Page 25 of Mending Mayhem
“There. See? Your brother loves you.” I handed the phone to Ash. “Next steps… How much time do I have with you in my mind? Can we sleep tonight and get started tomorrow without you taking over?”
“Yes, I believe so.”
“Good. We all go home and rest. In the morning, Chaos will cut off a finger, and Ash and I will perform the phoenix and exorcism spells. I want you guys to scry for the rest of the amulet while we do our thing, but don’t try to retrieve it without us. Understood?”
“Got it,” Miles said.
Shade shifted in his seat. “We can help you with the spells. The more power we put into them, the better.”
“Not a chance,” I said. “I don’t want you anywhere near the phoenix. If the Higher Power somehow finds out we performed it, we could be executed. I won’t put you in that position.”
He blew a hard breath through his nose. “We’ll be putting ourselves in that position. It’s our choice to help our friends.”
“And it’s my choice as your High Priestess to say hell no. You’re scrying. We’re breaking the laws of witchcraft. Got it?”
His mouth pinched, and he gave me the side eye before focusing on the road. “Yeah.”
We parked behind the building, and Shade went with Miles to his place. I kicked off my boots the moment we stepped through the upstairs door and set them against the wall before grabbing a can of sparkling water from the fridge and gulping it down.
“We need to talk.” Ash sank onto a stool at the counter.
Chaos rested a hand on her shoulder. “I’m going to shower.” He kissed the top of her head and strode out of the kitchen, leaving me alone to face my sister’s wrath.
“What did I do wrong this time?” I tossed the empty can into the recycle bin.
“Absolutely nothing.”
Okay, not completely alone. “I think so too, but Ash disagrees.” I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms.
She folded her hands in front of her. “Your ego put everyone in danger today.”
I raised my brows. “My ego? Adrian’s the one who tried to stop me from vanquishing the alastor demon just so he could prove a point.”
“And you weren’t trying to prove one?” She tilted her head in the same condescending way Mom would whenever I acted out.
My nails dug into my biceps. “He insulted me. He said I wasn’t a real witch, so yeah, I had to prove him wrong. You’d have done the same.”
“No, Em. You didn’t have to prove anything.” She straightened, crossing her arms. “But you insisted on killing them both by yourself just so you could outshine a dark witch whose opinion doesn’t matter.”
“But he…” I ground my teeth. “He challenged my authority…my abilities. I had to… And Mayhem was?—”
“No.” She leaned her forearms on the counter. “Don’t even try to blame him. I’ve seen how his magic affects you, and you acted the opposite. Your behavior today was all you, and it was not okay.”
“Don’t listen to her. Adrian challenged you, and you had to prove you weren’t a coward.”
“We are a team,” she said, “and you alienated us when you told Shade not to kill the fae. How do you expect the witches of this coven to respect you when you act like that? You stooped to Adrian’s level, and it was ugly, Em. So ugly.”
“I…” The defensive tension drawing my shoulders toward my ears relaxed, and I let out a slow breath. She was right. I’d gotten so caught up trying to put the asshole in his place that I’d cast my team aside. And for what? To prove myself to a narcissist? I knew better.
I nodded, closing my eyes against the pressure building behind them. “I’m sorry.”
“For what? You did nothing wrong.”
“Yeah, I did. I put myself…my ego…first. I did the one thing that annoys me the most in other people. I acted alone when I should have depended on my team.”
“You lost track of the mission.”
“I did, and I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” I laughed. “I’m not used to getting called out on my bullshit by anyone other than Mom. Why haven’t you done it more often?”