Antebellum Awakening (The Network Series #2)(102)

My mind returned to the ballroom. I heard the High Priestess speaking again. If you won’t settle our matter in private, then you will have three seconds left until I kill you on the spot.

“Miss Mabel didn’t respond to your offer, did she?”

Marten shook her head. “No. She disappeared. We were at her mercy, for Mildred refused to let you die or to kill Mabel.”

My eyes widened in shock.

“Why? Why would she refuse to kill her?”

Marten drew in a deep breath. “Mildred believed that we need Mabel in order to end this. Mabel wasn’t the beginning or the end of the evil grasping for control of Antebellum, but she may be our only chance to end it.”

“Angelina,” I whispered. “The High Priestess knew about Angelina.”

“She suspected,” he said. “But never could confirm it. Mildred asked me to continue our search for the Book of Spells and for Angelina once she passed on, something I mean to take very seriously.”

I looked up at him.

“I’m glad,” I said with relief. “I’ve been afraid no one would believe me.”

He gave me a warm smile.

“Now, this is for you.” He handed me the small scroll. “Mildred wanted you to have this. In fact, she was so worried about it that I took a vow that I came to fulfill. Consider my duty done. I shall be in contact with you, Bianca. Very soon, I think. I’m in the market for an Assistant, if you’re interested. I’ll need someone to help me search for the Book of Spells.”

“Sure,” I said. I’d have to get a job eventually anyway. Papa wasn’t going to let me mope around the castle anymore. Not that I wanted to, anyway. “Thank you, Marten.”

Once I took the scroll he walked away, his hands clasped behind his back. I stared at it for several minutes before breaking the seal. The tiny message crackled as I unrolled it. Four words in the High Priestess’s thin writing met my eyes, sealing off the portion of my heart that would always belong to her.

The choice was mine.

My jaw tightened. I read it twice, then crumbled it in my hand. The High Priestess chose to die so that I could live. I’d always mourn the High Priestess, like I’d always mourn Mama. She’d been one of my best friends in her odd, severe way. Missing them would always be a part of me. Perhaps this was how it was always meant to be, perhaps not. It didn’t matter anymore, because I couldn’t change what happened.

The paper caught fire in my fist, smoldering from the heat of my magic. My eyes lifted back to the verdant hills of the forest of my home.

We are a Network at war. A world about to be divided.

I no longer stood on the edge of something grand and horrible. The Central Network had taken a step into the chasm as one, and we plummeted toward the bottom together.