163 The Godmother

AUTHOR'S POV

"That was her gravest mistake. I'll teach you lessons you won't forget for eternity", Iaso smirked with her palms rested together on the table. "Is the tea okay?", she asked.

"Still the best, it's stronger this time", Stellan sipped more. Iaso's tea is made with the finest earl grey mixed with bourbon. "Looks like you have no plans to leave like the others", Stellan took notice that Iaso haven't packed a single spell book or a ladle.

"So you've already heard. Conrad doesn't really know when to keep his mouth close, even for warlock with three wives", Iaso pouted. She sighed deeply as she rested her back on the chair. "Wicce is my home. My existence has been devoted to this place and its people. I was born here, served my entire life here and I will die here", she said.

Stellan grazed the lips of his teacup with his finger. "I can't believe Galen could do such thing. He's reckless and harsh but… ", Stellan shook his head as he utter his disbelief.

"That boy has always been trouble, Stellan", Iaso convincingly thought. "I'm not a bit surprised at all. I worry about my people, so for now, for the safety of my clan, they'll be abandoning Wicce ", she said.

"Galen ordered to track someone named Haelan, is it true?", Stellan asked.

"That stupid fool. He killed the only Wiccan who have mastered the tracking spell. He missed his chance", Iaso said.

"You can do it yourself, why can't you?", Stellan squinted his eyes at the supposedly most knowledgable witch in Wicce.

"I'm old", Iaso simply answered.

"You can lie better than that", Stellan is unconvinced. Knowing his godmother, she is not the leader of the coven for nothing. "Or… you already know where Haelan is, and instead of surrendering her to Galen, you're letting your people flee and hide. Then, you'll stay here to face an admirable death - a sacrificial lamb who'd die along with secrets and the truth. My question is why?", Stellan leaned forward and squinted his eyes on the unfazed leader of the coven.

"What do you know about Haelan?", Iaso stared intently at the paladin who's digging out the skeletons in her closet.

"What did you just do to her, Iaso?", Stellan furrowed his brows. "What did you do to Haelan", Stellan asked.

"I just healed her", Iaso answered blandly.

Stellan kept still and looked into her eyes demanding for a more vivid explanation. Iaso felt intimidated at Stellan's piercing stares. "Now I know where you got your stubborness and nosiness from", she chuckled dryly.

"You can't hide anything from me", Stellan said sternly. "Then how about this… care to explain what is a soul traveler doing in a Wiccan's body?", Stellan asked in a very serious tone.

"Coincidence, maybe?", Iaso never dropped her composure.

"What a dangerous coincidence", Stellan dared not to back down. He kept digging the truth out of Iaso given that whatever the witches' are planning, it involves his precious Helena. "You think I won't recognize Tobias and Freya the moment I entered Wicce?", Stellan said as he notice he hit a nerve seeing Iaso's face hardened. "You know damn well that everyone who set foot in Brandenburg are probed carefully. Haelan, who was only introduced as a distant relative of Tobias and Freya, had no records and has a clean as a slate history. Of course, it can't easily slip from our fingers. We aren't very lenient on people with questionable identities, especially with people entering the knighthood or archery. It just so happen, that Haelan possessed great powers similar to a paladin, who could amazingly kill dark healers. Her presence is very timely at a helpless state that the kingdom is in. That's why her usefullness weighted more than the palace's doubts casted on her. We we're misled for a while, but the truth kept showing itself. Those aren't paladin magic, it's clearly a celestial divine power", Stellan continued while Iaso kept still. "Haelan, who's actually a woman, received deceiving help from an impeccable Wiccan who have foreseen a lethal future", Stellan gave Iaso a blank stare who still waits for the Wiccan the crack the truth from her thick skull.

"Are you suspecting me of premedidating a soul exchange?", Iaso exhaled sharply at the strange idea.

"I saw the summoning circles in Tobias Inn.", Stellan revealed that made Iaso swallow a burning lump in her throat. "You taught me those spells so I can call a soul traveler that I met when I was young. I never have done it properly, but I remember how to cast that spell", Stellan remembered vividly as he draw the summoning circles in the air with his fingers using his aura. "I say, you, Agalea, Freya and Tobias worked on a plan to find yourselves a soul traveler, got her into Brandenburg and let her find the traveler's stone. A woman curated into a man to play as your pawn in a game you enforced her to be part of". Stellan assumed as he put all the puzzle together.

"And why would us Wiccan's need the traveler's stone? We have no business with that piece of rubbish", Iaso tightened her lips as she get annoyed with Stellan sewing the patches together.

"I don't know, you tell me", Stellan insisted as he started to get impatient. "How about this, what do you think will your people do if they knew that you just let Haelan slip away, costing more lives of your kind in the hands of Galen? We both know Galen won't stop until he get his hands on Haelan. Then more Wiccans will have to suffer his fury… more Wiccan blood will be spilled for the soul traveler you called", Stellan tilted his head to the side as he wait for Iaso's answer.

Iaso stood up and slammed the table. "How dare you threaten your godmother? I treated you like a son!", she said as she turn her back from the paladin.

"Then, make me understand.", Stellan calmly said but with strong persistence. "Because as far as Haelan is concerned, I will intervene and I won't let anything happen to the woman in that room. Mark my words", he said as he sip a little from the teacup.

Iaso never thought Stellan would find interest in the soul traveler possessing Agalea, imposing as a man at the same time. The plan was simple. Helena will enter Brandenburg and track the traveler's stone, without raising suspiscions. Unfortunately, things didn't go their way. Iaso never imagined Stellan would end up with such closeness to Helena/Agalea. Instead of walking away, Iaso sat back down and took a deep breath. She faced Stellan who's comfortably seated across her with a taunting expression as he gain dominance over her.

"There's a war coming. It's bad and what I see is death upon all of us.", Iaso drank her teacup filled with only bourbon. "A year ago, I felt someone was using dark magic within the reach of my senses. A forbidden power that's supposedly obsolete because of the dangers that it brings about. One day, that danger came knocking on my door. An old acquaintance of mine from a distant kingdom has been gathering her believers, both witches and warlocks, to stand against the royals. She's fueled with anger and completely brassed off from being used by the royals like puppets. Her name is Celeste.", Iaso continued. Stellan knitted his brows at the name he seemed to have heard around the palace. "She used sorcery like a daily dose of sunshine, and she spit curses with the power of the moon. To achieve her goal, she needed a much stronger ally.", Iaso revealed.

"You didn't…", Stellan assumed Iaso received an invitation to join Celeste's schemes.