Page 63 of The Coven’s Sacrifice

We all nodded at that. Brownies were loyal to a fault. Those poor brownies…

“As you can imagine, they either died following through their order, or fled the coven, risking exposure in the wild. A brownie without a master is…” they all shuddered. “We then came together and learned what truly was happening around us. That day we changed our loyalties, and because we had wronged the sacrifices,” she paused, gathering her strength. “Two had been murdered by brownies that later took their own lives. We decided their bloodline would be our masters.”

“Does the witch coven know about this?” Eric asked.

The brownie shrugged. “They lost their magic over the years. Without our loyalty, they simply could not cast the magic like they used to.”

“Okay,” Eric said, taking in the new information. “Do you have any idea on how we can deal with the remaining witches?”

Jetty stepped forward this time. “There are only two women left in the coven,” he announced. “They’re scared and confused.” I frowned at that. I did not want to pity these women who had tried to take my Colin away from me. Colin’s hand landed on my thigh, soothing my confused emotions. “I looked through their old books and found lots of warring information. One book would say one thing and another would say something completely different. I did find this to be the most interesting book.” He then snapped his fingers making a book appear out of nowhere.

Eric took the book, not even worried about it being warded or anything, just opened it and began reading. He frowned at the first page, then looked at Alexander, then Harland, then me, and lastly, at Colin.

“What is it?” I asked, tempted to grab the book from him.

“It says that Magda was their last magical witch and that she had to bind the newest born sacrifice to the last three monsters. You, Colin. It says here that even though the sacrifice was only five years old, they needed to bind you to all three so the blood vow could be completed. Magda died creating the spell that would make you theirs.”

Sadness poured out of Colin. “So, everything they feel for me is… magic?”

“No,” I growled, grabbing his hand. “I do not care what the fuck they did with their magic. You are mine. Understand me?”

Colin nodded, but I felt his grief.

“Oh!” Eric said, having read further. “Um.”

“Tell us,” Alexander growled.

Eric looked up from the book, eyes meeting Colin’s. I knew whatever he was about to say would not be good. “The coven is responsible for killing your sister.”

Colin was a shell of himself, hiding underneath the covers as he mourned his sister. We could not stay in that room after hearing this, leaving with Colin so his breaking heart could ache without an audience. Thankfully, they all respected it and continued without us.

“My love,” I whispered, petting his leg through the duvet. “Please let us hold you.”

“You,” he hiccupped. “Were forced to love me.” Another hiccup. “Like my sister.” Hiccup. “Was forced to die.”

Alexander joined us on the bed. “The only good thing that coven ever did was to give you to us. I will never regret loving you, my precious Colin. Do not let their evil come between our love. Whatever magic they used is long gone, we know as much, but still, I love you with all that I am.”

“We all do,” I agreed. “If it is magic or if it is simply fate, we are free of our monsters now. Yet we still love and cherish you. Is that not proof enough that this is real?”

Colin was silent under the covers, so Harland joined in. “You were devastated that one night when Alexander paraded in, showing you just how much Jacob loved him, and it was in that moment I fell for you. Your emotions were so clear, your heart breaking in front of me, and all I wished for was to mend it. I will not sour that memory with the coven. That is my truth, my real feelings.”

Colin finally got out from under the covers, looking red rimmed and tired. “Anastasia,” he whispered, voice rough.

I nodded at that. “We will avenge her.”

“We will avenge all of you,” Colin swore.

“But there is nothing we can do tonight,” Alexander said, taking Colin’s hand in his. “So, let us hold you.”

“Please,” Colin whispered. We removed our clothes and surrounded our human. He needed us more than ever, and fuck if I did not need it as well.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Harland

Colin was hurting, that much was obvious to us all, but our human was strong, so when we woke this morning, he was determined to eat breakfast with the others and learn what we had missed.

“The book was very informative,” Eric told us, holding out the book as the humans ate around us. “We even found evidence that their plan all along had been to kill everyone once the blood vow had ended.”