The Opal Witch

Chapter Eight: Sorcerers

Lux's reaction to the news about her father was overshadowed by Memaw's graceless dismount off the barstool. Declan caught her before she hit the hard floor and helped her back to her feet. Mama had covered her face with her hands and from the shaking of her shoulders, she appeared to be sobbing.

    Memaw shooed him away as she settled herself back into her seat, but her composure had been shaken beyond repair. "That's not even possible darling. They were sealed away after the rebellion."

    Mama sniffled and wiped her arm across her nose. "I know, but that's the only thing I can think of to explain the things he could do."

    "Could he have been a sorcerer?" Declan proposed. For some reason, the idea of her father being a sorcerer caused Memaw to sway again, as though a sorcerer was the worst of the two evils.

    "Mother, I would never," Bella exclaimed.

    Lux felt as though she was watching this scene unfold from outside of her body. No part of her felt any surprise, anger, dismay, or any other emotion appropriate for someone who'd had this story dumped on her. Most would be considering having their family members admitted, but Lux's uncanny ability told her that everything she'd heard was true. If it only told her how to process being lied to her entire life.

    Rubbing the dull ache in her chest, she held up a hand to stop the bickering between her grandmother and mother. Declan had eased away from the women, his allegiance wavering in light of all of the revelations. In fact, she narrowed her eyes at him. She couldn't process all the crap she'd just learned, but she could find out where he fit in all of this.

    "Care to explain where you come in?" she demanded. The question had a greater impact than her hand had, and the room grew silent. Memaw and Mama looked at Declan expectantly.

    "No," he said, his mouth settling in a stern line and making Lux's crush deepen. If he looked handsome when smiling or being uncertain, he was sexy as hell when he stood firm. "You two ladies are the ones who stepped into the mess by keeping all of the information from her. I warned you the first day we talked that this would not end well."

"Well, I never," Memaw huffed. "Declan is a sorcerer."

Lux resisted the urge to beat her head against the table. "Did you all just not have a panic attack about my father being a sorcerer?"

"There's nothing wrong with being a sorcerer, but a sorcerer and a witch are not allowed to be together," Declan rushed to explain.

"Be together?" She raised her eyebrows suggestively, loving how uncomfortable this topic made him.

"In that way," he muttered, causing the women to break out into laughter. "I swear. This time period has no decency. It's not appropriate to speak of such things in mixed company."

"Oh darling, you just need to give that up. Manners are a thing of the past."

That strong jaw clenched tightly again. "I will not abandon what my mother ingrained in me."

Lux swooned internally until what had been said sank into her mind. She was a witch. He was a sorcerer. They were forbidden to be together, and that rankled more than anything else she'd learned.

"Why haven't I ever seen anyone use magic?"

"I don't practice," Mama explained, "I gave it up long ago. It brings more trouble than it's worth."

Memaw scoffed. "That attitude is exactly why we're in the predicament we are in now, but out of respect for your mother, I didn't practice around you. She wanted to keep you out of this life."

"What changed your mind?"

"He did."

"Do you want to tell her now?"

Declan wandered over to the fridge and pulled out a beer and a coke. He handed Lux the coke and took a big gulp of what she assumed was meant to be liquid courage. But it wasn't fear she spied in his eyes when he began to talk; instead overwhelming sadness oozed from him.

"Sorcerers and witches have similar origins. We are the First Sons. Sons of mortal men and fallen angels, but our angelic side manifests differently. Where your body is a conduit for magic, we can only access it through tools and potions. Physically, we are stronger than the average man, and we became excellent warriors and protectors of our cousins, the First Daughters."

"Ugh, we are related."

"Lux."

Declan chuckled. "If by related, you mean the way everyone goes back to Adam and Eve, then yes, we're related."

"Declan!"

"Sorry. Every witch is a member of a circle, and each circle has a sorcerer to help protect them. To be appointed as a sorcerer to the coven of the First is a great honor, one my family has had for generations. But a hundred years ago, I failed to protect the future High Priestess, Leora, your great-great aunt."

"A hundred years ago?" Hearing a confirmation to what she'd felt last night only made everything else she'd learned tonight more real. "How?"

Memaw took over the story. "The High Priestess, Emma, was Leora's mother, and she couldn't be consoled after the death of her eldest daughter. She bound the powers of her daughter, Daphne, my grandmother, and pulled away from the coven. The other mothers followed her example, and they bound their daughters as well."

"I begged Emma not to do it," Declan interjected, "Leora would've been devastated, but I was banned from ever seeking the family out again. I'd let her daughter die after all. Right before Daphne's powers were bound, she sought me out. She'd had a dream that the Godelieve daughters would find their way back to the craft, to their purpose, and I had to be there. I went to my father, who helped me design a potion that would freeze me in time, until the Godelieve witch I was meant to protect reached her full power. That's you Lux."

Lux wiped at the tears that had formed in her eyes. She'd known something terrible had happened in her family, but she'd never imagined something like this. "It can't be me. I didn't even find a stone."

"We'll go back. You said you felt something from some of the stones. Maybe you just weren't really focusing."

Dread spread through her at the thought of stepping foot in that place again, so dark and unholy. "I don't think that will be necessary."

"She's right," Mama said, "I felt things from different stones, but that didn't mean they were my channeling stone. Remember the blazing heat and light when the angelic half of your soul found its match?"

    "It's just not possible. There's never been a Trueborn that didn't have a channeling stone. It gives the angelic side of your soul an outlet."

    "I'm not going back to Amulets," Lux insisted, slapping her palms on the marble countertop. "We can go to any jewelry store you want, but I won't go back to that one. Look, I need to go to my room and think about all of this."

    She'd made it to the foot of the stairs before Declan stopped her. He grasped her hand and turned her to face him, his gaze pleading. "Lux, whatever is going through your head right, it's understandable. I can't even fathom having all of this dumped on me. It was hard enough growing up with this knowledge, but I want you to know that I'm here for you. I woke up for you. Let me help you."

    She stood on her tiptoes to press her mouth against his cheek. Short pieces of stubble tickled the tender skin of her lips, and she had to squelch the sudden desire to drop kisses along the jawline she'd been admiring all evening. She'd end at his well-formed lips, prodding them open until she could dart her tongue inside and taste him. Almost she gave in. She deserved something special for her seventeenth birthday. But the conversation downstairs echoed in her subconscious. They could not be.

So she pulled away and gave him a soft smile. "Thank you. In a lot of ways, you're as lost as I am. We can navigate this new reality together."

"Always," he whispered, a spark of something she didn't understand zinging between them.

"Always."