much,” Shea admitted, as a powerful tendril of fear snaked through her system.
Chapter 45
Cora Sterling paced the Oval Office, her thoughts moving too quickly to allow her to sit behind her desk. “What do you think, Parker?” she asked, sending a quick look at her chief of staff.
Parker Stevens was an old hand at Washington politics. He knew the ins and outs better than anyone else. Who to trust. Who to buy. Who to bury. Cora couldn’t imagine doing without his advice.
Or his skills in the bedroom.
“Madam President,” he said, “I think it’s time you called the prime minister and told him that our escaped witch is in Britain.”
She stopped and looked at him from across the room. Impeccably groomed, Parker had steel gray hair, piercing blue eyes and a hard jaw that was, at the moment, locked into an expression of distaste.
“You can’t be serious,” she said.
“I am. We want Shea Jameson back home, where she can be the figurehead for your reforms.” He walked toward her with measured steps. “Our informants tell us she’s in England somewhere and unless we get the help of their government, we’re going to be hard-pressed to find her.”
Cora didn’t like that one bit. Turning, she stared out the wide window at the lawn and gardens, looking chill and dank on a late-September day. Summer was finally over and autumn was sneaking in, heralding the coming of winter. Cora felt a like sense of cold creeping over her.
“I don’t want to owe Graham any favors,” she muttered. “The last time he was here, he put up such a fuss about international internment camps, the press had a field day.”
“I know,” Parker said, coming up behind her and, showing her a rare touch of affection outside her bedroom, laid both hands on her shoulders. “But we need him. We’ll find a way to leverage his help without bowing to the international internment camps.”
“You think so?” She looked up at him, unsure until she met his steady gaze.
“I know it. Make the call, Cora. You’ll still be in charge. I’ll see to it personally.”
For one brief moment, Cora allowed herself to react like a woman, and not the president. Leaning into her lover’s embrace, she lifted her face for his kiss and then gave herself up to the sensual treats he was so damn good at.
When she finally broke free again, she tugged at the hem of her gray silk shirt and smoothed her hair back. “Parker,” she said with a smile, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
He chucked her chin, then took both a figurative and a literal step back, once more becoming her most trusted aide. “Madam President, you’ll never have to find out.”
“Shea, I know you’re feeling overwhelmed—”
“You could say that,” she said, cutting her aunt off as she turned to stare at her. “First, Torin told me I was the first Awakened witch. But how can that be if you’ve been here ten years?”
Mairi smiled, hooked her arm through Shea’s and led her across the great hall. As they walked, she said, “I’m the High Priestess—or I was, long ago. The keeper of the flames. The watcher. A guardian of sorts, of our coven. Of our sisters and traditions.”
“High Priestess?” Shea echoed.
“Sounds lofty, doesn’t it?” Mairi asked with a small chuckle. “But all it means is that I was once responsible for our coven. It was my duty to see that we learned and grew, and that our coven served its purpose by serving the goddess Danu.” She stopped and tears filled her eyes. “I failed. Not only myself, but all of you as well. I surrendered to the same greed and arrogance that the rest of you embraced. It was my responsibility to see that our sisters were given guidance. Helped along the path. I turned my back on all that we were.”
“Mairi—” Shea heard the pain in her aunt’s voice and all of her own fears and resentments faded away in her need to offer comfort.
“No, I should have filled my sisters’ hearts with my love and spiritual guidance. Instead, I left them open to the darkness and then I joined them there.” She sighed and a solitary tear spilled down her cheek. “I have much to atone for. As do we all.”
“Isn’t that why we’re here?” Shea asked quietly, patting her aunt’s hand in a gesture of love and solidarity.
“Yes, you’re right,” Mairi answered, smiling through her tears. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed