UNDER HIS SPELL (37 page)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Skye adjusted the collar of her simple, white blouse and caught
another glimpse of her reflection in the mirror.
 
She pressed her hand against the glass and
stared back at the empty gaze, which looked out at her.
 

Ostara had arrived and with it, the responsibility of leading a
nation of witches.
 
Swallowing hard, Skye
turned from the mirror and came face to face with Allessandra.
 
She wasn’t surprised.

“This isn’t really a good time.
 
I have a lot to do before the crowning tonight.”

Allessandra smiled and glided across the room to the opposite side
of the bed.
 
“Why do you think I’m here?”

“I’m not sure, but I am sure I don’t want to hear any more
revelations, especially not today.”

“You don’t want to do this, do you?”

“There’s a big surprise,” Skye responded, opening her closet door.

“Then why do it?”

Skye gave a little laugh and tugged a sweater free from a
hanger.
 
“You’ve obviously been dead too
long.”

Allessandra returned the laugh.
 
“I know your responsibility, your sense of duty, but I also know you’re
turning you back on what you want most.”

“If you’re talking about Rane, he knew this was inevitable.”

“Your mother would like to talk to you,” Allessandra broke the news.

Skye shrugged into the pale blue sweater, making sure her hand
stayed excessively busy.
 
“I have nothing
to say to her.”

“Then you could listen.”

Skye looked up with a half-smile.
 
“No, I don’t think so.”

“You can’t avoid her forever.”

Skye walked to the door.
 
“Sure I can.
 
She’s dead.
 
It shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Before Skye could leave the room, Allessandra barred her way,
pressing her hand against the heavy wood.
 
“Don’t turn yourself into a martyr, Skye.
 
Do not sacrifice your life.”

Anger curled in the pit of Skye’s stomach and she lashed out,
turning her fury on what once was the most powerful witch in the world.
 
“You have no idea what you’re talking
about.
 
This isn’t a sacrifice.
 
It’s a duty.
 
I don’t have a choice.
 
That was
made clear to me from birth.
 
This is
what I was raised for.
 
I always knew
this day would arrive and I couldn’t stop it.
 
So,” she held her hands away from her body, “take a last look at sweet
little innocent Skye Logan, for in,” she checked her watch, “oh, about two
hours forty-five minutes, I’ll control even you.”

Allessandra took hold of her hand.
 
“This isn’t a game, Skye.
 
This
isn’t about control.
 
It’s about leading
the Covens to peace.”

Skye held up her free hand.
 
“Please spare me the lecture, Allessandra.
 
I’ve heard it countless times from my mother
and . . .”

“Skye.”
 
As her name
resounded, echoing off the walls, Skye froze.
 
She knew instantly her mother had arrived.
 

“We have nothing to talk about, Mother,” Skye kept her voice formal.

“Listen to her,” Allessandra commanded.
 
“I’ll leave the two of you alone.”
 
She disappeared before Skye could protest.

Skye tried to turn the doorknob, but it wouldn’t budge.
 
She silently cursed Allessandra, but knew the
words would fall on deaf ears.
 
Allessandra was seldom wrong, at least, she seldom admitted she was
wrong.
 
“I don’t want to talk to you
right now.”

“Your pain is still fresh,” Ingrid announced solemnly.
 
“I understand.”

“I’m so glad I have your approval.”

“Skye,” Ingrid’s voice held reproof.
 
“I am still your mother.”

Skye whirled around.
 
“No.
 
What you are is a
murderer.
 
Because of you, Unger became a
monster.
 
Because of you, he tormented
witches and killed them equally.
 
He
could have lived his life out as a normal man, but you took that option away
from him when you cursed him.
 
How could
you?”

Ingrid’s skin was translucent, giving her an ethereal
appearance.
 
Her feet didn’t touch the
carpet beneath her and as she hovered there in the air, she clasped her hands
in front of her and the picture of innocence.
 
“I don’t expect you to understand and I’m not asking you to.
 
It was a long time ago, Skye, and I was afraid
of what would happen if you and Unger married.
 
Allessandra thought it was for the best, but I wasn’t so sure.
 
And he loved another woman.
 
I knew he would not fully commit himself to
you.
 
You deserved better than that.”

“So you cursed him?”

Ingrid’s lips thinned.
 
“It
wasn’t like that.”
 
She sailed around the
room to stand in front of Skye.
 
“I
thought he was a danger to you.”

Skye folded her arms.
 
“Why?”

“Because he didn’t love you and once Ostara arrived, you would
become a very powerful witch.
 
It was not
unusual for men to want a taste of that power.
 
Inside,” she tapped the center of her chest where her heart used to
beat, “of me, I knew Unger wasn’t right for you, that he was only after a taste
of that power.”
 
She reached out to Skye,
but dropped her hand before it reached its target.
 
“If he was such an innocent, he would not
have chosen evil once he was cursed.”
 
Ingrid’s voice softened.
 
“Had he
not, the spell would have been broken.”

Skye looked at her mother then, the quiet intensity, the almost
desperate urgency in her eyes.
 
“Are you
saying that the spell revealed Unger’s true heart?”

Ingrid hung her head.
 
“As
much as I believe in Allessandra and her choices are seldom wrong, I knew in my
mother’s heart that Unger wasn’t who he claimed to be.
 
I could not agree to a betrothal.
 
I knew once that occurred, the arrangement
could not be easily broken.
 
So when
Unger told me about his love for another woman, I questioned him about his
devotion to you.
 
All I saw was this,
this greed deep within his eyes.
 
I
couldn’t convince Allessandra I’d seen the evil within him.”

Skye lowered her defenses and took a step closer to her mother.
 
“So you cursed him to determine the reality
of his goodness.”

Ingrid nodded slowly.
 
“All he
had to do was walk in goodness as that creature.
 
The spell would have been broken in the space
of a month.
 
I knew it was risky, but I
was desperate to save you from a life tied to a man who only wanted you for
your magic.
 
Otherwise, you would have
had to marry him at twenty and you would have been irrevocably bound to him for
the remainder of your days.”

Skye drew in a deep breath.
 
“You’ve said witches marry for life.”

Ingrid ran a shaky hand down Skye’s hair.
 
“I’m sorry.
 
I should have chosen a different way, but I felt the walls closing in
and…”

Skye shushed her by stepping into her mother’s embrace.
 
“I’m the one who should be sorry.
 
I condemned you without listening to your
side of the story.
 
I should have given
you more than that.”

“This was Unger’s final attempt at destroying me.
 
He used his last minutes of life for
evil.”
 
Ingrid stroked Skye’s back as she
spoke.

“Still, I should have followed my heart instead of my head.
 
I know you and deep down inside, I knew you
were not capable of true evil.”

“Things have been a bit out of sorts lately.
 
You have a lot on your mind.”
 
Ingrid smiled as she tucked Skye’s hair
behind her ears.
 
“It’s not every witch
who falls in love with a wizard.”

Skye’s head shot up.
 
“I never
said…”

“You didn’t have to.
 
It’s
been written all over your face for days.
 
You love Rane.”
 
She tipped her
head to one side.
 
“Not that I can blame
you.
 
He’s a handsome devil.”

Skye’s smile blossomed briefly before it faded.
 
“But our lives are too far apart.
 
We both have different responsibilities.”

Ingrid opened the door.
 
“I
wouldn’t be too sure that the chasm can’t be bridged.”

Skye looked up at her mother.
 
“What do you mean?”

Ingrid patted her back.
 
“You’ll see.”

***

The dais looked foreboding enough but the most daunting sight of all
was the myriad witches gathered.
 
It was
a sea of good and evil, some there to attempt to prevent the coronation, others
simply to see that it actually took place.
 

Skye’s legs shook as she climbed the steps and took center
stage.
 
Standing on the front row, Emily
lifted her thumb.
 
Skye managed a
smile.
 
She folded her hands behind her back,
cleared her throat and began to speak.
 
She didn’t really know what she was saying.
 
She simply talked, about the necessity for a
new beginning, the chance to recreate the Covens, to change the reputation the
witches had gotten over the years.
 

The crowd began to murmur and still Skye talked, hoping to convince
herself as much as the witches that she was up to this overwhelming task.
 
As the knot grew bigger in the center of her
stomach, she closed her eyes, but as the oohs and aaahs grew louder, she opened
them again.
 

She only saw witches as far as the eye could see.
 
It took her a moment to realize they were no
longer focusing on her words.
 
Their
gazes had transferred to an area behind her.
 
Not sure she even wanted to look, Skye turned anyway.

And she froze in place.

A shower of gold and silver sparks filtered down to the dais,
spilling around her feet.
 
The sweet
scent of jasmine swept over her, enveloping her in powerful memories and then
she heard her voice, first on a whisper, then louder, more insistent.
 

A whirl of blue cascaded down from the sky and as the witches behind
her gasped, Skye’s heart began a fast thump against her rib cage.
 

Wizards.
 
There must be
hundreds of them.
 
The ones on the front
line, Skye recognized.
 
They wore the indigo
robes, but there were others.
 
Dressed in
black, silver, hunter green and all of them united.
 
She held her breath and waited, searching for
the leader who would speak, but more, searching for the one who’d called her
name.

But it was Falcon who spoke first and he didn’t direct his voice
toward Skye alone.
 
Instead, he stepped
forward to the edge of the dais.
 
“We
know Ostara is a day to bring peace among the witches just as we know not all
of you are for peace.”
 
He held up one
hand to silence the crowd of dissension.
 
“We are not here to promote trouble.
 
Too many of you have died fighting a war you simply cannot win.
 
All of you should acknowledge that.
 
There is not a reason why any more of you
should die.”

“Especially when you have a queen who is willing to sacrifice her
own life to ensure peace among her people.”
 
Another voice added strength to Falcon’s statements.
 

Skye’s heart fell to the tops of her petite, silver boots.
 
Rane.
 
She lifted her eyes and connected with eyes so dark she could fall into
their depths.
 
Why was he here?
 
She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t
find any appropriate words.