Chapter 95 - Coven Politics

After a tenth conversation that didn't bring me anything except general annoyance, I had to remind myself what I was doing this for. The stupid furniture set—and by now it was just stupid furniture for me—was nothing. But finding it would save me money—enough so I could think about expanding my business—and bring me some respect from someone whose respect had a monetary equivalent.

More than that, what perspectives I had as an antiquities dealer if I couldn't find a single stupid furniture set? But until now, all people who could've had it… did not. As for those who did, it would turn out that it wasn't just the same thing, or it was only a sofa, not a set, and so on.

JJ was searching too, though not for the furniture, but for Christina's lair. He has as much success as I did, though, which gave us prime opportunities to gather at evenings and wallow together in our misery. Well, I wallowed. JJ just indulged me with that faintly amused look that made me want to bite him for dual reasons.

With all that to think about, I would've forgotten about the planned coven gathering if on the Friday evening Alexandra didn't send a message to the Orion Coven chat group with a reminder. It made people move, and it made me move next morning.

This time, the coven didn't gather at Yakov's, where I've met the witches the last time. This time we went to another coven member's house, Maxim's. He lived conveniently closer to me, though still far enough that I was nervous as I walked the bustling streets on my way there, and had a much bigger apartment than Yakov.

I was one of the first to come, and as the time passed and more and more people got together, I understood why a bigger gathering place was necessary. By the time Alexandra declared that there was no one else who promised to appear, there were fourteen people. Fourteen! The entire Orion Coven (including me) had only nine members, which all were present today. Two tables were necessary to accommodate everyone, two tables filled with snacks and drinks.

"Good to see than no one is too late today." Alexandra raised her voice to attract everyone's attention and quieten the chatter that filled the room. Her stern teacher's face smoothened into a greeting smile, and people smiled back at her. "First, I'd like to introduce Orion Coven's latest member. This is Diana."

I waved at the witches I didn't know there. Oh, we had time to exchange names, but now that Alexandra introduced me 'officially' I felt like I met them for the first time.

"Nice to meet you," a witcher said. He was in his forties, with a thick beard but almost bald head like all his hair moved from the top of his head to the bottom. "I'm Dima, and this is Marina." He gestured at the younger woman next to him. "We are both from Goliath Coven."

"And I'm Sasha from Twilight Coven. Not the book." A young witch giggled. "Our leader isn't into pop-culture, and everyone is too shy to tell him."

"I hope you will get renamed into something better soon, like our Dragonfly Coven." A man in his early thirties smirked and half-hugged his neighbour, who rolled his eyes and didn't take part in the gesture. Both had faces similar enough to be brothers. "I'm Artyom and this is Miha. Have you been in some other coven before now, Diana, or on your own?"

Dazzled by all the fresh faces and names I won't be able to remember, despite all the trying I was doing now, I didn't answer immediately. Yakov used this momentarily pause to perk up in his seat and speak up, loudly and with great enthusiasm. "Oh, dear Diana here is a true gift to us all, a true gift! She is one of the poor souls who had to Awaken all on their own, but she found our coven despite this and showed such an amazing talent!"

I did? I levelled an unhappy stare at Yakov, who spoke for me without being asked, but his enthusiastic praise eased my annoyance, at least somewhat.

"Yes, Diana knew nothing about witchcraft when she came to us, but she was splendid in grasping the basics," Alexandra nodded with a such a look like everything she said was her exclusive personal achievement.

Whatever simple pleasure I could've got from the praises disappeared. I folded my hands over my chest and leaned back in my seat. I thought I would be able to relax in a friendly atmosphere, but when I looked again at everyone's faces… my coven-mates, pleased, proud, some even smug; the guests from other covens, speculative and curious…

This felt like bragging-slash-posturing match, not like a friendly gathering. Oh, it looked like one, and it was informal like one, but while it walked and quacked like a duck, this certainly wasn't a duck.

Apparently, even witches weren't away from politics. Which wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't shown around like some exhibition piece.

The giggly witch—Sasha, was it? I only remembered because she shared a name with Alexandra—closed her eyes for a moment, and I knew she was checking my aura out. When she opened them, they were wide in surprise, and she stared at me with wonder. Nobody but me seemed to notice, though, because they all, too, looked either at me or at Alexandra.

"Really? And how do you like magic yet, Diana? Many people who weren't taught from the childhood find themselves disappointed with the real deal. No fireballs for us." Another guest witcher looked at me and chuckled—the one from Goliaths. "Not glamorous at all, eh?"

Again, before I could grab an opportunity to speak, his Goliath-mate spoke up. "Do you have a favourite spell by now? Why won't you show it to us, Diana?"

At that question, the one I was sure they were itching to ask by that point, every eye fell to me. I grit my teeth and stretched my lips in my most insincere smile yet.

"With pleasure."