Seduced by Innocence by Alex Lux Page A

and me, but every winter she says no.
     
    Frosty will never come to life, as long as the joy that once lived in my sister stays dead.

    "WHAT IF YOU learned to control your power? Then you could be with him without fear, right?"
    Mother glared at Ocean for whispering to me, and I elbowed her in the ribs and hissed under my breath, "Hush. We'll talk later."
    She was right, though. If I could control my powers we wouldn't have a problem, but that was a big if. I didn't think it was possible. Mother made it clear that it would never happen, that I'd always live under this curse. But then, Mother had kept some pretty big secrets from everyone, and I had no idea what to do with that information, or with the unerring trust I'd always placed in her.
    Ocean and I had stayed up all night talking about our options. I wanted to show Mother the picture and ask her about it, but Ocean said she'd just come up with some lie and we'd never learn the truth. She argued that we should hold onto it and try to find out more.
    So I promised not to say anything, but carrying around this secret felt like lying with every breath. A lie of omission was still a lie, and though I had no moral imperative to tell anyone about this, my conscience wouldn't let me rest.
    My mouth dropped in a wide yawn that I tried unsuccessfully to stifle. Between my late date with Derek, the attack, finding the puppies—I could barely think of them—and staying up late with Ocean, I hadn't gotten a single minute of sleep last night.
    I debated whether I would go to my martial arts training today. I needed rest, and Mother would be pissed if I left the property, but I needed to learn to defend myself, especially after everything that had happened. Maybe I could say I was sick and needed to sleep and Ocean could cover for me.
    What was I thinking? I needed to stay away from Derek. So I would have to find another way to train.
    With that, decided I focused on the meeting.
    Mother was still talking, naturally. "Our magic successfully protected Blake during his mission, and we now know for a fact that their power source is real. It's being guarded in a secret garden, and we believe it's a rose bush."
    Roses. How ironic.
    "We need to steal the rose bush and claim its power. This will strengthen us and weaken them, and allow us to defeat them once and for all." Mother draped a purple scarf around her neck in a flourish of the dramatic. "Rose, I will need you by my side for this, to use your powers against the Druids should they get too close."
    All eyes turned to me, and I shrank in on myself. I didn't want to use my powers against anyone ever again, regardless of the reason.
    "Is there a problem, Rose?" Mother stood and towered over the group.
    My voice held steady despite my fears. "After what happened last night with the puppies, I just can't do anything like that right now. I'm still drained from the last time I used my powers. It's going to take a few days to recover. At least a week, I think, maybe more. In fact, I'm really not feeling well. I need to rest, maybe spend the day alone in bed."
    Mother stood silent, penetrating me with her eyes. Finally, she nodded and the coven let out a collective breath. "Very well. You are looking a bit pale. Stay in your room today; you're excused from all chores for the next week. We won't attack until the new moon, when our powers will be strongest and they'll be weakest. You have almost two weeks. Be ready."
    Two weeks to figure out a way to stop all of this insanity before more people were killed.
    Mother dismissed the meeting, and Ocean and I walked back to our cottage.
    She held my arm to steady me. "Are you really going to ditch martial arts today?"
    Now more than ever I needed those skills. Why couldn't life be simpler? "No, I need to go. But I need you to stay here and cover for me, to keep people out of my room. Can you do that?"
    She nodded. "I was going to suggest that very thing. First, take a nap, because you really do