spellbound | book #1 | completed

X X X I I

[edited: 15/09/2017]

Hilda sat behind a long wooden panel among the other members of the Council, trying her best to hide her nerves as the Principle Warlock babbled on about something she had not been listening to, no doubt about the key. He was pacing along the tiled floor wearing a grave expression, just as everybody else was after the explosion.

"There has not been an attack like this in centuries," he was saying with his hands crossed behind his back and his chest raised upwards. "We must put this to an end immediately. No more debates about the mortal girl and no more fruitless attempts at tracking the Dark Ones. Something must be done, and quickly."

"But what exactly can we do?" Cliona Trevils, Tykon's mother and a rather outspoken member of the Council, questioned. Her blue eyes were identical to her sons, though where his were always friendly, hers were always a little more guarded. "We cannot simply hand this key over. We do not even know what it is capable of, only that it is dangerous and holds dark magic within it. Refilyn knows what might happen should the Dark Ones get it."

"I am inclined to agree." Those were the first words that Hilda had said upon entering the Council Hall, but she had begun to pay attention now that the fate of the key was being discussed. "Do you honestly think that the Dark Ones will stop when they get that key?"

She paused, searching the eyes of her peers. Each one of them looked back at her expectantly, and there was a part of her that enjoyed it. She had worked tremendously hard for a place on the Council, and even harder for people to listen to her. Now, she could speak up without ever having to doubt herself. She had always liked the feeling of power surging through her, and that had not changed. Now she had simply found a different, healthier way of managing it. 

"Of course they will not," she continued and stood up with her palms flat against the desk. Her chair scraped against the floor as she did. "They will only get worse with the key's power. They wish to harm and destroy, and they will only wish that more when they have the power to."

"I thought that you had belief in your son," August frowned. "You have convinced us many a time that there is still good in him if only you could find it. Now you do not even seem to acknowledge that he is the leader of the Dark Ones. He is the one causing this destruction."

"I am well aware of my son's part in this," she retorted coldly, "but I was wrong. Though I hate to say so, I cannot guarantee that my son's heart will change anytime soon. Any lightness in him has been lost, for he has fallen into the darkness too many times now. It is time to take action. They must be stopped."

"And you are willing to do what is necessary in stopping them, even if that means harming your son?" another member voiced, this one a stout warlock with yellow hair named Marsden Latimer. Hilda had never particularly gotten on with him and did not attempt to hide it now as she glared at him.

"Are you suggesting that I would allow my emotions to cloud my judgement?"

"I am suggesting that it is all well and good saying such things now, but what about when you see your son face to face? You are a mother, and mothers never wish to harm their children, not even when it is the only course of action to take. I fear that you should not be here at all when discussing matters that are so personal for you."

Hilda was about to snap back at him and perhaps call him a word that one should never use in a Council meeting when she was interrupted by the Principle. "Enough. Hilda has given us no reason to doubt her as of yet, and until she does, she shall remain present during these meetings."

"What about her relation to the mortal girl?" a third voice chimed in, and she was not sure who it belonged to this time, as its owner sat on the opposite end of the panel, so far away that Hilda almost didn't hear it at all. "It is well known that her other son is very close to the weakling. She can no longer be trusted to prioritise warlock matters over mortal ones."