Underneath a Dark Moon (Twisted Dark #3)

Chapter Two: Check It Twice

A list popped into the air in front of me and I blinked but hastily grabbed it before it could flutter away. I smoothed it out and my mother's familiar flowing handwriting jumped out at me. I resisted the urge to sigh. It was a to do list for before I returned home for the day. I couldn't complain too much, my mother was very attentive to me. She allowed me to live with her and my younger siblings and she never once complained that I stayed with her. In fact she was the most nurturing person I knew and she always had the most confidence in me and my magick. It was misplaced but it showed me that she loved me deeply.

I looked at the list and headed straight for the apothecary near the center of the coven. I kept my head down, ignoring everyone I passed by as I scurried along the outer edges. I hated bringing attention to myself. I knew I could snark at others if they came at me verbally and I could rapidly escape. However I did not like anyone confronting me. It was easier to hide away, to be unseen and unmocked when no one could actually pinpoint me. It was harder at the temple when I did my spell but it was much easier in the coven. There were a lot of places I could fade into the background with.

The apothecary was a different story though. That meant all eyes would be on me and I hated how my mother always sent me to gather her ingredients. She could have sent anyone else, my little brother Aymis even, everyone would have loved to see him, but no, she sent me. The only witch of her line that had pretty much no magick. I was the oddity and her sending me on the errands just made it that much worse.

The building came closer and I did my best to ignore the twisting in my stomach at the sight of it. I hoped it was Elder Tish who was working. She at least didn't question me about the list like Veronica did. She just silently judged me before giving me what I needed before handing me the bill. Her air of superiority was grating but it was better than the shit that Veronica put me through.

I swallowed hard, clutching the list tightly in my hand as I slowly moved towards the door and slipped inside, wincing at the bell that rung as the door opened. "Who is it?" My heart sunk into my feet and I bit back a groan as I glanced skyward and cursed the heavens with everything in me before I turned around.

"Hello, Veronica. I am just here to pick up some supplies." I lifted the list, trying hard to ignore the rest of the witches that were browsing the shelves, looking for their casting supplies. I threw her a hasty smile before I tried to dip behind a shelf.

"Hold on, Lacey- oh I mean Nolvis." Her voice was tight with mocking and I froze, grinding my teeth together before I straightened my back and turned towards her, a tight smile on my face. "Let me see the list." Her voice was condescending as she swished her way down the aisle towards me, her robes were pristine and I would bet every bit of gold I had that she used magick to keep them that way. The preening, prissy pigeon.

"It's Novis. No 'L' in there." I said the correction quietly as I held out the list towards her.

"Is it? I am so sorry, it's easy to get confused when you are... well like you." She gave me a mocking smile that had several of the other witches smirking. I bit the inside of my cheek hard to prevent myself from reacting. She glanced at the list and shook her head. "These are all too advanced for you, Novis. You know I cannot supply an underling witch with these types of ingredients." The words cut through me and set my teeth on edge as I did my best not to appear affected.

"These are for my mother. She sent me on an errand to get them for her." I resisted the urge to clench my hands into fists. I wanted to remain calm and unaffected, like BamBam had taught me but it was so hard as humiliation stained my cheeks red.

"Did she?" She quirked an eyebrow at me and a flurry of snickers from the other witches nearly broke me. I felt my eyes starting to burn and I hated her for it.

The bell above the door rung once more and I let my head bow slightly. "Do shut it, Veronica." At the cool and calm voice the entire store went dead silent. "Get the ingredients and leave her be." There was a detached note to the almost elegantly iced voice. It was masculine and my heart lurched in my chest as Veronica's face paled before she scurried away. Footsteps moved further into the shop and I did my best to hide towards the wall. I scanned the shelves, my shoulders hunched forward in embarrassment and humiliation as I tried my best to be invisible.

I lifted a slightly shaking hand to trace the names on the jars. Newt's skin, powdered mummy's eye, fang of were. I had to stop letting them get to me like that. I knew I needed to stand strong and firm but when confronted by people my own age, witches that were working towards becoming Elders, I was reminded of my own inadequacy. I wasn't what I should have been and it almost always made me shut down with mortification and embarrassment. I was the shame of my family. Even I knew that.

Nolo Vis.

The words had been hissed at me through mocking lips since my thirteenth birthday when I hadn't been what everyone thought I would be. BamBam had been the talk of the covens after her spell of awakening. Her power was incredible, nearly blinding. I should have been the same, should have been just as good, or just a level below. But I wasn't. I was poor little Lacey Lenkirion, a Nolo Vis among the merging of two of the strongest bloodlines the covens had to offer.

I was the shame my family carried. I knew that was why my father no longer looked at me, no longer spoke to me. I had ceased to exist for him on my thirteenth birthday. I was nothing but Nolo Vis to the warlock. My mother had spent a long time wiping away my tears and telling me to be strong because of it. I had just wanted to make him proud but there was no pride to be made with me as a daughter.

I slowly moved down the shelves, looking at the ingredients and stones that lingered on the shelves. The stones I could buy, no one could stop a witch from collecting them, it was the ingredients that left a pang in my heart. There were none I could buy. I couldn't mix potions or potent spells. I wasn't a witch, not truly. Just an underling. A witch that had not awakened her powers. According to all the laws there were, I wasn't truly allowed to use magick until the Divines blessed me.

Mother always told me they had, that I just needed to have enough confidence to use it but it was hard to believe her when I couldn't truly feel any magick within me. I could feel it fluttering when my emotions ran high but nothing besides a faint thrum in my veins.

"Put it on my tab and deliver it to Sorceress Lenkirion with my regards." The voice pushed through my head but I was sure it was my mother's name and title that caught my attention more than anything. If Veronica replied, I couldn't hear it. I glanced over my shoulder, wondering who it was as I tried to peer between the shelves.

My mother was a Sorceress. They weren't common but when you went above a level Seven, that was the designation you had. BamBam would have been one as well but she didn't like playing by the rules so she had the designation removed before she had truly even earned it.

I heard movement close to me and I tilted my head forward, pretending to look at the shelves intently as I picked up a jay of mayfly wings. "Why on earth are you hiding in the dust?" The question was amused and I let out a small eep, realizing the person was talking to me. "Come on, I can see you and the dust that clings to you." It was an order and I slowly turned my head, eyes wide, wondering what male would ever speak to me when my mouth dropped open in shock and the jar slipped from my fingers.

There he was, in his full gorgeous glory, Mercutio Anadori.

The King of the fucking Covens.