The Promise (The Coven Series) (32 page)

“Was
it all lies then?” I asked him.
 
I forced
the panic aside.
 
“Do I mean nothing to
you?”

“You
said it yourself, Cassie.
 
You were never
more than a means to an end.”
 
He smiled
that beautiful smile I loved, but it twisted with a cruel curve.
 
“It was so easy to fool you.
 
Such a gullible girl.
 
A few kisses, some sweet words and you fell
right into my lap.
 
I had no idea you’d
be so easy.”

I
hit him as hard as I could.
 
Blood
trickled from the corner of his mouth and he wiped it away.
 
“Still have a bit of a temper, don’t you?” he
laughed.
 
“I always did like that about
you.”

Bit
of a temper?
 
I’d show him just how much
of a temper I had.
 
“Air…”

“Oh no you don’t.”
 
He
grinned and slapped a hand over my mouth.
 
“No spells this time, Cassie.
 
Do
you think we’re stupid enough to come here without the proverbial ace in the
hole?”

Ace in the hole?

“Your
parents,” he explained.
 
“Jonas collected
them earlier.
 
Either you come with us
now, or they die.
 
It’s that simple.”

My
eyes widened in horror.
 
They wouldn’t
hurt my parents.
 
Mom and Dad were Coven
members.
 
But the Coven had killed Emily,
I reminded myself, just to keep their precious little secret safe.
 
Mr. Martin would murder my parents in an
instant if he needed to.

“Are
you going to behave, love?” Ethan asked.

I
nodded.
 
What else could I do?
 
They had my parents.

“Good
girl.”
 
His hand came away from my mouth
and he tweaked my nose.
 

I
hated him in that moment.
 
The blind fury
must have shown on my face because he smiled at me with the smile of a
fox.
 
Cagey and wicked.
 
I wanted to hit him again.

Mr.
Warren put a restraining hand on Ethan.
 
“No boy, I won’t let you do this.”

Ethan’s
eyebrows shot up and he laughed.
 
He
shoved the old man.
 
He fell, his head
hitting the hallway table.
 
When he
didn’t move, I cried out.
 
He was so
old.
 
The fall might have broken bones if
it hadn’t killed him.
 
He could have a
head injury…

“Let’s
go,” Ethan shoved me at Billy.
 
“Don’t
touch the dress,” he warned.
 

“Why?”
Billy asked and latched onto my arm.
 
Jeff grabbed the other.
 
I looked
up at him, my eyes full of hurt and betrayal.
 
He stared back with cold, indifferent eyes and pushed me out the
door.
 

“No
one can touch it except Cassie,” Kay told him as we walked.
 
“It’ll burn you.”

“Why?”
I demanded and twisted my head so I could look her in the eyes.
 
“Why are you doing this, Kay?
 
You’re my best friend.
 
No, you’re more than that, you’re like my
sister.
 
How can you do this to me?”

“Because
you’re the thirteenth daughter, CJ,” she told me, her voice as cold as her
father’s.
 
“You will do what you were
born to do.”

“How
do you know it’s not you?” I asked.
 
Surely her father had told her about not knowing which of us it was.

“My
father tested my blood on the ashes this morning.
 
There was no reaction.
 
That’s how we know it’s you.”

“Did
they tell you I have to die, Makayla?” I asked her softly.
 
“Did they?”

Her
steps faltered.
 
“Die?
 
No, CJ, you’re wrong.
 
We just need the blood of the thirteenth
daughter to invoke the curse.”

“No,
I’m not wrong.
 
I have to die.
  
It’s part of the payment for the assistance
of the gods.”

She
stopped walking.
 
“You have to be wrong,
CJ.
 
Dad would have told me.
 
He tested my blood this morning.
 
He wouldn’t let them…”

“I
don’t just have to die, Kay,” I interrupted her.
 
“I have to burn just as our ancestors
did.
 
They’re going to bleed me to invoke
the curse and then burn me alive to serve as a beacon to our ancestors’ spirits
so they can find their way back.
 
They’re
going to burn me alive, MJ.
 
Please…”

“Shut
up!” Billy snarled and twisted my arm.
 

“You
knew?” Kay whispered.
 
“You knew they
were going to kill her?”

“Better
her than you,” he said.
 

“No,
Billy, not better her than me.
 
I didn’t
know they were going to kill her!”

“Makayla
Joyce Martin,” he bit the words out.
 
“This is what we have worked for centuries to achieve.
 
It is our duty to see justice done.
 
You know that.
 
We have to do what must be done.”

She
closed her eyes and I watched a single tear escape, but she nodded.
 

“Kay,
please…”

“I’m
sorry,” she whispered, straightened her shoulders, and started walking.

“I
could have left days ago,” I told her softly.
 
“Do you know why I didn’t, Kay?”

She
didn’t say anything.

“I
didn’t leave because of you.
 
I was
afraid that you might be the thirteenth daughter.
 
I was trying to find a way to save one or the
other of us.
 
I wasn’t about to let you
die.”

She
flinched.
 
“We have to do what must be
done.
 
It is our duty.”

“You
really are your father’s daughter, aren’t you?”

“I’m
nothing like him!”

“No?
 
You’re willing to let them kill me, aren’t
you?”

“You
don’t understand, CJ.
 
You’re not a part
of the Coven.
 
We don’t have a choice!”

“There’s
always a choice, Makayla.
 
Your choice is
simple.
 
Become your father and kill me
or be my best friend, the girl I love like a sister, and help me.”

“I
said shut up!” Billy yanked me so hard, I pitched forward.
 
Jeff yanked me back before I hit the
ground.
 
Billy’s arm connected with my
dress and the distinct smell of charred skin mingled with the sound of his curse.
 
He hissed.

“Enough!”
Ethan barked.
 
“Pleading with us isn’t
going to help, Cassie.
 
Makayla is
right.
 
None of us have a choice in
this.
 
You, me, Kay, we’re all stuck in
the role we have to play tonight.
 
I wish
it could be different, but it is what it is.
 
So, let’s just get this done.”

My
shoulders sagged as we started moving again.
 
For just a moment, I let myself feel the defeat pressing in on me.
 
Pain raged through me and my stomach rolled
unpleasantly.
 
It had been queasy all
day, but now it was in full out puke mode.
 
I took deep, shallow breaths to try and get it under control.
 
I didn’t have time for this.

“How
did you know I was at your
gra
…Mr. Warren’s?”
 
Just breathe, Cassie, I told myself.
 
You’ll get through this.

“You
can thank Billy and Jeff for that.
 
They
saw you go over to his house and called me.”

“Jeff?”
 
I turned startled eyes to him.
 
Jeff had
ratted
me
out?
 
“Were you lying to me too?”

He
shrugged.
 
“Not really.
 
I just made sure you were kept out of
everyone’s hair while they made plans.”

“You…”

“Now,
now, love,” Ethan cut in.
 
“He was only
doing as he was told.
 
Just
as you will.”

“The
hell I will!” I shouted in his general direction.
 
He was walking behind me and I couldn’t see
him.
 

“Parents,
Cassie Jayne.
 
Are you forgetting them?”

Dammit!

We
bypassed the meeting hall and went into the park.
 
The clearing.
 
Of course they’d perform their ritual in the
clearing.
 
Couldn’t burn a person alive
inside, now could you?

This
time when we entered the circle, the Elements were more subdued in their
greeting, but I felt them each in turn.
 
The heat of a summer’s day was driven away by fall’s cool breeze.
 
The smell of freshly mown grass tickled my
nose and dew coated my fingertips.
 
A
gentle calm settled over me.
 
At least I
might have some help.

The
entire town was gathered.
 
The robes I’d
always imagined were out in full force.
 
Midnight blue and made of some kind of heavy wool adorned the men.
 
Dresses that looked more like lingerie draped
the women.
 
They all looked to be
freezing their asses off, however.
 
I
took a simple pleasure from that fact.

At
least until I saw the pyre.
 
A long pole
had been driven into the ground and kindling built up around it.
 
A fire blazed a few feet away.
 
I stared at the faces around me, they were
excited, insane.
 
My
friends and family.
 
They were all
waiting for me to die.
 

Shit.
 
They really were going to burn me.

Panic
rose up.
 
I tramped it down.
 
I needed to make sure my parents were safe.

“Ah,
Matthew, I see you got her here with no problems.”
 
Mr. Martin stepped forward, a smile of
pleasure on his face.
 
“Good, good.”

“Where
are my parents?” I demanded.
 
So Ethan
was Matthew.
 

“Roger
is tied up nice and tight.
 
We couldn’t
have him interfering tonight any more than we could the night of
Emily’s…accident.
  
He’s there by that
log.
 
See, perfectly safe and your mother
is standing right next to Joanne,” he waved to his left.
 

Sure
enough my mother stood just a few feet away.
 
I could see her clearly in the firelight.
 
Her eyes glowed with excitement.
 
Another stab of pain struck me.
 
My mother?
 
She was in on it?
 
How much more could I take?

“Yes,
your mother is very proud to have given birth to the thirteenth bearer of
life,” Mr. Martin smiled at her from across the fire.
 
She smiled back.
 
It was the same smile she used to give my
dad.
 
Nausea almost doubled me over as
the truth of it struck.
 
She and Mr.
Martin had hooked up.
 
Why hadn’t I
realized it sooner?
 
They were so chummy
at Meg’s induction.
 
How had I missed so
many details?
 
I wasn’t even
surprised.
 
It’s not like she cared about
her family.
 
She was willing to let them
kill me and had probably known what they were going to do to Emily.
 
Anger gave me courage.
 
I knew something they didn’t.
 

“How does this make you any better than those who betrayed us?
 
You’d betray one of your own just as our
people were betrayed?”

“This
is different,” Mr. Martin told me.
 
“We
knew going into it what the price would be and we agreed.
 
All of us.
 
No one has been betrayed.”

“I
didn’t agree to it!” I shouted.
 
“Hell
no, I didn’t agree to any of this!”

“Had
you not been so stubborn about joining, you’d have been taught the same as
everyone else, CJ.
 
You’d consider it
your duty and a great honor.”

“Honor?
 
You’re
planning on burning me alive!”

“The
souls of our ancestors need a beacon to find their path back to us in the here
and now.
 
The last memory their souls
will have will be of being burned alive.
 
You will be their guide, CJ.”
 
He
walked over to an old urn and began pouring the ashes it contained into a
circle around the pyre and fire.
 
“These
ashes were brought with us to New Salem.
 
They are the remains of our fallen brethren.
 
Your blood will give them a corporeal shape
and a way to seek their vengeance.”