Chapter 17: Decline

The loss of Archie in a fall from his horse almost crippled Thaddea, but no more so than her mother, Sydlynn. Where once the fight to survive had lived within her, the dear woman surrendered and, within a month of her dear husband's untimely end, Sydlynn lay on her own deathbed, refusing any magical treatment.

"It's time," she whispered to Thaddea and I as her daughter gently stroked her mother's hair, hovering near at every moment while Auburdeen and her brothers sat quietly nearby, somehow knowing, even at their young age, they had to be still. "I'm going to meet Archie, sweetness. Don't be afraid for me. I'll see you someday, too."

Thaddea wept regardless, her sister Lillian and brother Phillip holding each other at the foot of the bed as Sydlynn met my eyes.

"Demon cat," she whispered. "Come here."

I did, creeping close, stopping on her pillow, my nose near her ear as she turned her head to meet my eyes. A thread of magic slid from her to me, bonding with my demon power, flooding me with strength.

Archie and I have loved you so much, dear boy. Her mental voice was so weak I had to reach for her to hear it. You have brought this family great joy, as much a part of us now as anyone.

Such a gift from an incredible woman. I kissed her softly on the nose and purred, my new power mingling with the old as I answered.

And I love you, I sent. You taught a broken child love really existed, and I will never forget.

I felt Thad's mind with us, then, bearing witness even as Sydlynn embraced us both with the last of her power and slipped into darkness to the sound of her daughter humming while she wept.

If any animosity had remained between Thaddea and me, it died with Sydlynn.

The loss of two powerful and respected witches so close together was a heavy blow to the entire family, followed only two short years later by the drowning death of dear little Lucillia, Phillip and Sophie's first born daughter. A foolish accident, a wager gone wrong between the girl and one of the normal children from the nearby town, plunged the entire family into deepest mourning. I couldn't help but think tragedy was a way of life for these witches after so many losses in such a few years' time, but life went on while I fretted constantly over the well-being of my own dearest ones, Auburdeen and her stubborn nature among them.

Sydlynn's death hit Olive hard, harder than anyone thought, in my opinion. I kept a careful eye on the aging coven leader, ten years Sydlynn's senior and, though only in her mid-fifties, declining in attitude and emotion if not in body. Where Thaddea's dear mother lost her body's battle with sickness, Olive seemed to be losing her mind. Grown bitter and withdrawn, her leadership falling off to appearances only, an undercurrent of unease and unhappiness plagued the entire coven. And though I watched my poor Thad work her hands to the bone and her magic to her last spark to keep up appearances and protect the family from their leader's decline, there was nothing she could do about Olive's steady descent into paranoia.

But it wasn't until the night of Beltane, in 1886, just after Auburdeen's sixteenth birthday, that Olive showed just how far she'd fallen. Quivering in fury, a handful of her closest cousins and advisors behind her, she confronted Thaddea, her second now for years, after she had lit the welcoming fire.

"Don't think I'm not aware of your ambitions," she snarled, eyes wild in the light of the flames climbing beside her as she stumbled through the crushed grass of the coven site, her robe pulled tightly around her. "Thaddea Hayle, she who would be leader."

My entire body tensed as I drew in what magic I had, prepared to fight for her if necessary.

"Olive," Thad said, hands spread before her, face falling into sadness, "you are our leader."

"Of course I am," the witch snapped, the family magic snaking around her feet, jabbing at Thaddea with sharp points of magic though it fought the wielder, almost seeming to sob its regret with each blow.

Power gathered, I poised to strike, feeling Burdie's magic join mine, her hot temper flaring, only to hear Thad's voice in my mind, knowing she spoke to both of us. Don't, she whispered her message, so full of sorrow I wanted to cry. Let her do what she feels she must.

The attack didn't last long past Thad's secret message to me, not while the family protested, the magic retreating back into Olive despite her fury.

"You stand with her, do you?" She shrieked at the sky, spinning with her robe belling out around her. "Traitors!"

The pressure of holding Auburdeen back despite her mother's warning made me shiver in the cool night air even as Thad, my darling Thad, dropped to her knees at Olive's feet.

"I am your second," she said. "And your servant. Tell me what to do to prove it to you, my leader."

Olive paused, glared. "Servant, yes," she hissed as she gestured at Thad, jerking her clawed hand back, power pulling free of my darling to hover before the insane leader. "But second no longer."

Olive turned as Thaddea clutched her chest, face filled with loss and longing, hand descending over the head of one of her cronies. But the power refused to go, leaking out around Olive's shaking hand, leaving her in a rush of sparks and fire to slam forcefully into Thaddea's chest once again.

The look of madness in Olive's eyes was too much. We had to do something. Even as Olive lifted that same hand to strike at Thaddea, I put myself between them.

"The power has spoken," I said. "Even you cannot argue its choices, Olive Tremere."

The coven finally acted, as though my defense of Thaddea was what they needed to move forward. Olive backed down, but only after Thaddea repeated her family oath to the suspicious old woman who then left her coven behind, breaking the wards around the site with the ritual of Beltane unfinished. Still pale from her ordeal, Thaddea smiled at the gathered family and did her duty, Olive's job, completing what was started without the support of her leader.

They whispered to her afterward, the family, their worries, their need for her to lead them after all. While Thaddea's leadership hadn't been even considered before then, Olive's accusation turned around and stabbed her in the back.

"You need to act, Mum," Burdie said in the carriage on the way home, her long red hair swinging free over her shoulders as she quivered in anger.

Orin's hand settled on Thaddea's, squeezed even as Damon and Pharo offered their encouragement as well. But it wasn't until I crept into her room to find Thad rocking in her old chair, the one she'd used to soothe her babies at night, I had a chance to speak to her alone.

"Sass," she whispered to me, stroking my fur as I curled up in her lap. "You know my deepest secret."

"That you always wished to be leader." I sighed. "Don't think for a moment Olive's decline or your parents' passing were your fault."

"I know," she said. "But witches' wishes are powerful things, Sassafras." She stopped rocking a moment to meet my eyes. "What do you think I should do?"

"You don't even have to ask me," I said. "But before you act, there is someone you must protect."

Thaddea began to rock again as we whispered into the night, making plans that burdened both our hearts.

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