Chapter 416


    Lanie


    “Is there any way for us to close that third eye?” I asked Mchi and Ste at the same time.


    Mchi frowned. “Without the one who cast the original spell? I have no idea. But then, I’m not a


    witch.”


    “Can you ask someone? There are, witches here,” I said.


    Ste frowned. “Only Braden and Charlotte know that the leadership council has no true power. If we


    go to any witch-kind for help with this, Mchi would have to reveal that everything he’s bragged about


    is nothing


    more than a farce. Besides, it would probably kill her.”


    “If she has to die to protect Brightsky, then she has to die,” Mchi stated harshly.


    Ste shook her head. “She doesn’t have to die, and I can’t allow you to even attempt her murder.”


    I thought for sure my grandfather would fight her about this, or at least pop off with some nasty


    comment, but all he did was narrow his eyes at her.


    I turned to Ste. “Can we block it, then? There must be shields or spells that would work without


    hurting


    her. She might not even have to be aware of it.”


    “Mother, you of all people should know that casting a spell on someone to hide a part of their nature


    can


    only hurt them in the end.”


    “It’s already been hidden from her, hasn’t it? You said she doesn’t know,” I reminded her.


    “She means the harm woulde in having her find out,” Mchi said. “So long as they can use her,


    Gabri is a liability to the entire enve.”


    Ste got up from the couch and spun in a slow circle.


    She wasn’t moving fast enough to bell the hem of her dress out around her ankles, but it did, and I


    laughed a little to myself. As a little girl she’d often done the same thing, “like a princess.” I enjoyed that N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    glimpse of her childhood, but I didn’t cling to it. If there was one thing I’d learned, it was that holding


    onto the past was never going to lead to a better future.


    “Actually, Mchi, she is our asset,” Ste said as she slowed, stopped, and faced him.


    Again, his eyes narrowed. He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingertips under his chin. His


    lips pursed as his brow furrowed.


    “How so?” he asked.


    “The High Council can only see what she sees in the moment. They can’t control her or make her go to


    look at things they want her to see. But we can. At least, we can control what and who she has ess


    to.


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    Chapter 416


    It would be simple enough to make sure they only see a carefully curated view of what goes on here,”


    she


    exined.


    “If they have to watch through this third eye using a scrying tool, how do we know that they’d be


    watching


    at the right time?” I asked.


    “They’ll have someone watching all the time,” Mchi said dismissively. “They would never leave their


    tool unmonitored, even when she’s sleeping.


    it.”


    “So they must have seen you, as you are now,” I said to Ste.


    She nodded. “Yes. They know I’ve grown. They’ll know I’m a Celestial, too, since you’ve talked to her


    about


    “If they know so much, what are they waiting for?”


    I asked her. “Why haven’t theyunched an all-out attack on the enve already?”


    “Brightsky was not their priority until recently.” Ste paused and looked guilty. “When I was still a child,


    they didn’t care as much about me, either. Their concerns were the hybrid testing facility.”


    “But now you’ve grown up, and they’ve seen it. Which means they’ll be trying to get their hands on you.


    Which puts all of us in danger,” Mchi snapped.


    I thought of what Xander and Mason had told me when we were alone in bed after we first discovered


    our daughter was now an adult. They’d told me all about what they’d found out about the pictures of the


    neers to Brightsky’s portal town, and also about the missing records and purposefully bricked


    phone.


    All of it made sense now.


    “Did the High Council send Aldon to Standard to keep an eye on things, or to infiltrate us somehow?” |


    questioned.


    at


    “It’s still cloudy,” Ste said. “Which means he has not yet decided for himself which path


    take.”


    “Will feeding Gabri this curated information help push him into a decision?” I asked her.


    g to


    “Yes.”


    Mchi’sugh was harsh. “How can you be so sure?”


    “Need I remind you,” Ste said, “exactly who I am?”


    She rolled her eyes and looked so much like him that I wasn’t sure if she was t-out imitating him of


    simply had inherited his mannerisms along with the color of his eyes.


    “Daddy and Abba don’t need to bother going over any more security protocols with Charlotte. What we


    need to focus on now is making sure that Gabri begins feeding the High Council exactly what we


    want


    them to find out.”


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