The victory at the Rite of the Eclipse felt like a fever dream the moment I crossed the border back into Oakhaven.
The golden warmth of Guilermo’s aura faded, replaced by the damp, gray reality of my life. I was still a Coven witch. I still had rent to pay. And I still had a master who was undoubtedly furious that his coup had failed.
I expected Sibal to summon me immediately. I expected screaming, punishments, maybe a stint in the isolation cells for insubordination.
But for three days, there was silence.
It was the silence of a spider sitting in the center of a web, waiting for the vibration that signaled the fly had forgotten to be afraid.
On the fourth day, the summons came.
It wasn't a psychic command or a threatening text. It was a handwritten note on cream-colored cardstock, s
