Southern Secrets: Book 2 in Southern Charms Series

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Portals

Ash

Ash pushed Malphas aside, catching the sorcerer off guard enough that he didn't put up much of a fight, but the moment he realized what happened, he surged forward, determined to take control- all his thoughts centered on one thing: revenge.

"Stop!" Ash shouted at him. "You are the worst person to be in control right now, and you don't have magic."

"Because you won't share. If you shared, I would end this all now."

It was tempting, but Atticus wouldn't be here right now if this moment was not part of his plan. The only way they would defeat him was by doing the unexpected.

Alizon nudged them out of the way and went to the window. Eyes still red from crying, she threw her hands over mouth, bracelets clinking together as she took a step back. Atticus paused at the end of the drive. He held the Visian priestess by her hair and shoved her to her knees, while scanning the quaint home in front of him with a sneer.

"That's Atticus? That's my father?" Alizon sobbed. Caly touched her mother's shoulder and nodded.

Fear was stark behind Caly's eyes, and Ash could only guess at what horrors he'd subjected her to during her stay in Atlantis. There would be no warm reminiscing or tender catching up with a man like Atticus. In his eyes, his children and grandchildren resulted from careful breeding, all brought into this world to further his plans.

"We have to get the key," Rose hissed. She rattled the doorknob to the attic door, snatching her hand back with a curse as it burned her. "Now I know where Harmony picked up that trick."

"I tried a spell or two while we were waiting for you and your mother," Okea said, a reverential tone to her words that hadn't been there before. Ash wondered if it was because Rose was now the Augur or if Okea recognized Alizon and her daughters as successors of the throne.

"Clemmy has it locked down tight," Basil said. "We all tried."

Lightning cracked across the blue sky outside, and the house shook. Atticus bent Lyrian's head back. The priestess maintained an expression of fierce pride. As if the Atlantia king was manhandling her upon her request.

"Daughter and granddaughters," Atticus shouted. "I know you are in there. Do come out before I do something you will all regret."

Lyrian responded in a foreign language before spitting up at the king. His one good eye widened, but his lips turned up in a feral grin as he dragged two thick fingers through the spittle on his face. He grasped her face in one hand, pried open her mouth, and shoved his fingers down her throat as she clawed at him. From this distance, they could hear her gag and choke, and red blotches stained her skin while blood dripped down Atticus' hand in the places her teeth had pierced him.

When her body went limp, he withdrew the hand inside her mouth, slid it along her jaw almost like a caress, and then snapped her neck before dropping her to the ground. Everyone around Ash gasped, and Rose buried her face in his shoulder, the wetness of her tears seeping through his t-shirt as he continued to watch the scene outside.

Atticus stared at the dead priestess as if she had greatly inconvenienced him. Rolling his shoulders back, he snapped his fingers in the forest's direction, and two guards stepped forward, dragging Harmony and Jemina to their king's side.

"That bastard," Basil snarled while Alizon sobbed.

Willow went white and fell backward in a dead faint. Caly caught her before she struck the floor, and she sat down, lowering Willow's head into her lap and smoothing back her short spiky hair.