Silence fell over the grand hall, and every eye turned toward Tej as he began his speech. Conversations died out, and the guests held their glasses in rapt attention. I stood beside Stacker, listening intently.
"As you know, I have struggled greatly to reach the life I live today," Tej began in a confident tone. "By God's grace and my own efforts, I have succeeded. I have preserved this manor, which carries old tragedies and wounds within its walls. I have preserved my family... my children... my mother. And though I lost my eldest brother, who was my own blood, I have managed to keep the word 'family' alive. But... I always felt incomplete. A part of me needed a partner. Not my children, not my friends... I needed a strong woman, a compassionate woman, a patient woman. I had almost despaired of finding her, but God sent her to me as the greatest of blessings. I present to you... my wife, Laura!"
The hall erupted in applause as my mother stepped onto the stage in her elegant blue dress, radiant and happy. At that moment, I remembered Jana. She had promised to be here when the speech started, but she was nowhere to be found. I scanned the hall, but she was gone.
While the scene continued and my mother expressed her love for Tej over the microphone, I took out my phone to call Jana. But the noise was deafening, and I couldn't hear a thing. I decided to find a quiet place outside the hall. The manor was teeming with people, so I headed toward the **Fourth Wing**—the quietest, most secluded place in the entire estate.
I hurried there, redialing Jana, but she didn't answer. I reached the wing and stood outside the large, locked door of the central living room—the same room where I was first given the "rules" of the house. I leaned against the door, catching my breath with the phone to my ear, whispering, "Jana, please answer..."
"Just do as I told you!"
A sudden scream from inside the room startled me. It was Sauntra's voice. I was shocked; it was her son's celebration, yet she had isolated herself here to speak with someone in secret. I silenced my phone and pressed my ear to the door.
"But we didn't agree on killing him, Sauntra!"
My God... it was Regina. Her voice was thick with pain and sorrow, while Sauntra sounded as arrogant and angry as ever. "I told you, just do as I said!"
Regina replied, her voice breaking into sobs, "This isn't what you told me from the start! You brought me here and promised you would bring him back to life for me, that I would have a child with him. You never mentioned killing him! You know very well I don't agree, and I will never agree to kill the man I love!"
I froze. What was she raving about? So Sauntra *had* brought Regina here, just as I suspected. My doubts about her evil intentions were right. But why promise Regina a child? They were clearly talking about Joseph... but why did she want him dead?
Sauntra continued threateningly, "Regina, dear... I am not asking for your permission or your opinion. I do what I want. Besides, he doesn't love you. He is missing and doesn't even exist right now, so calm yourself before you have a panic attack in the middle of the party... because then I would be forced to kill you too."
Regina screamed in agony, "Why do you want to kill him? Isn't what you did to him as a child enough? You used to tie him up and whip him every day, every minute, every second! Do you have no heart to kill your own son?"
*Torture?* Sauntra used to torture Joseph when he was a child? She was the one who turned him into a monster, and now she wanted to end him.
"He killed my sister!" Sauntra snapped. "And he will kill my son Tej if I don't get rid of him!"
"He killed your sister because she tortured him even more than you did!" Regina cried. "All of you tortured him. You're lucky he burned her and not you!"
A loud slap silenced Regina. It was clear she was pouring out her rage, but Sauntra met it with her usual cruelty.
Everyone had tortured Joseph. Everyone hated him. Why? I began to see why he became a monster without mercy. If I were in his place, living with a family that tortured me like that, I would have killed every single one of them. Sauntra wanted to bring him back only to kill him—I understood that—but why did she want Regina to have his child?
Sauntra interrupted my thoughts with a threat: "You dare raise your voice at me? You have the audacity to look at me when you were nothing but Joseph's slave? Or shall I remind you of your place? Shall I remind you that the man you beg for didn't love you and used you every night just like all the other slaves?"
"I was a slave," Regina replied, "but he never hated me the way he hated you. He never hurt me the way he desired to hurt you."
Regina had been Joseph's slave. I remembered Stacker saying she was part of the Coven too. How could a witch be a slave to a monster like Joseph? Was it blind love?
Sauntra continued maliciously, "Do you know what mistake I made, Regina? When my husband had to offer his eldest son to the Coven as a sacrifice, I was happy then because I thought I'd be rid of him. I thought I threw him to a place where he would die. I didn't know monsters were raised there, only for him to return alive. And my second mistake was sending you to that Coven to watch him and make him love you, to control him and keep him from crossing the line... but you failed. You failed to make him love you, and you failed to control him. Instead, he controlled you and made you his whore!"
"Shut up!!!" Regina screamed in pure agony.
I gripped my phone, fighting back tears. I felt Regina's pain. I didn't know who to pity more: poor Regina, who would do anything for the one she loved, or Joseph, who was tortured until he became a beast. Now I understood why she became his slave; she entered the Coven on Sauntra's orders, but she was the one who fell in love.
"Wipe your tears," Sauntra said coldly. "I won't kill him yet. I don't know if he is free, alive, or dead. The Book has vanished, so I cannot kill him now."
"You betrayed our promise," Regina whispered.
Sauntra let out a wicked laugh. "Why all this drama? I'll let you have a child from him this time, so don't grieve his death. You'll have his blood in your son... Little Joseph."
Regina asked with growing rage, "You want a child from him so you can have another Joseph? To be his father's heir?"
"I won't let anyone else take Joseph's power in the Coven," Sauntra replied. "Bring me a son from him to be his heir by blood and the leader of the Coven. Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't become a monster like his father. My only concern is getting rid of Joseph and his evil, for I know he will kill me and Tej just as he did my sister."
I understood everything now. Sauntra brought Regina to get close to Joseph, have his child, and then Sauntra would kill Joseph. Her grandson would be the leader she could control.
Regina's voice grew more furious: "Will you also strangle my son the way you did to Joseph? Will you lock him in a morgue freezer in sub-zero temperatures without clothes as you did to Joseph? Will you kill his dog and feed it to him with its own blood as you did to Joseph?"
My heart shook. Had she really done all this to him? She deprived a small, innocent child of his dog, killed it, and made him eat it? She locked a child in a frozen room to freeze? How could a mother be this cruel to her own flesh and blood?
"Stop whining," Sauntra warned. "If you mourn him, I'll do the same to you. Now, do what you came for. I will bring the Coven members and tell them to search for the Book wherever it may be. I will bring Joseph back, and then you will fulfill our deal."
"Are you that stupid, Sauntra?" Regina mocked. "Do you think you can face Joseph and kill him?"
Sauntra laughed dismissively. "Who said I'd face him? I will kill him through the Book. I won't even bring him back fully."
I remembered what the servant Orosagi told me; Sauntra controlled his appearance as a spirit or ghost every Saturday. She didn't want him fully alive because she knew he would kill her. She planned to kill him permanently through a ritual in the Book, not a direct confrontation.
"Regina," Sauntra said finally, "if you can save Joseph from my hands, I won't kill him. But keep the first deal—carry his child. Then, begin your journey to save him."
I won't let her kill him. I won't let her continue to torture Regina. I will be the one to save him before Regina does.
I backed away from the door and ran toward the hall, my thoughts racing. Sauntra was going to search for the Book and bring the entire Coven to find it. That meant a group of sorcerers would be hunting me. I had to act before they found it. If they found it with me, they would kill me without hesitation.
A deep feeling rose within me—I didn't want Joseph to die. Yes, he was a heartless monster who broke my neck and left me in a pool of blood, but I felt a strange tenderness for him after hearing about his torture. I excused his violence. I wouldn't let her kill him so easily; that is not how the powerful should die. And I wouldn't let her steal Regina's son to create a new puppet.
If I wanted to stop this, I needed to be on their level of power. I needed to stop the Coven and Sauntra with something stronger. I couldn't hide the Book anymore; against a Coven, I was just an ant. But I knew exactly who could stop all this. If they were looking for the Book, I had it. If they were looking for Joseph... I had him too.