Read A Witch Alone (The Winter Witch Trilogy #3) for Free Online

spy?’ My grandmother pinched the bridge of her nose and then sat back with a weary sigh.
    ‘Not that!’ Pain crossed Marcus’ face and he sat too, hitching his beautifully pressed trousers to preserve their crease. ‘I’m certain of that.’
    ‘I wish I could be so sure,’ my grandmother said. ‘But you may be right. Well, will you do what you can to persuade him, Marcus? We vote tomorrow on rescinding the passes and we must get it through. Without revoking security clearances we really have no idea where the leaks are coming from.’
    ‘I will try, ma’am, but as you know, I’m not in my father’s best books at the moment. Since he knows I’m taking your side on this …’ He trailed away and then seemed to steel himself. ‘But I’ll try again. What other votes do you think you can secure?’
    ‘As to that, I’m not sure. Your father has Knyvet’s vote in his pocket, we’re all aware of that. Catesby will back me, or at least I hope he will.’
    ‘And Margot Throgmorton?’
    ‘Ah. There, I really don’t know. Properly, of course, the vote is Edward’s. But I doubt he’s well enough to understand the question, let alone express a view. Normally I would say her inclination would be to side with me – she has no affection for your father and her words today make me think that she is fully alive to the dangerous reality of this spy. But her relationship with Knyvet compromises matters. I don’t know how far she will go along with him. She may abstain and, if she does, that means an even split.’
    ‘W-what happens then?’ I found myself asking nervously. ‘Does someone have a casting vote?’
    ‘No.’ My grandmother sounded weary. ‘In the event of an even vote, the chamber empties and we Chairs are locked in without food or water until someone cracks and changes sides. It’s an archaic practice and never pretty.’
    Hmm. She wasn’t really selling this ‘inherit the Chair’ business.
    ‘Marcus,’ my grandmother was saying, ‘will you stay and dine with us?’
    ‘I’d love to. I asked Franklin to take dinner to my office but I’ll ring down and let him know I’ll be eating here.’
    Suddenly I felt a lot less hungry.
    Just then Miss Vane bustled in with a covered trolley and, a few minutes later, a tall man in a black suit appeared, carrying a tray which presumably contained Marcus’ dinner. They moved around the room efficiently rearranging the furniture, set out the crockery, and then melted away.
    ‘Ma’am?’ Marcus pulled back my grandmother’s chair and she sat. Then, ‘Anna?’
    My cheeks flamed and I sat, awkwardly and too soon, so that I was marooned several feet from the table and I had to stand again and shuffle forwards with the chair following me.
    My grandmother raised the silver cover of her plate.
    ‘Lamb. Very good.’
    ‘Wine, ma’am?’ Marcus raised the bottle and my grandmother nodded.
    ‘Well here’s to …’ She raised her glass and paused. ‘What shall we drink to? Family ties, perhaps.’ She smiled, and drank, and then said casually, ‘You two are – well, cousins of a sort, did you know that, Anna?’
    Cousins? With a Corax? My face must have shown my astonishment, because my grandmother and Marcus both laughed and my grandmother patted my hand.
    ‘You will learn soon, my dear, that family relations among our kind are never simple. My younger sister, Catherine, was Marcus’s mother. I’m not sure exactly what that makes you two, but some form of second cousin, I imagine.’
    A cousin. This smooth, enigmatic man was my cousin.
    ‘I never had a cousin before,’ I said slowly. ‘My dad’s an only child.’
    ‘I have dozens,’ Marcus said. ‘My father is one of twelve, so as you can imagine we’re quite a clan. But one more is very welcome, especially one so lovely and accomplished.’
    The line would have sounded hopelessly cheesy coming from anyone else. If Abe had said it I would have rolled my eyes and snorted, but somehow Marcus