their arms and held their palms out to the sides, pressing into each other. Gold and silver magic coiled around their arms and over their bodies until they were connected by vines of magic. They looked to the sky.
“We call thee Goddess to honor thy name,” Tenn chanted. Then he looked back to me, and my heart fluttered.
“From among us all, this one we claim,” Bentley called out and I realized I hadn’t seen him standing between Tenn and Constance.
“For deep and dark, through light and air,” my Coven-mates crooned together in perfect unison. “To lead us all with right and fair.”
Sharp light shot through the embers of the Goddess’s rune on the ground in front of me. Rays of silver and gold shined up into the orb of my Coven’s magic. The runes around the circle changed from green to blue, then to every shade of the rainbow and back again.
“By word of will, and veil of vow, search her soul here and now,” my Coven-mates chanted. They turned their eyes to me and continued, “With ancient strength and blessed power, our trust is hers this sacred hour.”
This is it.
No turning back now.
And then, all of a sudden like the flip of a switch, excitement rushed through my veins like a wildfire. All of my fears and hesitation vanished completely. I was made for this role. I was the High Priestess, one of the most powerful in the entire Coven.
But I was also the Aether Witch.
The first one in at least a millennia.
There was a reason I was blessed with that magic…and this role was mine.
And I was ready to accept it.
I raised my hands to the orb of my Coven’s magic and let it brush over my fingers. Then I said the words I’d always wanted to say. “I pledge to you my life and honor, this vow I take will make us stronger. I say the words, so give them power. I’ll lead this Coven every breathing hour.”
Vines of magic shot out from it and wrapped around my wrists. Silver and gold coiled around every inch of my fingers, hands, and forearms. My skin warmed. I felt light and weightless. My magic sang and rushed to the surface, lighting up my entire body like a full moon. I stared at the orb and repeated my vow silently in my head.
The orb cracked and popped, then split in half. Shimmering silver magic wrapped around my left bicep so thick I couldn’t see my arm. Light flashed then vanished, leaving that silver armband coiled tight around my arm with the dagger sticking through the side of it. I gasped and glanced over to Constance only to find hers had vanished.
Magic flared on my left. When I looked over, I caught sight of that black lotus flower on the back of my left hand. Golden light spread down my arms to the rest of my body. My hair turned snow white. I knew by the widened gazes of my Coven that my eyes had turned white and gold again.
Bentley walked forward with my Book of Shadows in one hand and a golden chest in his other, though it looked too heavy for a nine-year-old to be carrying single-handedly. He stopped in front of me, standing on top of the Goddess’s rune. The Book of Shadows flew open, and then he began chanting in the ancient language. I knew what he was saying, I’d read them several times before Tenn’s ceremony, but right now my heart was pounding too hard to actually hear them.
Bentley dropped his hands, but both the book and chest hovered in the air. He continued to speak in the ancient language, and I tried to get my brain back into gear. But then Tenn and Constance walked up beside Bentley and my heart stopped.
This is it. This is happening.
I’m about to be crowned.
I focused on my soulmate, eyeing his crown. I hadn’t seen it before it was placed on him but I wondered if it looked differently when it was Timothy’s, like maybe our magic altered it to fit the wearer. And Tenn looked impeccable in his crown. Two white ridged horns shot out from the top and curled down by his ears, hovering over his dark hair. Sticking out from the top were two white antlers. The part that wrapped around his head was made of golden vines and looked like it’d been taken straight off a tree in the Garden of Eden. In the center,