Devious Magic by Camilla Chafer Read Free Book Online Page A

city that was her other home. Étoile told me once that she had an apartment there, though I’d never been, and she had previously worked in finance in the city before the Council and her family took over her life. “What were you doing there?”
    “I’ll tell you about it another time.” That was Étoile all over: strictly need to know.
    “Sure.”
    Étoile pulled the door closed and leant against the frame, her arms folded. “The Brotherhood being here is bad news, Stella. Even if you don’t go to England, and I really recommend that you don’t, they can come back any time. They can leave people here to watch over you, maybe even infiltrate your life a little bit at a time and you won’t even know it. And it’s not just you, Stella, they’re a risk to Kitty, to me, to Seren and David. They could use you to get to any one of us.”
    “I know,” I said, feeling a little sick because it had already occurred to me. “I know.”
    “Evan will go to the ends of the earth to guard you and ensure your safety, but what about when he’s not around?” she asked. “The wolves have also extended their protection, but will it last if they start getting picked off? I mean, no disrespect to Gage, Annalise or any of the pack, but none of us can guarantee their loyalty in the face of death.”
“Isn’t this what all the lessons have been about?” I asked. “So I can protect myself? So I’m not a burden on any of you?”
“Oh, Stella, you’re not a burden. Please don’t think that you are. I just want to keep you safe.”
“And think about leaving?”
    “Temporarily,” she said. “We could go to New York, or you could go to Texas with Evan. Just for a little while, just long enough that they don’t look for you here anymore.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Good. In the meantime....”
“You don’t have to say it. I won’t be going anywhere alone.”
    “Keep Evan with you at all times, or Gage. Either of them would be a match for the Brotherhood. I’m glad I came home when I did.” I think Étoile was as surprised as I was when I heard her call my house “home,” but I let it slide. She’d only brush it off anyway. Nevertheless, I was glad she felt comfortable here. She’d been my mentor as long as she’d been my friend and I didn’t like to think of what she might have sacrificed to stay with me. What she and Evan both sacrificed.
    Perhaps that made me selfish, but it wasn’t like I had many friends when growing up. I’d actually been pretty lonely and, for the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed having a houseful now. My heart panged at the thought of losing them all, or of us splitting up again.
    Étoile gave me a little wave and stepped back through the door, sliding it closed behind her.
    Turning back to my laptop, I ran through the few emails that had come through while Étoile and I were talking. Then I emailed Seren and David, filling them in on anything they needed to know before I closed that window, calling it a day on work.
    Opening a new window, I scrolled through my watch list. Since I’d gotten my laptop and had the world at my fingertips, I’d been keeping a cursory eye on the Brotherhood’s news appearances. No one seemed to know who really ran the organisation, but they had a surprising amount of supporters. There were message boards and websites dedicated to their cause: denouncing witches, speculating on who might be one. There were a few Hollywood actors, singers and politicians with bizarre claims of witchcraft attached to them. Apparently, dark magic was the source of their success, said one conspiracy website which ran a gallery of images of suspected witches.
    On the other side, there were a lot of people who thought the Brotherhood were deranged. They also believed there was no such thing as magic and called the whole thing crazy. Like many things, both sides had a portion of the truth, but they were too diametrically opposed to even consider piecing together the jigsaw in