Chapter 49

Now that I see him up close, I can tell that he’s not my father. His nose is different, his lips are fuller, and he has my mother’s ears, not my father’s. “Willow?” he asks, looking uncertain. You’d think a man approaching his two-hundredth birthday would be less bashful. “Are you okay?”

“Yes--” I shake my head --“I’m just…flabbergasted, that’s a good word, let’s go with that.”

He laughs softly, and my blood runs cold. He sounds just like my father when he laughs. “Imagine my shock when Lady Blaire phoned and asked me if I’m interested in becoming the new coven master.”

“Why you?”

He shrugs. “I suppose the others didn’t want the job.”

“How many youth spells have you cast over the years?” It always bothers me when I meet a witch that cast youth spells. Aunt Mildred did it too, but stopped when she was ejected.

“Three times. You've never done it?”

“No. And I never will. I promised Kane.”

“Hm,” he grunts. “Because of the baby blood? I told him you don’t need to kill the baby – we