Words of Power (Alice Gray Book 3)

46

"ORDER IN THE COURT."

Emily slammed her gavel up and down far more times than were necessary, her pale face and straight line mouth giving away how close I'd come to condemning myself.

"Miss Gray," a melodious voice rang from my left, while a hand drew me to the bench where I would meet my DPA assigned representation. My head swivelled his way as I let myself be drawn to my seat.

I didn't really have a choice. My mind swam with the rainbow colours of his spectacular life-force as he ramped up his magical lightshow for my benefit only. Tiny particles of sparkling colour zipped around his body, orbiting him; a sun to their planets. My advocate was Brad and he was using whatever angel juice he had to make me comply with his authority.

Once he was sure he had my attention, the particles slowed. They hovered close to his skin, the odd sparkling speck of magic floating off into the Minster's high vaulted ceiling. My eyes followed the rainbow mites up to where they joined the silver particles of my own scattered magic. Magic leaking away, with nothing to replenish it until I opened the Eye. 

Bloody divinities and their cosmic angst.

I was on trial for murder and all of a sudden I was responsible for stopping the end of the world. How was that fair?

Empty and sad, my eyes flickered back to where the vampires sat. I knew I should push all thoughts of Thomas aside in the face of an ecclesiastical shitstorm on this level, but that was really difficult to do under the scrutiny of his knockout new girlfriend.

Thomas's rich brown eyes passed over me devoid of any emotion; no lust, no hatred, not even an acknowledgement that we knew one another.

Nothing.

Just an empty gaze that captured me in its remoteness like a rabbit frozen in headlights. The seconds ticked by. I couldn't tear my eyes away, so desperate was I to catch something, just a glimmer of emotion to tell me that I knew who the hell he was. Thomas Potts, Clerk of Assize. Vampire. Man.

But there wasn't anything there of the man I thought I knew, and when his eyes left mine, the spurned desire in my body roared forth, pulling a strangled moan of anguish out of my throat before I had chance to swallow it back down.

Thomas didn't even bother to look back. And that was all I needed to understand that everything between us had been as insignificant to him as a grain of sand in the desert.

What the hell had I been thinking to trust a story like that?

Love predestined by fate, and foretold by my Pendle Witch ancestor, the original Alice Gray. She'd shown me Thomas's pride and vanity when she'd visited my dreams, but I'd ignored her warnings. Anger sizzled like acid in the pit of my belly. To get rid of Thomas back then she'd woven a tale of a doppelgänger toy, specifically designed for him to play with some time in the future.

She'd thrown me to the wolves with nothing more than some hazy pictures of the past to guide me. Thanks a lot granny a million times removed.

I was an idiot.

And he was a bastard. He'd probably never even believed the story anyway, or even if he had, once he'd met me he realised I was nothing like his first love.

Dragging my eyes away from his unconcerned profile, the dark pools of nothing that seemed to look straight through my face stayed tattooed onto my soul, agitating my insides even though their owner didn't care enough to spare another glance in my direction.

Next to him, James Device, head vampire in London, and my several times removed paternal uncle, twitched with anxiety. The picture of a concerned relative, his bright aquamarine eyes darted between Thomas and I as if the drama of our relationship bewildered and worried him.

I almost snorted my disbelief at the charade. First Stephen and Emily and now Thomas and James. The next thing I knew, this whole pack business would turn out to be some elaborate hoax.

My head twisted further round to seek out Lucas with Evan in the closest row of wooden seats in the Quire. My body followed my head around and my eyes drank in the love and support that flowed from them to me. This had to be real. The pack bond was stronger than ever since my magical boost, and no one could fake that. Something lightened inside me at the knowledge that now I could never be alone again. Not as long as my pack was thriving.

Next to Evan, somehow managing to fit into one chair, was a massive biker dude with tree-trunk legs and scruffy beard. The scent of lavender and old cheese floated towards us. Ralph's twinkling violet eyes told me that he was doing it on purpose.

My cousin Anne sat on the row behind with Hazel and a contingent of the Northern Coven. It was impossible to work out if Hazel or my great-granny Evelyn Gray was in charge right now, but considering that Hazel's husband was one of the group, I suspected that my auntie had wrestled back control, for the time being at least.

I could feel my eyes widen as they fixed on Hazel's husband. I'd seen the man twice before, and each time he'd looked at me with such loathing that I'd quickly moved on, eager to escape his negative energy. It only dawned on me now that I'd somehow managed to overlook what had been right in front of me the whole time.

Little crimson veins ran through his rich blue life-force.

Crimson veins, just like my ancestor, Jennet Device.

The breath caught in my throat as I followed the spider-web veins pulsing through his life-force. He was the only witch that inherited this trait, despite the coven's common ancestry. As my gaze focused on the small man, little signs caught my eye. A flicker here, a disruption of energy there, and the more I looked the more I saw.

Cold dread crawled over my skin as the air around Hazel's husband buzzed and hummed. Blue and crimson specks rotated around his form. Bright, shining stars of powerful energy whizzed around him, orbiting him, before breaking off and floating into the cool air of the cavernous Minster.

The sight would have been spectacular, had I not seen it before. I knew exactly what sort of power that was and who could wield it.

He'd been hiding in plain sight all this time.

Azazel.

It's him! But will he save Alice? Read on...