The Keepers: Declan Read Free Page B

mother’s funeral, which had been a quiet affair. Although the details of that day were sketchy, Kate remembered her kindness and had been pleased to bump into her again in New Orleans. She’d been on a buying spree there for her mother’s clothing boutique back home in Southport, North Carolina. Since then, she’d ended up spending more and more time in New Orleans.
    Hazel carried the tray to the small wooden table at the window and sat in one of the mismatched chairs. “Tell me about Rapid Falls. Did you see the Keepers? I’ve heard they’re rather smitten with the Beckham witch.”
    “Apparently, only the older brother, Archer.”
    “Lucky girl to have a trio of male glory at her defence.”
    “She’s a powerful witch, Hazel. There’s nothing lucky about that.”
    Hazel’s grin faded. “Maybe. For some, a magical heritage is a blessing and for others like your mother, it’s a curse. Depends on whether you embrace it.”
    “I wonder if our lives would have been different if my mother had a Keeper to watch over her?”
    “Accepting a Keeper would have meant accepting the world she was born into. She was dead set against anything magical.”
    An understatement. They’d spent years, isolated, steering clear of anyone with supernatural abilities. It was only Hazel who had broken through Kate’s defensive wall and their friendship had been like a breath of much-needed air.
    “Witches have Keepers for a reason,” Kate muttered. “Maybe if she hadn’t been so stubborn, she’d still be alive.”
    “Not all witches need Keepers. Witches like me who dabble in simple magic don’t need protection as much as the elemental witches. Their powers bring added responsibilities and danger. And it’s only rare witches like Sienna who have more than one Keeper.”
    “She didn’t seem so scary in the flesh.”
    “As long as you stay on her good side. She and her Keepers maintain the balance of nature and keep the existence of our kind a secret. They’re highly respected for fending off the Brogan brothers.” She motioned to the tea pot. “You were brave to try and steal the daggers.”
    “I had no choice. I need their protection.”
    Kate poured the tea and explained what had happened at the Bennett Estate.
    “Where are the daggers?” Hazel asked.
    “I hid them on the Bennett estate.”
    Hazel’s eyes rounded as she choked back her tea. “You don’t have them?”
    “It was too risky. Declan Bennett chased after me.”
    “So you simply left them behind?”
    “They’re safe for now.”
    “And your mother’s Grimoire and scroll?”
    Kate couldn’t bring herself to admit she’d lost the scroll she’d found in her mother’s Grimoire. Although the ancient scribbles and symbols held no meaning to her, the fact that her mother had included it with her final letter to Kate had hinted at its importance. And now she’d lost it. “Both are with the daggers. I’ll go back for them after the party.”
    As she’d have to return to the Bennett estate to reclaim the third dagger, leaving everything behind in exchange for a lighter travel had seemed like a good idea.
    Leaving the Grimoire had been hard. Tattered and worn with age, the cover was marked with three interlinked circles, embossed with silver beads. Her mother’s book, one she’d rarely opened. A destiny she’d shunned. She was a witch who had given birth to a daughter with the ability to negate magic.
    A rare power that was hunted by both sides of the supernatural realm. Depending on who reached her first, the war between good and evil that had been in existence since time began might finally be unbalanced. Her power would be used to destroy the opposition.
    Or so her mother had believed.
    Because of this, she’d ingrained into Kate from an early age that they had to keep hidden, fly under the radar of anyone with supernatural abilities.
    As Southport was inhabited only by ordinary humans, steering clear of them had been easy. Their life had