The Crescent Queens

Chapter Two - A Divided Coven

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"I hear Waverly Brousseau is back in town."

Lorena Valette, Witch Queen of New Orleans, said when she found her older cousin sitting on the steps of her front porch.

"You heard correctly." Loic said, peeling the skin of an apple with a knife he kept on him at all times. "I saw her at Duke's Bar only the night before last."

"Please tell me you didn't approach her publicly." She said it with a tone of desperation.

"I didn't approach her at all."

"But you're thinking about it."

"No." he said quietly bowing his head.

"You loved her."

"I did."

"You love her no more?"

"I don't." he said with finality.

"You never were much of a liar, cousin." She kissed him on the head before climbing the porch steps.

"Lorena, my loyalty is to you and our kin. Haven't I proven that already?"

"No, not when she is within reach, no."

"But I have taken my punishment and worked relentlessly to provide the coven with all the werewolf information I know. If I were to go out to the bayou I'd be a dead man."

"A dead witch, to be precise."

Loic scoffed and followed his cousin inside. They crossed straight through the old parlour room with its creaking floorboards and unfriendly ghosts, to the old kitchen and the side room with its cauldron and potion cupboards.

"Lorena, what more can I do? I am a Witch, Waverly is a Werewolf and we know that it is a deadly combination."

Lorena sighed and rubbed at her temple. "Loic, you keep missing the point. You're so concerned about her but your heart should be closer to home. I can't keep protecting you all the time. The Elders wanted me to make an example out of you but I refused to bow down or be bullied by them. I stood up for you."

"You punished me. Kept me out of the Circle for months. My magic had all but diminished when you finally let me in."

"The Circle, the Elders, all of them..." she paused, "they wanted you exiled, Loic."

"What?" he gasped.

"Please, don't test their patience or mine again. Stay away from the Wolves."

"Is that a request from my cousin?" Loic asked, fury plainly etched across his handsome features. "Or a demand from my leader?"

Loic's courage wavered when he saw the look on Lorena's young face. It was true, she was young, too young for such a position most believed. Barely twenty-five and with the weight of three hundred year old coven on her shoulders. All that magic, all that power. All those rules, rites and traditions. All on little Lorena Valette's shoulders.

She was such a tiny thing compared to him. Soft skin, soft brown hair but eyes as dark and as hard as bullets. It was the only thing about her that seemed right to fit her rule. She stopped her work at the cauldron and crossed the room and held Loic to the wall.

"Hear my rule, Loic. You are not to see her or any Wolf. You are not to send word to her through any of your other contacts. Waverly is off limits."