hecate bones locked around my neck, except after it, it was like drowning in an endless well I could never climb out of.
“That’s fair,” Juliet said, nodding her head in agreement. I sighed in relief, grateful that she’d decided to stop pressing me. “But when the magic wants something, the heart will follow.”
“Enough, Juliet,” Della said, giving her a stern look. Juliet raised her hands to say she was done, shocking me with her respect for my friend.
“Then he wants you to rule at his side,” Nova said, shrugging her shoulders. “You have to do it, Willow.”
“What? The Coven barely knows who I am. There’s no way they’ll agree to follow me,” I said.
“Some will, just from the power they will know, especially after revealing yourself wearing those bones. Witches are dying in trying to kill the archdemons. You have the chance to bring peace between us all,” she said, shaking her head. It was clear that she hated what had become of the Coven, the displays of violence for the sole purpose of gaining power.
Turning on our own had been a crime once in our history, so maybe it was time to make it happen again.
“Weren’t you just asking me what I was going to do to get even?”
“I didn’t say not to fight. I just said bring peace to our people while you work to take out the source of the issue. We need to get rid of the archdemons and do it as efficiently as possible,” she said, glancing at Margot at my side.
Juliet raised her brow at Nova, seeming to challenge her openness in admitting she wanted a coup. Nova raised hers back, a silent reminder that everyone expected us to fight. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
Margot stiffened when I shifted to look at her, observing as she shrank back inside herself. “Is one of them bothering you?”
“He’s been as kind as he can be, I think. Although he’s made his intentions clear,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “If I were anyone else, he wouldn’t have done anything wrong. Nova is just protective.”
“As she should be,” I said, pulling Margot’s arms down to release her hold on herself. “You are in charge of who is allowed in your space. Not a fucking archdemon. Which one is it, anyway?”
“Beelzebub,” Nova said, crossing her arms over her chest. She seemed to be in the same camp as me as I shook my head at Margot.
“I think the fuck not,” I said, earning a startled, uncomfortable chuckle. “I’m fully aware they’re all bad news, Willow,” she said, her voice
going quieter with the uncertainty. “He’s respectful of my need for distance, even though I’ve never told him where it comes from.”
“Two things, Margot,” I said, taking her hands in mine. “First, Beelzebub? Snapped my fucking neck. He literally killed me, and the only reason I’m here is because Gray brought me back to life.”
“Fucking Hell, Willow,” Della said, though I silenced her with a look. This conversation wasn’t about anything beyond giving Margot the warning she needed regarding exactly what kind of man Beelzebub was.
“Second, I hope one day you get revenge for what was done to you. For that which makes you feel like not assaulting you is a green flag when it should be the bare minimum. I don’t need to know what it was or how, though I hope you make him fucking bleed,” I said, hating the way she flicked her gaze down to where our hands touched.
“I don’t think I have that kind of violence in me. I’m better than that,” she said, even as the cautious tremble to her voice said everything she wouldn’t.
She was afraid of him, whoever he was.
I shrugged, pulling my hands back from her gently. “Then I hope one day you trust me enough to tell me his name, at least.”
“Why?” she asked, seeming sheepish as she raised her eyes to mine and saw the rage simmering back at her.
“Because you might be above it, but I’m sure as fuck not,” I said, standing and ignoring the approving nod from Juliet as I made my way to the windows I’d shattered. A cool breeze drifted in through them, lending a chill to the air that I imagined would only worsen until a crystal witch came up with a temporary solution.
“It was Itar Bray,” Margot said, making everything in me still as I spun to face her.
I watched her face, even though she wouldn’t look at me, and observed how she picked at her nails. “How old were you?” I asked. Her eyes closed in confirmation of everything I needed to know.
“I was fourteen,” she said, her eyes wide as she looked at me finally.
I nodded, knowing I couldn’t leave the room. No matter his faults, I knew if I told Gray, he would take care of it for us. He might be evil, but even he had limits that he would never cross. “Not a word,” I said to Juliet, pointing a finger at her.
“You want him for yourself?” Juliet asked, rising to her feet. Something like respect flashed over her face as she approached me, placing a hand on top of my shoulder. Her fingers brushed against the mark Lucifer had put there, making my veins turn to ice.
“I want the last face he sees to be a woman he thinks is beneath him,” I said, gritting my teeth. “If it can’t be the survivor of his abuse, then I want to make sure that he remembers her face when I cut off his cock and feed it to him.”
Margot blanched while Juliet grinned. “As you wish, Consort.”
