T*Witches: Kindred Spirits by H.B. Gilmour, Randi Reisfeld Page A

giving than others. Some helped themselves before helping anyone else.” She surveyed Ileana’s posh living room. “Sersee says your own guardian has probably cast a spell or two for personal gain.”
    Alex refrained from a knee-jerk defense of Ileana. She had been tempted herself to use her skills to, uh, “help herself” on a test, or find out what one of Cam’s superficial friends was really thinking. But it would never occur to her to use her gifts to hurt an innocent person or creature.
    Michaelina prodded, “Have you ever asked yourself why you just blindly believed everything Karsh taught you? Never even questioned it?”
    Alex bristled. “Lord Karsh, okay? And no, I never questioned it.” She didn’t explain that Sara, on her deathbed, implored Alex, “Listen to him. He might look scary, but he’s good.”
    “You guys are so touchy.” Michaelina shrugged. “I meant no disrespect.”
    Alex continued, “And I might not have understood everything, but I knew Lord Karsh’s heart. He was justeverything … everything that was pure and wise and kind … and good. He protected us, guided us, loved us. I knew him.” She fought back tears, which startled her almost as much as it did Michaelina. “And trying to be a fraction of the person he was, is a worthy goal.”
    The wiry witch’s expression softened. “Well, Sersee says —” she began lamely. Then shook her head. “Oh, never mind.”
    “Did you ever question what
Sersee
says?” Alex asked gently.
    Michaelina didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. And Alex didn’t have to break into her head to know: Michaelina wasn’t lamebrained, of course she had. But never as much as she was questioning it right now.
    Or not.
    Michaelina hung at Ileana’s cottage just long enough to gather some juicy info. She wasted no time scooting back to Sersee, reporting word for word what she’d overheard. How respectful of Alex not to eavesdrop on the little backyard drama between Cam and Shane. Michaelina had not been so respectful. She parroted back to Sersee, “We’re not that serious. I don’t have those kinds of feelings for her.”
    Sersee was burning up. How dare Shane tell this … this … nothing! that they weren’t “that serious.” Had Cam put a spell on him? Was this DuBaer princess capableof even doing that? If Sersee had been jealous before, she’d just racheted up to murderous: Cam would live just long enough to regret it.
    What Sersee had seen earlier in the day added fear to her fury. On their own, Camryn and Alexandra were powerful forces not to be underestimated. Together, they were truly awesome, possibly unbeatable. Imagine figuring out how to undo the transmutation spell before they’d even been taught it, let alone initiated!
    Separating them was the only option. Wasn’t it lucky, then, that she knew just how to do that?

CHAPTER TWELVE
    THE VOW
    Ileana was back.
    Or so she told herself, studying her image in the cloudy mirror propped on Karsh’s fireplace mantel.
    It wasn’t as if she were feeling like her old self again. That would be too much to hope for. She might never
be
her old self again. The spell-casting, transmutating, incantation-chanting ingenue might be gone for good — buh-
bye
— but Ileana, dressed to kill, was back with a vengeance.
    Her makeup was perfect, her blond hair brushed to shimmering brilliance, her bloodred nail polish looked eerily liquid as she tapped her fingers on the cover of Karsh’s journal.
    And she was wearing the diamond earrings that Thantos had given Beatrice as an engagement gift, earrings that Karsh had kept for her — along with the secret of who her father was.
    Now she knew. And knew how he must fear her, fear her mother’s blood. That was why he’d sent her away, given her to Karsh to raise, kept her at a “safe” distance all her life.
    Only no DuBaer son was safe, not while there were Antayuses in their midst. After all, the Antayus Curse had never skipped a generation. Or so