Ellis covers the slap mark with her hand but refuses to say a word, her mind reeling knowing that Ember is on the other side, on the rebel’s side.
Ember tuts. “Sally – a little discipline please. Fetch the girls, tell them it’s time.”
Vann kisses Ember and then leaves the two of them alone, putting an arm around Gregory as they head out of the room.
Ember sits across from Ellis. “I feel a little sorry for you, I suppose, you’re just a pawn in all of this.” She lifts her arms, encompassing the entire room. “These plans have been in place for a long time, and you just happened to-ah girls!”
The twins come into the room, stopping her from saying whatever she was going to say, and stand beside their mother. They don’t look as triumphant as Sally did, and they look at Ellis with something that looks like pity on their faces.
“And here they are, the reason I do everything I do.” Ember pats the sofa beside her, and the girls sit, neither saying a word. “My girls, my world. Do you know how long I have waited for this? You see Ellis, once we invest a head witch, we can only replace them when they die, but not if another witch kills them, another witch who covets their power. And I checked, I couldn’t even get somebody else, like Vann, to kill Fletcher – the magic is too clever to trick. Not that I would enjoy killing Fletcher.”
Ellis sits up a little straighter.
“I changed that boy’s nappies, you know! And then I get wind of Zeta’s little plan, thanks to my spies, and problem solved. She knew she couldn’t kill Fletcher to make Efa head witch, because the magic would prevent her. There’s always been magic to protect the head witch, otherwise anybody who was in line to be in charge would want them dead, kill them, and invest themselves. But if somebody else was invested instead of Fletcher, somebody that wasn’t the rightful head witch, then they could be killed. It’s perfect. Zeta was clever, I’ll give her that! So a witch cannot kill you – or any other head witch – but Vann can. And then my Talia will be head witch instead.”
“Talia? Why?”
Ember grins. “Same old story. Same as Zeta’s really. Fed up of always being second fiddle, fed up of not being the one with all the power. And,” Ember takes a deep breath, a wickedly sly grin covering her face, “she is next in line – she’s Adam’s daughter, after all.”
Ellis can’t help but look shocked now. She shakes her head.
“No. I don’t believe you. You’ve been with the rebels this whole time; I don’t believe a single word that comes out of your sneaky little mouth.”
“I was not part of the rebels, thank you very much. I have some standards, but I want my daughter to be head witch. I know, I know, why would you believe that Adam is their father, but it’s true. I met Adam before Elodie and I fell in love with him, as everybody who ever met the damn man did, and then he met my sister and she bedazzled him. He said there was no decision to make, it was always Elodie for him... until I convinced him otherwise.” She looks at the twins, eyes full of love. “I didn’t trick him, I just persuaded him. Once, only once, and then spent the rest of my life trying to get him to choose me over my sister. He didn’t. He chose her, but he was loyal to me in his own way. He picked me to handle the rebels, after all, and he told me all of his secrets. Me. I had been trying to figure out what to do, how to get past this annoying magic, when I learned about Zeta’s plan. I let her go ahead with it, watched as you interrupted the ceremony, watched as we invested you instead of Fletcher, and waited until it was my turn.”
“But you wanted to kill me as soon as I was invested. Fletcher said so.”
“That was for show, really. I had to act like I knew nothing about anything. And so that’s the loophole, if you will! Clever!”
She cackles again, causing the twins to look rather alarmed. They still haven’t spoken, and Ellis tries to lock eyes with them. Are they as power hungry as their mother? As desperate to kill her?
“Anyway, being Adam’s confidant, if nothing else, meant that I also knew what would happen if we tried to undo the original magic, which I have to do so that Vann can be free.” She softens at his name. “And you’ve figured that out. You have solved all my problems, Ellis. And I thank you for that, even though I have to kill you.”
Ellis closes her eyes. The information is overwhelming, and she cannot think of anything to say.
Vann pokes his head through the doorway. “Everything’s set up my love.” Ember grins at him and jumps up to kiss him, before spinning back to face them. “Ready?”
Ellis remains rooted to her seat and Thea and Talia stand reluctantly. “Come on Ellis, we can’t do this without you.”
Desperate to stall, Ellis clears her throat. “Can I ask you some questions first, try to get my head around this?”
Ember sighs but nods and takes a seat on the settee again. She gestures for the twins to sit back down.
“So you want one of your daughters to be head witch instead of me, or Fletcher, really?”
Ember nods. “It might not make any sense to you, you’re not from our world, but being head witch is an enormous deal – a privilege and an honour.”
“But you won’t be head witch – your daughter will be.”
“True. But I will finally have the girls acknowledged as Adam’s children, and I don’t want to be too unkind here, but Fletcher won’t make
