Bait N' Witch (Brimstone Inc. #3) - Abigail Owen Page 0,39

no fucking luck.

“Are you protecting her?” He couldn’t ignore the evidence that pointed to the obvious.

“Yes.” Leia said. No hesitation.

“Why? She helped attack you. Because of her, Kaios could’ve killed you.”

“She didn’t want to help him. He was making her. Even you could see that.”

Greyson couldn’t deny the truth of the statement, not now that he’d experienced the scene for himself through their memories. All four of them had come to the same conclusion.

“Why not turn her over to us, though?”

Leia gave him a direct stare. “She’s terrified of the Covens Syndicate. Afraid they’ll execute her first and ask questions later. Like you did with the warlock who attacked my sisters.”

Chapter Fifteen

Death warmed over probably felt better than Rowan did at that moment. She’d just spent the last hour doing everything she could to alter the memories Greyson walked through to make sure he wouldn’t recognize her.

Delilah had assured her the four powerful individuals now in the house had sworn to protect her secrets. Still, Rowan had done what she could to disguise her appearance. Damn good thing she’d magically bugged Greyson’s office. As soon as she’d heard him invite Leia and the others to the house, she’d done a number on her hair, skin, and eyes.

Grey’s face when he’d seen her had been the only pleasant moment in an otherwise shitty day.

The magic to change her appearance had barely taxed her energy, but that was nothing compared to what she’d just put her body through.

After their lessons with Persephone, she’d brought the girls home as planned, arriving by the transportation key Grey had provided to convey her and the girls to and from Persephone’s. Not wanting to be seen, Rowan had cautiously let Chloe, Atleigh, and Lachlyn into the house, holding a finger to her lips to indicate the need to remain quiet.

She’d listened for a long moment and concluded Grey’s meeting wasn’t yet over, and he was in the family room. So she turned to the girls, waving her hand in a shooing motion. “Your dad’s not done yet. Go on upstairs and work on your homework until I call you down for dinner.”

With long faces the three turned to the stairs. “Will we at least get to see the demigod?” Chloe grumbled.

Ah. That explained why they’d been eager to hurry home. Rowan narrowed her eyes. “They’re staying for dinner, so yes. You’ll meet all of your father’s guests.”

Smiles of glee followed the sound of elephants stamping up the old wooden stairs. Nothing like subtle signs they were home. She waited for Grey to check, but he didn’t come out.

If they were still in a meeting, maybe she could listen in? Do more to help cover her tracks?

With not an ounce of remorse, she quietly let herself back outside. She didn’t need to be caught performing such a complicated spell. One Tanya had taught her. One that took both effort and skill. One which, if she were to hold it too long, could become permanent. But Tanya had said that happened after five days, so Rowan figured ten or twenty minutes would be fine.

Drawing on the energy generated by the natural world—the friction of the wind over the earth, the dissipating warmth of the sun, the solid presence of the mountains under her feet—she whispered her demonic words.

Peta babkama luruba ma ina etuti asbu kima bu’idu.

Open the gate for me that I may enter here and dwell in darkness as a wraith.

A ghost, but one tied to a still-living body.

Cold seeped into her skin, then deeper into her gut, and finally into her very bones. As her body passed into the netherworld where spirits lingered, her soul shuddered, clinging to her humanity, her memories. Finally, the world turned to muted shades, as though a sheer curtain had been drawn over her eyes.

Her first few steps felt as though lead boots had been strapped to her feet, but as she moved, the sensation lessened. Slowly, she glided through the door and into the house, down the hall, and to the family room where Grey sat with four people she might never be able to forget.

Even in her half-dead spectral form, with her emotions muted much like her sight, the regret that lingered every day over her part in Kaios’s evil throbbed through her. If the Covens Syndicate ever found out werewolves and other types of shifters could control an Aneval…Rowan shuddered at the thought, fear reaching her even here.

The more powerful the creature, the more control they had over