All Luida’s generation had left were a few disconnected scraps of land in the royal capital and a few important posts in the royal castle that were customarily granted to members of their family. Luida had relied on these meager sources of income as she’d tried to rapidly restore her family to greatness.
In her younger days, soon after assuming the family headship, she’d built billboards large enough to fill someone’s vision on her plots of land, and then she’d solicited advertisers. Meanwhile, she’d corrupted offices held by her family and used thugs to threaten owners of stores, all with the intention of forcing people to use her advertising business.
But without much starting capital, she’d never been able to catch up to the other witches. The Gudinveils had reclaimed some of their former glory, but they remained the weakest of the seven witches.
More recently, Luida’s granddaughter had betrayed her by refusing to succeed to the family headship and instead choosing another career entirely. The disappointment Luida felt had gone beyond what her words could express.
“Sorry for not keeping the Gudinveil family informed,” Sharun Charleville said. “But you have your granddaughter to blame. We couldn’t take any chances.”
“I don’t care about that, Granny Sharun. No, I’m thankful for it. You’ve spared my family from harm.”
Sharun Charleville was only five years older than Luida. A few years should have meant nothing to these elderly women, but since the two had been neighbors in their younger days, they got on well enough to joke about who was older. When Luida called her Granny Sharun, it was a throwback to their youth when they’d gotten on so well that she’d called her Big Sis Sharun.
“‘Spared from harm’? Your family’s a shadow of what it was.”
“But yours won’t exist at all after this. And it serves you right, I say.”
“No, it won’t come to that,” Vivila Marmoset said with a frown. “Sorry to disappoint, but Yuri Ho’s offered to make peace with us.”
The Marmosets had considerable power over the city’s merchants, and they’d grown wealthy by using threats to extort them. Vivila had become head of her family ten years sooner than Luida, giving her time to buy considerable amounts of land from the Gudinveils.
When Luida had taken charge, she’d demanded a trial take place to determine whether the ridiculously low sums paid for Gudinveil land had been an attempt to exploit her predecessor’s vulnerability and thus a violation of the Seven Witch Promise. The two families didn’t quite become enemies, but it had birthed a rivalry between them that would last a generation, souring their relationship.
“Hah! You sound so confident. Don’t you know anything about Yuri Ho? I’ve spoken to him in person. I’ll bet you’ve never even met him.” Luida looked at Jula Lacramanus. “This girl may be a pitiful fool, but she’s seen Yuri Ho for herself. She knows to fear him. She might be the wisest among you.”
Jula flinched as she became the topic of conversation. She’d been full of confidence herself once, but not anymore. It was as Luida said—she’d seen something that the other five witches hadn’t.
“What are you trying to say? Stop wasting our time and say it.” Vivila Marmoset was growing irritated. Something about Luida’s triumphant smile was bothering her.
For just over seventy years, Vivila had held the upper hand, always keeping Luida down. The gulf between the two may have shrunk, but the tables had never turned, and Vivila wasn’t about to let Luida look down on her now.
“Strike that youngster and he’ll strike you back,” Luida explained. “You think he’ll just let you hurt him?”
A nervous look appeared on each of the six witches’ faces.
Luida was clearly enjoying herself. “He’ll punch when punched, and he’ll kill those who kill his own. He’s no different from us in that regard. And yet here you all are, gathered together to make things easy for him. Heh heh heh. All you need to ask yourselves is whether you’d prefer a punch to the right cheek or the left. I’ve never seen anything so amusing.”
Vivila knitted her brow and glared at Luida. “Have you betrayed us?”
That made Luida stop laughing. With a short sigh, she looked back at Vivila as if she found the question idiotic. “I’m as much a witch as you are. Abiding by the Seven Witch Promise, come what may, is a matter of pride for all of us. No, I didn’t have to betray you. My favorite granddaughter serves the youngster, and she knows all about the Witches’ Forest. It’s where she grew up playing.”
Luida hadn’t lifted a finger, nor had anyone told her anything. She’d simply drawn her own conclusions based on what she’d learned from her underlings, then she’d come straight here. Luida, excluded from the conspiracy, had been able to view the bigger picture with a clearer head than the others.
“No...” Jula rose from her chair and looked out the window. “No! What if he’s here already?!”
There weren’t any torches burning outside. The only light reaching the grass that lay between her and the forest was the faint white light of the waning half-moon. Still, that was enough for her to make out glints of metal that looked out of place within the trees. Shadowy figures were surrounding the building.
With a long, drawn-out creak, the door to the house slowly opened once more.