Rising Covenant (Living Covenant Trilogy Book 1) by Amanda M. Lee

answer.”
    James flicked my forehead. “I don’t know why more people don’t bow to your superior intellect.”
    “Don’t encourage her,” Aric interjected. “If the vampires created the book, why didn’t they use it?”
    “Someone infiltrated their ranks and stole it,” James said.
    “Who?” I asked.
    “No one knows,” James replied. “There are a lot of stories about that time period. All we know is that The Archimage went missing before it could be implemented. It fell completely off the radar. We have no idea who took it, and we have no idea how it ended up at a Michigan estate sale. That’s one of the things we’ll research while I’m here.”
    “If The Archimage was designed to destroy mages, why does it react positively to me?” I asked.
    “Is lightning positive?” James arched a challenging eyebrow.
    “If the book wanted to hurt me, I would feel pain when I was struck by lighting and my hands started to smoke,” I pointed out. “The book protects me.”
    James glanced at Aric for confirmation. When his son nodded, James merely shook his head. “I can’t answer that. Maybe we can test a few other things with the book.”
    “I think we should destroy the book,” Aric announced.
    “No way,” I argued. “I want to see what other weird stuff I can do with it. I’ve always wanted to fly. Maybe the book will let me do that.”
    “It also might be important down the line,” Paris pointed out. “What happens if we destroy it now and need it later?”
    Aric apparently didn’t care. “You guys destroyed the resurrection stone, and that might have come in handy a time or two.” He was referring to another magical artifact Paris and I destroyed because we didn’t want it falling into the wrong hands.
    I hate it when he uses logic against me. “But … I want to see what I can do with it,” I whined.
    “You do plenty of freaky things without the book,” Aric argued. “You’re going to do some of them when we’re alone tonight.”
    “All right,” James growled. “That will be enough of that. Every time I come here you two are too free with the sexual innuendo.”
    “We’re adults,” Aric said. “We can do what we want, when we want. That includes talking about it.”
    “I don’t want to destroy the book yet,” I said. “I’m not ruling it out down the line. You have to be curious. Don’t you want to see if I can … I don’t know … control the world with it?”
    Aric snorted. “Trouble, I love you more than life itself. If you ruled the world, though, I would have to kill you.”
    I crossed my arms over my chest, pouting. “That was … hurtful.”
    “Living under your reign of terror would be hurtful, too,” Aric pointed out. “No bee would be safe.”
    “Those bees are still alive,” I grumbled. “Last night would have been a perfect excuse to burn them. I didn’t even think about it.”
    “See,” Aric said, wrinkling his forehead. “You’re not meant to lead, sweetie. You’re already a tiny despot in the making.”
    “And you’re her willing servant,” Paris whispered under her breath.
    “I heard that.”
    “I still don’t want to destroy the book,” I said. “Not yet. Give it a few days.”
    Aric sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. “Zoe, what happens if factions start getting desperate to get their hands on the book?”
    “They can’t get in here as long as the security is in place.”
    “Not everyone we care about is here,” Aric reminded me. “What about Mom? What about Kelsey? Heck, what about your parents? Using your parents as bait would be a smart move in a situation like this.”
    “Oh, crap.” Aric was right. Aric was always right. There was no way I was going to tell him that.
    I hadn’t talked to my parents in almost two weeks. I should have thought about this twenty-four hours ago. I moved around the kitchen island, scanning the countertop as I searched for my cell phone.
    “What are you doing?” Aric asked,