Vengeance Throne (The Callistra Chronicles #2)

ELEVEN

Chapter Eleven

"You are all ingrates," Pasiphae yelled, pacing up and down the meeting room of the town hall.

"Pasiphae," Meira hissed. She looked horrified, but not as horrified as the other members of the Council sitting around the table.

"What?" she snapped, whipping around. "Am I wrong? Seth just got rid of all the sylphs and now you're trying to punish him? For what?"

The witches in the nearby villages had tried to riot, and they had narrowly avoided catastrophe because Circe had dragged Seth back to the house while Pasiphae ran the other way with a projection that Seth had created of himself. The witches had chased after her and the phantom instead, only to be struck with confusion when Pasiphae was forced to a stop at the dead-end of a dirt road, alone.

With Eo's temporary lack of magic, a meeting had been called, and even though the two teenage Divines had not been invited upon "unique consideration," Pasiphae barged in anyway.

One of the witches around the table cleared her throat.

"Please understand this is a matter we must discuss simply because there are no pre-existing laws written on the situation," Zera said, placing her clasped hands in her lap. "We are not jumping to prosecution."

"Why not?" another voice grumbled begrudgingly. Zera frowned at Hilstan, wordlessly telling the elderly witch that he was not helping.

"The path of least resistance is letting this play out," Zera assured tightly. "But we are currently on a very slippery slope: the Seelie Crown, who is capable of draining our entire sector with one pulse of magic, is walking freely on our streets."

Pasiphae slammed her hands down onto the table. There was a hollow sound from her palms, but also a dull clunk of the metal ring hitting wood.

"We are allied with the Seelie Crown," Pasiphae spat. "That is the only reason why we haven't yet been razed to the ground, and if we can switch its throne, then perhaps we can start a diplomatic trade relationship with Airesi and not have witches dying of starvation on the daily!"

Meira stood up suddenly, and stretched a frail hand around Pasiphae's shoulders. "Come with me now."

Pasiphae tried to struggle, but with one glance from Meira, she knew this wasn't an issue worth arguing over.

"Seth is returning to Airesi soon anyway," she spat to the Council while Meira dragged her through the doorway. "So don't waste your time!"

"Pasiphae," Meira warned sternly when the door closed after them. They started down the stairs. "Don't antagonise the Council."

The worst part was that Pasiphae didn't intend to antagonise them. It was simply that she was trying to usher in a new world where witches and fae could at the very least work together, but it seemed not a soul wanted to agree. They didn't see what she saw: they weren't familiar with the good intentions Seth carried, they didn't see how his eyes lit up when he spoke about freeing his people.

All they saw was a faery capable of rendering them weak.

Did they think that they had it bad when their magic disappeared for a few hours? Pasiphae had no magic and she was bombarded with debilitating pain each time. They should try walking about in her shoes.

"They're not thinking ahead," Pasiphae muttered. "The world is changing."

"It has little significance what they decide," Meira said. She nudged Pasiphae out of the town hall, intending to walk her stubborn granddaughter all the way home, lest she get into another scrap on the way there.