Chapter 111 - The Truth Of Being An Arch-witch

The sights, the sounds, the scents and the feelings all rushed into me, but I focused on what I could see with my eyes and hear with my ears.

A collective gasp ran through the crowd of spectators, only to transform into a raising murmur of voices. Exclamations of shock, appraisal and curiosity reached my ears, but I couldn't catch much of it with all the voices overlapping each other.

"Could she be…"

"…so big!"

"…didn't see her before…"

"…one of the mutts…"

"…a new arch-witch?"

The general reaction of the public, though, was clear. I clenched my fists and my jaws to stop them from shaking as I stood under everyone's, and most importantly, Sofia's, scrutiny. Even if everyone was so impressed, I found I didn't like it one bit. I had nothing to be proud of here—this well was just something I was born with. A tool for my goals.

Sofia raised a hand. "Quiet!" Her voice rang through the gathering, instantly bringing the whispers down. Then, she lifted an empty hand without looking, and one of the witches that accompanied her put a wreath in it.

It was the biggest and the lushes wreath I've seen today, made from leaves, flowers and berries put together in an artful arrangement. With my well still open, I saw that additional aspects were added to it, a spell that would add longevity to it. Not just any handiwork.

I didn't dare to close my well as I watched Sofia approach me in regal stride. Her own well was open as well, and I saw its dark maw covering Sofia's aura like a black shroud, so big that I couldn't see even a general shape of Sofia's aura.

I expected her to straight out give me the wreath, but gave me a good stare down. It was made even more impressive by the vision of the abyss opened to me with my aura-vision. Just like my own well, except with that, I could control it, look through it. It was a part of me.

Sofia's well threatened to swallow me whole.

"Diana Daraeva. Do you truly seek a new coven, or did you just come to confirm your power before my eyes?" Sofia asked, eyeing me like a new, curiously disgusting species of a bug.

"Yes," I blurted, then caught myself. "I mean, both, actually."

Ah, where did my silver tongue go? Oh right, he was still in Petersburg, managing the store, just like I asked him. I should've sent him a message and asked what he was going, but with all the stuff going on, it went out of my mind. Had to remember to do it after the Wreath-Giving, now.

My answer didn't seem to improve Sofia's cheerful and merry attitude. Her brows almost imperceptibly furrowed. "You are an arch-witch. Are you happy about it? Do you think that the world belongs to you now?"

I sucked in a sharp breath. I didn't dare hope, but now that I had confirmation, I could admit that I had hopes, and a lot of them, and having them confirmed was an amazing feeling. My expression must've spoken for myself, because Sofia spoke without waiting for a verbal answer.

"It's not that easy. Many, most of us, won't live past their fortieth year, not to mention the hundredth. You want immortality, you want unlimited power? Nothing comes free. Immortality can easily turn into a curse."

I felt goosebumps appearing on my arms despite the warmth of the giant bonfire and of the summer as I listened to Sofia's words. I nodded timidly. This truth was something I grew to understand more and more intimately as I learnt more about vampires… but this was also a reason I searched for the immortality in the first place.

"I understand, Lady Sofia."

She snorted. "It doesn't matter much for me what path you will take, in the end. Here," she offered me the wreath she held in her hands. "My descendants, as greedy as they are, would want you to join them, even though they have me to protect them already. If you accept, they will bury you in wealth and raise as their puppet to stand between them and any danger they meet. If not, all other covens present here will be ecstatic to do the same."

What a nice perspective. I gingerly took the wreath, but didn't put it on. "Thank you. I will think about it."

Sofia nodded and walked back to join her entourage. Only then did I close my well, exhaling with relief when all the auras stopped distracting me. It also let me focus better on what was going on, which let me see the calculative glances covens' representatives threw at me.

As soon as Sofia stood back, the next in order of prestige representative came to give me his offer. This one was male, well-built and dressed in a set of black robes with runes drawn on it that looked like it came from a fantasy movie poster. Maybe they were actually enchanted.

He offered me a wreath, a pretty thing from autumn-red maple leaves that had no place in summer, and a bright smile of someone well-versed in doing PR.

"Diana, on behalf of my coven, I would like to invite you to our ranks. We have one of the fullest libraries of magic texts in Eastern Europe and some of the best teachers of the craft one can find. We…"

He spent good five minutes talking about how good his coven was for its members and how little I would have to do as a part of it, during which I nodded and smiled, and then took his wreath and said that I will think about it. The man left with reluctance, obviously eager to talk me some more into all of this, and I was glad that all other covens' representatives glared holes into his back as they waited for their turns.

At the same time, half of the other witches glared holes into me. I could feel it almost physically. I was pretty sure that if not for Sofia's presence, who intimidated people into covering with one glance, someone would've already thrown a curse at me. Or a rock.

And there were still more than a dozen eager covens left.