Raven Ridge (Witches of Sanctuary Book 2) by Savannah Blevins Read Free Book Online Page B

family, though. Are they all from Sanctuary?”
    Svetta’s smile is slow. “La Rochelle. It’s on the France coastline. I suspect you already knew that, though.”
    Her accent is thicker now, as if she’d been intentionally downplaying it before. I give her a slight nod. “I was always curious where Julien learned his French. Julien’s father Francois must have spoken it too. There was sign in French in the window of a bar he owned in Charleston.”
    Svetta nods. “Yes. Julien learned it from the Cote side of his family. His father taught him, like his grandfather taught me as a young girl. Julien would come visit me. He enjoyed practicing the language. I think it was a challenge for his mind. We used to sit here by the window and we’d play cards for hours.”
    Svetta pats the back of the empty seat she stands behind. “It’s been lonely without him. My sweet Julien. This curse, people think it hurts the one it consumes the most, but I tell you, my old heart can’t bear much more of it.”
    Reid scoots to the edge of his seat. “That’s why we came to see you. We want to end the curse.”
    She turns away. “There is no ending the curse.”
    Reid’s voice is soft as he takes in the sadness in poor Svetta’s eyes. “There is a way, Svetta.”
    “There is no way without the Book of the Moon. A book that is lost. It’s gone.” She shakes her head. “Without that book, there is no ending this curse. If that’s what you’ve come all this way to ask me, I’m afraid you’ve wasted your day.”
    “The book isn’t lost,” I say, moving toward her. I take her hand and pull out the seat for her to sit with us. “The book was stolen. The Bessette family has it.”
    “Bessette?” She looks at me for a long moment and then leans away. “You’ve been listening to old rumors. There hasn’t been a Bessette in Sanctuary in…”
    “A hundred years?” Reid smiles tentatively at her. “Since the last known time the Book of the Moon was seen?”
    Svetta stares at Reid now. “How do you know this?”
    “We met one of them. His name was Roux Bessette. He was in Charleston with your nephew Francois. Julien’s father, in his cursed state, agreed to help Roux try to kill Wilhelmina. Just like he did Wilhelmina’s mother Katherine. Roux knew we would find out his family’s secret.”
    Svetta’s breath hitches. “If what you speak is true, then you must find that book. You must save my Julien.”
    “Roux was killed that night Charleston. We don’t know who the curse would have passed on to in that family. There have to be more of them. We have to find out where they’re hiding.”
    Svetta closes her eyes. “The Bessette family was always so secretive. I remember my mother telling me how they lived in a small section of Sanctuary. A tiny road just between Frog Hollow and Shadow Bend. Maybe a couple acres of land. There were three Bessette brothers. The oldest, Roux Bessette. Your dead man must have been named after him.”
    Reid suddenly perked up. “Maybe the person next in line was named after one of the other brothers.”
    Svetta stares out the window over my shoulder, her gaze far away from the stained glass. “One of the brothers was named Talbot. Talbot Bessette.”
    I’m on the edge of my seat now. “And the third?”
    Svetta taps her finger against the glass in her hands, her brows scrunching together. “Gerian? No. Gerrade maybe? I can’t be sure. It was such a long time ago.”
    Reid sinks a little next to me. “It’s okay, Svetta. That’s great. That at least gives us something to go on.”
    She crosses her long fingers together, studying them. “You’re really going to find it?”
    “Yes,” I say, more sure of it now than I ever have been. “I will find it. I will end this curse for good.”
    She looks back up at me. “You know this task won’t be easy. The Haunted, once the curse takes them, don’t want to be saved. Julien will fight it. This unknown Bessette will fight it.”