mythean arcana 07 - witchs fate by Linsey Hall

circumstance. Though other Mytheans may live forever, we will not. Our job is too dangerous. It will kill you. Do not let that moment come early by dropping your guard or the protection that the Crone offers you.”
    Sofia had never gone without the Crone form in necessary situations ever again.
    The downside of it was that she’d never had a chance to have a normal love life. Malcolm had been her only shot. She’d truly thought they’d be together forever. Not only had she loved him, he’d become her best friend. When he’d abandoned her, she’d felt as if her most vital organs had been torn out. She’d thought losing him would be the worst thing that could happen to her. That it would break her into a million pieces. 
    How wrong she’d been. Naive. She’d become stronger. Tougher.
    Especially after she’d returned to the village from Norway and learned that her mother had died on her last mission to recover a tribute. Sofia had been thrust into the position of Protector. That had toughened her up real quick. Eventually, she’d gotten over him.
    She’d taken on the form of a Crone every time she was out in the village. True, she often spiced it up with a Halloween witch’s hat and broom, but even that was no longer funny. She’d had some relationships, though none had lived up to what she’d had with Malcolm. About two centuries ago, she’d just gotten sick of trying. One-night stands would have been her ideal, but those were impossible in her village since her public image was the Crone and those who knew her without the visage respected her position too much to ever fuck her.
    Was that why she’d been so quick to succumb to Malcolm last night? Maybe. She’d prefer to think that she’d been desperate, rather than admit she might still feel something for him. The bastard had kidnapped her.
    Power had clearly gone to his head.
    She scowled as she watched Malcolm manipulate the aether. As usual, she was in a hell of a bind.
    Finally, the aether began to dim. Seconds later, the room was entirely dark. A glow of flame appeared in the middle of the room. Sofia squinted. It hovered over Malcolm’s hand, a magical flashlight. She created one in her own hand, unable to resist drawing his attention.
    He turned. “Sofia.”
    “Malcolm. What were you doing?” She rose.
    “Crafting a charm that can shield my power from Mytheans who might sense it.” He approached her and raised his arm. She saw a wide wristband of beaten metal around his thick wrist. “We’ll need it in Salem. It’ll be best to keep a low profile.”
    “All right.” She followed him out of the room and up the stairs into the hall. “That’s your aether room? I didn’t sense any magical shields on it.” 
    While warlocks could draw a moderate amount of extra power from the aether under normal circumstances, if they wanted a huge burst of it, they needed to have a magically reinforced room built to contain a portal to the aether. Normally, the room had to be built into a place that had an excess of magical energy, either from a large population of Mytheans or because the place itself was special.
    “Yes. I used to have one at the university. It was excellent. So much magic there, it was easy to contain the aether.” He turned to face her. “But I wanted to be on my own. There were too many people at the university. So I practiced. Eventually, I could contain it, so I moved here. There’s a bit more magic in Glencoe than elsewhere, so that helps. But now I’m powerful enough to contain the magic myself.”
    She didn’t sense any arrogance in him now, though she wouldn’t be surprised if she had. Controlling a portal to the aether on your own took a huge amount of strength. He was even stronger than she’d realized. 
    She shivered. His strength, combined with the way he looked at her—like he wanted to devour her—was nerve wracking. If he didn’t want to let her go once this was over, she’d have a damned hard time getting