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“The Greenbriers will agree to hold athe incident to all their people They will again stress the iotten a this, they will offer one of their own blessed creatures to compensate for the one lost” She tilted her head at the warlock “I believe your territory has had a bountiful litter of pups recently?” The warlock nodded, but I could tell he wasn’t too keen to hand over one of his precious canines to the Cricketfires “Will this suffice between the two of you and settle the feud?”

After a tense silence, both parties nodded

“Good,” I said, stepping in when Luna silently passed the torch on to me “Then thisfeuds between the two of you regarding this incident” I eyed thehter in ree that this was just aill-placed jokes, and that neither the Greenbriers nor the Cricketfire covens would have any interest in stealing power froain?”

I holdthe power crackle off Benedict behind me Sure, it was a backdoor way into the question we really needed answered, but it still was ato let slide on by

“The Greenbriers coven would never resort to such treachery,” the warlock said, and I’m surprised he didn’t spit on the stone patio with the way he spat the words “We don’t need their power, or anyone else's, as we stand just fine on our own”

I resisted the urge to turn around, to look at Benedict for confirmation

“As do the Cricketfire coven,” Gemma spat back “We have no need for extras We have an abundance of our own”

Fine, fair enough

“Then the matter is settled What is next?”

“That ell,” Luna said, hours later after all the coven leaders in attendance had returned to their territories

My sister, Benedict, and rounds, the s around us as we sat in rich wooden chairs gathered around a blue-flamed fire pit

“I didn’t kill anyone,” I joked, and she flashed me a rueful smile