To Claim A Crown Book Two: The Winter Harbinger (Complete)

Chapter Thirty-Three: Hex

Jackson and Raurlin walk back into the lounge and settle down on the couch. Each with a glass of whiskey in their hands. Naomi kicks her shoes off and pulls her knees under her chin.

Raurlin sits beside her and Jackson sits on the furthest end of the couch. Sarah frowns at him but doesn't probe. Jackson sips at his liquor.

"There's something I need to share with you all. Especially you Sarah. If a brush with death has taught me anything it's that it's not worth having secrets on my chest when there's a dagger buried in it."

There's a tense silence and Jackson continues speaking.

"I killed Idonea. This much is true but the why is important. After the war we began having...relations. She was a strikingly beautiful woman. A witch, enticing in her magick. I fell for her. The first woman I would be with. The first woman I would fall for."

Jackson swallows down another mouthful.

"We lived in my community. In my home. My parents warned me against it but they grew to like her. My mother especially. She had grown up by the harbour. She was a traveller and often entertained us with her tales about the lands she travelled. She met Raur too. He didn't care for her much. In fact but at all. They didn't like each other. They had petty banter between the two of them constantly but it was never anything serious."

Jackson pauses.

"One day she told me she had a vision that Raurlin would be the end of our world as we know it. She told me that I needed to kill him. Of course I never believed her. I thought that she wanted me to herself. Maybe she felt threatened by our bond. But that night we ate dinner together. We went to bed...together. I slept for what felt like years."

There's a soft gasp that escapes Naomi's throat and she covers her mouth with her hand.

"She drugged me for lack of a better word. But it was a hex. I was trapped in a vision forced to watch the world perish. The lives of the innocent...they were all slaughtered at my hands and Raurlins hands. It went on and on and I could not wake up. I could not escape it. In that vision...I..."

Jackson inhales a shaky breath, determined to speak his truth.

"I killed my parents. I didn't know that it was my parents. I saw faceless figures that tried to attack me and I killed them. That's when I woke, over their bodies. Idonea beside me. Telling me that if Raurlin was allowed to live this is what would happen. I...pulled the tongue from her mouth and ripped the heart from her chest."

Jackson's eyes remain squarely on the floor. He sips at his glass again then dares to look up at Sarah. Sarah wipes at the tears on her cheeks.

"I don't know why she wanted you to know that Sarah. I'm sorry. I...make no excuses for what I have done. I killed her and I would do it again."

Jackson finishes the remnants of his drink then sets the glass down on the door at her feet.

"I know why she wanted you to tell me that."

Jackson lifts his head slowly and brings his eyes up to hers.

"She wanted me to know that I shouldn't get involved where things do not concern me. I am the balancing witch and I must always maintain balance. Jax...I am so sorry that that happened to you...and your parents."

"They rest easy with the Gods now," Raurlin assures, speaking up. "With my father too." Raurlin chuckles with a look at Jackson and Jackson chuckles too.

"Whatever decision we make going forward has to be better than those that were made before us. We find ourselves in a unique position. We've lived long enough to watch people make mistakes. We have no excuse but to learn from those mistakes."