I notice Salvador flinch — she's completely left Warlocks out of her speech. No Paranormal being I know would agree with a word the pompous bitch is saying. She may as well slap Make Magic Great Again on a baseball cap and wear it.
My mother continues her speech, something about bloodlines and pride, but I don’t hear a word. It’s darker now. The sun has sunk into the water and my stomach twists in anticipation. I look into the crowd. The prince isn’t even here, only MA members have been invited. Will he still come through on his promise?
Solina finally finishes her speech. I’m no Touchmage but I can feel her giddy excitement emanating off her like electricity. This is all my mom has ever dreamed of since she married my father thirty years ago. She thought he was her way in, and after he died, she climbed the ranks by herself ensuring she made Maribel her best friend and confidant. She now has everything she’s ever wanted. She’s won.
Oh my god, I’m going to be sick.
The rooftop has gone quiet, even the wind has stopped blowing. Everyone is waiting for me to come alive, to entertain them. I nod at my mother, her magic constricting my throat as ceremonial words pour out of me.
“A Witch does not burn.”
“For she is made of fire!” my mother replies with glee.
A Witch approaches with a water basin with floating white lilies. This must be the cleansing part.
The air is balmy. I swallow, my throat tight and dry, and turn to face the carrier. She’s an Elemental, and she channels the water over my body then over Solina’s until we are both drenched.
“In the light of the moon you shall be cleansed,” she says.
A second woman steps up and using her powers she pulls the water from our clothes and places it back in the bowl, just like Rafi did with Luisa on the beach. It feels like a lifetime ago.
I flinch at the tug in my belly, magic is pulling at me — no longer just my mother’s compulsion but the Ascension taking hold.
If the prince doesn’t come through on his promise I’m going to Ascend. I’ll be trapped forever. The thought is a twisting dagger in my side.
The classical music which has been playing this whole time dies down, and another woman steps in front of us. I recognize her as the opera singer from the ball. She holds her hands out wide and a beautiful melody leaves her lips. It’s the MA anthem, the words sung in the old language — a song about feminine unity, the mother moon, and the goddess of power and justice.
As the woman sings, a lilac mist leaves her mouth and forms blooming flowers that weave their way through the people. Everyone is oohing and aahing, but I know what this is — it’s the quiet before the storm.
My mother is busy running a knife along the palm of her hand and squeezing her blood into the silver bowl on the altar. The bonding blood, the last stage of the ceremony. Mom nods at me and I step forward as everyone’s eyes are on the flowers made of mist.
The air isn’t even cold. That cursed Fae prince has broken his promise to me. It’s all over.
My mother grabs my hand. My heart sinks as I let her cut it, adding my blood to hers. It’s too late. I’m in too deep. The magic pulls and tugs and drowns me, calling every fiber of my being.
Just then the moonlight, clear and sparkling, hits my skin, and my dress shines. The opera singer stops singing and the crowd falls silent.
Of fuck. This is it.
All the Mages seated before us hold hands and a ripple of energy threads through the congregation. I can see it, like a lilac crackle of lightning. A few younger Witches in the audience jump, clearly unaware of this stage of the ceremony. My mother’s hand tightens in mine as she holds out her left hand and I hold out my right. A bright light has formed like a blanket over the crowd, and as we hold out our hands the glow from the moon beams down on us and the light from the audience collects in our hands. My mother has a fistful of light in her palm and so do I.
“Before all of the MA,” my mother shouts, her voice wavering with excitement. “I instruct my Second to Ascend with me.”
She holds my other hand with hers and I feel the power of her light join with mine until I jump back, and I’m left holding a halo between my two hands. I look up at the sky, the moon a bright silver orb smiling down at us. I know exactly what I’m expected to do. I’m expected to place this halo of light on Solina’s head. And my fate will be sealed. Forever.
No. Goddess, please no. I close my eyes, bracing myself for something worse than death — a life spent at my mother's side. A life as nothing but an obedient lapdog, compelled, drained, and controlled. I try to scream but nothing comes out.
Nothing. Then something cold lands on my cheek.
Everything has gone dark. Solina is staring at me.
A solitary snowflake floats before her. She reaches for it and crushes it. It’s instantly replaced by another, and another. Her eyes narrow predatorily on me.
Then all hell breaks loose.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Everything is white. I can’t even see my mother next to me anymore, let alone my friends or the rest of the crowd. The compulsion is still singing in my head.
Ascend. Ascend. Ascend.
Then suddenly, just like a rubber band snapping in two, the tether between me and my mother is gone. I reach my hands out, feeling my way through the crowd. Rafi and Luisa are on their feet, looking around them at the sea of white, Rafi is staring
