Anathema (Causal Enchantment #1)(63)
“In my attempt at eternal love and life, I destroyed any chance Veronique had of the same. As inconsolable as I was after Nathan’s death, I couldn’t leave my sister like that, to suffer and die alone. And no other witch would ever dream of helping her, even if they could.”
Intrigue overshadowed my anger with Sofie for the moment. “But you said that was a hundred and twenty years ago. So … Veronique died?”
Sofie shook her head. “I knew it could take years to fix my error and there was no way to reverse it because of the nature of the spell. As I told you before, once these types of spells are cast, they can’t be undone. Veronique didn’t want to get old and gray, waiting, so we decided to ‘preserve’ her and place her somewhere where she could safely wait.”
“Where?” I whispered, picturing an underground tomb or coffin of sorts, dark and dusty and morbid.
“You’ve passed her many times, even admired her.” Sofie smiled secretively. She watched intently as I tried to decipher her riddle. When I frowned, shrugging in a sign of concession, she prompted, “In the atrium … ?”
The atrium … I gasped. “The statue! You turned your sister into stone?”
“No!” Sofie laughed. “She’s inside it. Entombed—like a mummy, only without all the white gauze.”
I shuddered involuntarily, shocked at the realization that an actual person was trapped inside. But it suddenly made sense. “That’s why Mortimer and Viggo spend so much time there.”
She snorted. “It’s not for their love of fine art, believe me.”
“So she’s alive in there?” I whispered.
“Sort of. She’s basically frozen, her mind in a coma, her body not aging. Once you bring a vampire back with you, I can release her and she can be transformed and live happily ever after with whichever of those two urchins she sees fit to choose.”
“Which one will she choose?” I wondered aloud.
“Good question.” Sofie leaned back in her chair. “It’ll spell disaster for the other one, surely. I want to be as far away from them as possible when that happens.”
“They’re not your friends, are they? Viggo and Mortimer, I mean. The fighting … it isn’t an act.”
Sofie smiled. “We tolerated each other until five years ago. The night Viggo killed your mother.”
“Why did he—” I couldn’t finish the sentence. Renewed agony stabbed through my heart.
She cringed, sensing my pain. “Because I kept you secret,” Sofie admitted reluctantly, shutting her eyes. “I cast that Causal Enchantment one hundred and twenty years ago, Evangeline. We waited for the fates to respond, to provide us with the solution. Then one day, eighteen years ago, the answer flooded into my mind. The spell had affixed itself to a newborn baby.” Her eyes popped open. “You.”
A cold chill slid through my body.
“The spell had set all kinds of rules and boundaries, specific things that couldn’t happen or the spell would corrupt itself. You couldn’t know about the existence of vampires before the night of your eighteenth birthday; you couldn’t be compelled—ever. And you had to wear that necklace and touch the statue of your own free will. All kinds of stupid rules.”
She spread her arms, the movement like an unconscious plea. “I never chose a human to bear the brunt of this, Evangeline. Believe me. Your name, your birth date, where you lived … it was all decided already. Please believe me, I didn’t intend any of this for you … Anyway, I kept it from Viggo and Mortimer. For years, they didn’t know the fates had responded, that the spell was finished. Max kept you secret too.” Sofie turned to gaze adoringly at Max, all signs of hatred gone.
“When I suddenly moved to Portland—not exactly the mecca for urban life—Mortimer sent Max there to protect me.” Sofie rolled her eyes, snorting. “I wasn’t stupid. I knew why he was there. It was a cover, of course; he was to keep tabs on me and report back. But I discovered he was feeding lies to Mortimer about basic things that I was doing. It was his way of telling me he was on my side. It’s shocking, really, that a werebeast would disobey its master like that. I didn’t know why, but I thanked the heavens every day. Eventually I revealed you to Max and we watched over you, trying to protect you while you grew up normally. While I tried to break the spell.”
“What happened, then?”
Sofie paused, swallowing. “They found out … Mortimer somehow forced an answer out of Max and they learned of you. Viggo swooped in, ready to kidnap and imprison you. Exactly what I expected would happen. So I explained why he couldn’t—all of the rules. Viggo was furious that I had kept you secret for thirteen years, but he wasn’t willing to risk breaking the spell; he decided it was best you had no bonds in the human world. So he killed your mother.”
I flinched at her words; they may as well have been a solid punch to my stomach.
“And then he promised that anyone else who got close to you would die. He wasn’t bluffing. So I spent the next five years compelling everyone to stay away—your foster families, your friends, the boys at school—everyone. I didn’t want you surrounded by death.”
“Is that why …” My whisper faded to nothing. It wasn’t me after all?
“There’s nothing wrong with you, Evangeline,” Sofie confirmed, her expression sorrowful.