Chapter 3 Lead Us
Elara’s POV
The smell of the scorched ground still lingered in the air. It was thick enough to taste as smoke curled from shattered stone and broken lanterns, drifting through what had been a celebration only moments ago.
The garden, once carefully arranged with light, color, and music now stood torn apart, reduced to scorched pathways, splintered tables, and bodies that hadn’t yet been moved.
Our warriors rushed through the aftermath securing the perimeter, checking the fallen, and calling out orders that overlapped each other.
And in the middle of all of it, they walked in like they were arriving late to a gathering, with no urgency, no hesitation, just calm.
“What the hell do these bitches think they are doing,” I muttered under my breath, my patience already gone.
Ember’s voice stirred faintly, amused despite the destruction surrounding us.
‘They’re witches,’ she murmured.
I exhaled sharply. “I know what they are,” I said under my breath. “Doesn’t mean I have to like how they showed up.”
Because the nerve of it. Especially after everything we had just fought through. An attack meant to wipe us out. Then they approached like this was nothing more than a poorly timed interruption.
One of them stepped forward, closing the distance just enough to be heard without raising her voice. She bowed again, deeper this time. “My queen. My kings,” she said, her tone respectful, though her timing left a lot to be desired. “I understand this is not ideal, but what happened tonight is not the end. There will be another attack. This was only the beginning.”
The words settled into the already heavy air, though none of us looked surprised. We had felt it the moment the fighting slowed. This wasn’t over.
“Sienna took over after your mother, Rowena, stepped down,” she went on, her voice tightening slightly. “And she is… not stable.”
Still nothing from me, not because I didn’t hear her, but because I wasn’t convinced I cared.
Her shoulders slumped just enough to show she felt the weight of my silence, but she pushed through it anyway. “She’s escalating,” the woman said. “And she wants you gone.”
That finally pulled my attention. I tilted my head slightly. “What does that have to do with me?” I asked, my tone flat, almost bored.
It wasn’t that I didn’t understand the implication. I just wasn’t going to make it easy for her.
Her eyes lifted then, meeting mine for the first time. “The Black Flame Coven placed a curse,” she said carefully. “On one of yours. Am I right?”
My expression didn’t change, but I felt the change around me.
“They’re fractured,” she continued. “The covens are divided, yes, but both sides see you as a threat.”
Power always did that. That doesn’t surprise me one bit.
“There are fifteen of us who broke away,” she added. “We refused to fight tonight. We told her we would… so we could get here.”
A calculated risk. Or a calculated lie.
“We’re asking you to take your place,” she said. “High Priestess. Lead us. End this before it ends everything.”
I let the silence stretch again, my eyes moving past her briefly to take in the damage around us. The garden destroyed, the night changed, the war just beginning.
I knew that. We all did.
My eyes shifted to Cassian, then to Atlas. They held my gaze without hesitation, both of them reading the same question without me needing to voice it.
Trust. Or trap.
“Can they be trusted?” Ryder’s voice cut in from my side, calm but edged with suspicion.
I glanced toward him briefly. He wasn’t wrong. He rarely was. This could just as easily be another move against us, another layer, another setup.
“Can’t you put something on them?” Brianna asked, her tone straightforward as she stepped closer, her gaze flicking over the group. “Make it so they can’t use magic?”
I almost smiled at that.
“I vote you turn them into frogs,” Ryder muttered under his breath.
Atlas snorted, and Cassian didn’t even try to hide his laugh. I rolled my eyes, though the tension eased just slightly. “Tempting,” I said dryly.
The women didn’t react. Either they had more control than most, or they were very good at pretending.
I lifted my hand slowly, letting the energy gather at my fingertips. It came easily, responding without problems as I wove the restraint into place. A quiet chant slipped from my lips, the words carrying just enough force to bind without harm.
The magic settled over them like a weigh. It was subtle, but firm. Their access to power was gone. For now.
I lowered my hand, nodding once. “Temporary,” I said. “Until I decide otherwise.”
None of them argued. That told me more than anything else had.
Movement shifted at my side as Ryder turned slightly toward Brianna. “Come on, Princess,” he said, his tone softer now, though the edge hadn’t fully left it. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
She glanced at me briefly. I gave a small nod.
They moved off together, disappearing toward the palace as warriors continued to move around us, clearing the space and securing what was left.
Cassian and Atlas remained where they were, though their eyes had taken on that distant focus I knew well. The mindlink. They were probably barking orders and taking care of everything.
I turned back to the woman in front of me. “Let’s not have this conversation in the middle of a battlefield,” I said. “Where are the rest of you?”
She didn’t hesitate. She looked towards the treeline. I followed her gaze just in time to see them emerge, one by one. Fifteen, exactly as she said and was moving in a straight line, stopping several paces away as if waiting for permission to come closer.
Good. They understood boundaries.
I lifted my hand again, repeating the chant with the same precision as before, extending the restriction across all of them. The energy settled quickly, binding their magic just as firmly as it had the others.
No resistance.
No attempt to fight it.
That was either confidence or desperation. Possibly both.
“Now we can talk,” I said.
Before anyone could respond, a voice cut through the mind-link. ‘Kings. Queens.’
Cassian’s head tilted slightly. Atlas’s focus snapped. I stilled.
‘We caught someone trying to run,’ the warrior said. ‘You’re going to want to see this.’ Silence followed as he paused briefly. ‘You won’t believe who it is.’