Spell Cat by Tara Lain Page 0,65
you have fallen in love and refuse to marry Lavender. He thinks you have some hidden agenda, but I have assured him that isn’t so. And now that I see you have brought this young man, I’m thinking perhaps you intend for Lavender to marry him.”
“Whaaaaat?” Karonoff rose from his chair.
“Interesting idea, Mother. And it’s true that Lavender does intend to marry Jimmy, and I’m very happy for them. Since we now know that Jimmy is a witch of great power, no one can have any objection to her marrying him.”
Karonoff needed to watch his blood pressure. His ears turned red. Lavender looked a little scared but sat straight and proud. Good girl.
The old Master pointed at Killian. “You are engaged to my daughter. There are many other powerful witches, and I could have betrothed her to any of them, but I did not. She is intended for you, and you will marry her.”
Killian shook his head. “No, sir, I won’t. First, it’s not your decision, or mine. Lavender is a grown and capable adult in this country and can make her own decisions. And the fact is that Jimmy is a far more appropriate husband for the most powerful female witch of her generation.”
“Why, because she loves him?” He made a mockery of the word, the bastard.
“She does love him, but more importantly, because Jimmy is only one-quarter witch and, therefore, will strengthen the witch blood in their children rather than compromising it by inbreeding weaknesses.”
Shah Mugal threw himself back in his chair, eyes wide, and began a quiet, intense caucus with Robert Valmont beside him. Mimi Merced, the oh-so-not-innocent, leaned forward. “Whatever could you mean by that? Pure witch blood is the strongest.”
He took a deep breath. Be polite. “No, ma’am, we have reason to believe it’s not. Quite by accident, because of Jimmy here, we’ve come to realize that there are powerful witches who have been produced from the unions of witches and humans for many years.”
“But the offspring aren’t witches. They’re human or have only the tiniest particle of witch power.”
“No, ma’am. As I told you, Jimmy is only one-quarter witch, and yet when he’s fully developed, he may well be as powerful as I am.”
Evangeline threw up her hands. “Impossible. Don’t be silly, Killian.”
He looked at his mother, but from the corner of his eye caught Karonoff watching the whole interchange with narrowed eyes and a deadly calm. Killian knew where the power in the room lay, and he better not turn his back on it.
He looked at his mother. “No, it’s not silly at all. Jimmy’s little sister is even more powerful than he is. She will exceed the capabilities of Lavender and yourself when she’s grown. Jimmy has another part-witch-blooded friend he says is very accomplished.”
Robert Valmont spread his hands on the table. “So what we have here is a marvelous exception that proves the rule. This extraordinary family must be incorporated into the community at once. But we must watch closely to be sure the enervating effects of the human blood do not show up in future generations.” The damned politician. Killian wanted to spit in his face. Make Jimmy and his family lab rats for a bunch of so-called purebreds.
“Councilman, the science is already established in the form of hundreds, perhaps thousands of powerful witches who are now hiding in the human community to escape the prejudice and bigotry of us so-called pure-blooded witches. In fact, it appears that human blood does not enervate witchery. It makes it stronger, while inbreeding among pure-blooded witches is what is actually forcing our race into decline.”
The faces of the council members told the story. Well, ten thousand hells! They already knew! Perhaps they had come to believe their own propaganda, but they knew about the mixed-race witches and had done nothing. He wanted to throw up. This was the worst sort of betrayal. But why?
Evangeline stepped closer. Hell, she was his mother, and she’d dragged him into this pot of lies on purpose. “Dear, even if it were true, consider. The humans are taking over. Witches are stronger and more powerful than humans, but we’re dying while the humans thrive. We can’t allow them to overwhelm witchery.”
Killian stared at Evangeline. He could hardly believe he was looking at his own mother. She’d been willing to sacrifice his happiness for this fiction. The witch!
Killian looked around at the council, who all stared at him, transfixed. “So you have all decided to create a fictional world