Chapter 234

Tessa’s POV

Lucias cleared his throat loudly, making Patty stop her words and quickly stand to her feet. Her face looked flushed, and her eyes widened as she stared between me and Lucias, his arm still wrapped around me protectively.

“I’m so sorry,” she breathed. “I didn’t mean—”

“Enough,” Lucias said, his words firm, and even I felt the need to silence and bow my head at him.

They all stood and fell to their knees in front of Lucias. I resisted the urge to do so, not wanting to give this man my submission.

“Tessa is a part of our coven now. She agreed to stay with us and allow us to help her train. We are to treat her with nothing but respect. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” they all said in unison, keeping their heads lowered in respect to their leader.

I felt a little uncomfortable. I tugged at my fingers nervously and kept from making eye contact with any of them. His arm only tightened around me, pressing me into him.

“Good,” he said, looking down at me. “I’m going to show you where we perform most of our spells.”

I swallowed the knot in my throat as we walked across the living room and through an open archway. We walked through a large kitchen, and I could smell the delicious food cooking in the oven. My stomach growled and I wondered for a split second when the last time I’d eaten was.

I was honestly surprised I was thinking about food at a time like this. I shook my head, and we walked through a set of doors and down a long corridor. There were many rooms in this house, and I wondered what they were all used for.

At the end of the hallway was a large set of maroon doors with golden emblems engraved on the door. There was a sense of power radiating off the door that I found myself drawn to. I stared in amazement as Lucias placed his hand on the door and pushed it and it opened with little to no effort on his part.

My mouth nearly dropped open at the large room we stepped inside. There was a big cauldron in the center of the room and around the walls were shelves and shelves of potions and weapons.

“You will be doing a lot of your training in here,” he explained. “I will personally be teaching you. I’m not going to lie to you, Tessa. It won’t be easy. But I know you are a smart girl and will have no problems keeping up with me.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I took in the rest of the room.

Golden designs were swirling around the walls and dark wood floors.

It was strange because even though I could hardly remember my mother, I felt a connection with her, and it made my heart swell. I had to choke back tears that desperately wanted to escape my eyes again.

"It’s pretty in here,” I admitted.

Lucias smiled fondly as he nodded.

“I think you are going to like it here, Tessa,” he told me. “We are going to start your lessons as early as today. I hope you are ready.”

I stared down at my hands, frowning.

“I don’t know if my heart is really in it,” I admitted, thinking about Joseph.

I knew he was still out there somewhere, and I knew he was looking for me. There was no doubt in my mind; I could feel it in my gut. My intuition has never been wrong before and I doubt it was wrong now. I wasn’t going to tell Lucias that though; I needed him to think that I was on his side completely and that I was going to stay.

It was the only way I knew I could survive this.

Lucias walked over to a large bookshelf on the far side of the room and rummaged through it for a minute before he uncovered a large book. He brought the book over to me and showed me the cover.

I gasped when I saw it.

It was the same spell book that Anna had given me.

Did they take it from my apartment?

“How did you get that?” I asked, reaching to grab the book from him.

He frowned as he pulled the book away.

“It’s a spell book. We have many of them,” he told me, glancing at the cover himself. Then recognition flashed in his eyes. “Have you seen this book before?”

I wasn’t sure how much to tell him and I felt dumb for bringing it up in the first place, but I nodded my head once.

“Yes,” I admitted. “I was given a book just like this.”

“Who gave you this book?” He asked, curiously. “Another witch? That’s impossible. This book was designed by the former Coven leader. It was for this coven alone. No other witch outside this coven should have this book.”

I furrowed my brows together; that was the same book Anna had given me. The same book that sat on a shelf in my apartment.

“Her name is Anna. She grew up with the witches and they gave her this very spell book a long time ago,” I explained. “I would recognize the cover anywhere. It’s in my apartment.”

His brows shot up to his hairline as he studied my face.

“Is this Anna a witch?” He asked.

I shook my head, biting my lower lip.

“She’s now a vampire,” I told him, my voice dropping to a whisper, not wanting the others to hear.

Fury flashed through his eyes, and I saw the speckle of red in his eyes like I saw earlier. It made me shudder. A cold breeze attacked my flesh causing goosebumps to form on my skin and make me shiver.

“A vampire has this spell book?” He asked through his gritted teeth.

I shook my head again.

“Not anymore. She gave it to me,” I told him.

He took a deep breath and nodded; I could feel him calming.

“A vampire having possession of this book is never a good thing,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m glad she no longer has it, but I’m worried about how long she’s had it. These books are sacred to our kind, and they hold a lot of information that could prove to be dangerous if the wrong species got their hands on it. And vampires are definitely the wrong species. This book specifically holds a lot of our secrets. It was designed for us and us only. No one else should possess it.”

I wanted to argue with him that Anna could be trusted, but I decided to keep my mouth shut knowing that no good would come from an argument right now.

“Have you tried any spells from this book?” Lucias then asked.

The memory of almost burning down the forest in the mountains came rushing back to me and I couldn’t help the cringe on my face, making him arch an eyebrow at me.

I nodded slowly.

“It didn’t go well,” I admitted, shaking my head at the thought. “It was meant to make the cold air warmer, but I ended up setting the forest on fire.”

Amusement appeared on his face as he handed me the book.

“Show me which spell it was,” he ordered.

I took the book and flipped through it until I uncovered the spell. I pointed and showed him the page.

He read it briefly and then to my surprise, he let out a laugh.

“This spell is meant to create fire,” he told me. “No wonder you almost burned down a forest.”

My cheeks flushed and I lowered my gaze.

“It wasn’t my proudest moment,” I murmured.

“Maybe not, but that’s what we are here for,” he said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I knew the gesture was meant to be comforting, but I felt uneasy with his hand on me. I didn’t want him to touch me, and it took everything I had not to shove him away from me.

“How did you feel when you cast this spell?” Lucias asked, studying my face.

I frowned and thought about it for a moment. I hadn’t really thought about how I felt when I was casting this spell. I just remember feeling terrified about the fire and I wasn’t sure what to do. I felt out of control, and I just wanted it to stop.

I wasn’t sure how to put that into words though.

“Afraid,” I managed to say, meeting his eyes. “I was terrified because the forest was burning. The fire was out of control.”

“Did you feel unstable?” He asked.

I raised my brows at his question.

“What?” I asked.

Was he asking if I felt crazy?

“More often than not, our spells will reflect our moods. If you weren’t in control, then the fire wouldn’t be in control either. Lesson number one is to always be in control of your emotions so that your spells will also fall into line and be in control as well.”

“I guess I felt unstable,” I admitted. “It was hard to tell at the time. It was weird though, but the fire didn’t burn me, and I was directly in the middle of it.”

Lucias let out a throaty laugh.

“Of course, it didn’t burn you. The spells you cast work for you, not against you. You have so much to learn, but don’t you worry. I will teach you everything.”

There was a tightness in my chest from his words, but I didn’t let it bother me. I just nodded, a little grateful that at least I had someone to help me control my powers while I waited for Joseph to rescue me from this place.

Because he was going to rescue me.

He was alive. I just had to wait and be patient.

There was a soft knock on the door and when we turned around, Patty was standing at the doorway.

“I just finished making lunch if you are hungry,” she told us.

Lucias nodded to her and then looked at me.

“Let’s have lunch and continue where we left off after. We have a lot to cover.”