The beast and the blessed novel by Ashley Breanne

Six: Joselin

Joselin's P.O.V.

"I don't really think we have any time to waste.” Rona insisted as I glared at her. I wasn't ashamed to be the first one to admit that I had woken up in a terrible mood. I replayed the situation with Tobias a thousand times before finally falling asleep. "I'm sure the others would like to go home soon.”

I knew the situation’s urgency, but this did not qualify as an emergency. If anything, Rona's reaction to having to wait only made me more suspicious of her. "From your careful choice of words, I take it that you would prefer to stay in the castle, so I don't see what your hurry is. Other things need to be done before we can fill the two empty council seats."

Talia's betrayal and Agatha's death had hit me harder than expected, and I was angry that two of the women who had trained and raised me were now gone. They were both dead and now I had to pick two witches to replace them.

'We will start bringing in pledges for consideration over the next few weeks, but I want any personal drama to be put aside right now.” My glare moved from Rona to Cora, and she adjusted in her seat as she pursed her lips. Ever since Rona had caused Cora to lose her leg in battle a few years ago, the women were at each other's throats.

I couldn't forget Margot and Aisha. Those two women couldn't be trusted to be left alone either, not after an incident where Aisha trapped Margot in a room with a rock troll as a practical joke. Margot got out with a concussion, a few broken bones, and the desire to dangle Aisha over the cliffside of one of the most inhabited siren coves along the coast.

She hung there for two days before someone found her and pulled her in.

I hated all of them except Agatha, but she was gone. Now I was left with four other women, and I didn't trust a single one of them. Nor would I trust any of the pledges they would bring in.

"For now, the meeting is adjourned.” I stood and made my way to the door, hearing their grumbling behind me as I went. Today was not the day for them to test me, and it seemed everyone except Rona got that memo as she trailed after me on my heels.

Rona had always pushed my buttons, the evil bitch. Her mother used to bring her here to “play’ with me when we were kids while the council met. Her idea of fun was trying to bury me alive or burning the hallway outside of my room to see how long it would take me to escape. Not too long ago, she killed her mother, stealing her power and taking her seat on the council. Rona had never been tried for it, and it had never been proven.

Still, we all knew what had happened.

As far as we knew, Agatha had no blood relatives left with magic. After betraying the crown, Talia's kin would never be trusted, leaving two seats empty.

“What is with the delay?” Rona sneered. "Too scared to do your job?"

The dining hall fell silent as I stepped inside, Rona's voice echoing across the high ceilings. "Not at all, but I am not going deal with filling three council seats instead of two.’

"Unless you are resigning, there are not three seats open.” The hopeful undertone of her words made me grit my teeth, but seeing Tobias sitting at the table eating, looking as unbothered as ever, caused my temper to flare up into a rage. He seemed so calm and collected when I had been up all night reliving the most humiliating and heartbreaking moments of my life.

"I will not be resigning, Rona. But if you do not leave me alone, I promise that there will be another seat open because I will rip your throat out.” I spun around to face her, cocking an eyebrow as she stopped a hair's breadth away from slamming into me

"You're threatening me, and in front of all these people? That's not very professional of you.” She chided.

"I am not known for being professional, Rona. I am known for being efficient and deadly to threats against our people. They know I will fight every threat against them, no matter the cost.” The rest of my threat was cut short by the feeling of the hairs rising on the back of my neck and the familiar heat of a body stopping inches away from my back, distracting me.

I could feel him even though I couldn't hear him, and I hadn't turned to see him.

"All 1 am saying is that if we put this off for a few weeks, it might end badly. The sooner we can get those seats filled, the better.” Rona's gaze was locked over my shoulder on Tobias, and I began seeing red. I didn't like her looking at him like that, and I loathed that he felt the need to come to protect me as if he hadn't ripped my heart out last night.

"I will say this once and only once. That is not your call. As the King's Royal Advisor, I lead the council, and it is my decision to make. The meeting has been concluded, and right now, you are doing nothing but wasting our time. Select your pledge and be prepared to present them at the next meeting. Beyond that, our conversation is over.” I held her glare as the silent room watched on in amusement.

When she finally broke and stomped away, I felt victorious until I bumped into Tobias when I turned to make my way to the table. My shoulder bounced off his chest, and I stumbled a step back, my eyes locked on his hand on my arm when he tried to catch me.

All I could think about was what his touch felt like last night, how incredible it was to have his naked body up against mine. But he wasn't mine and wouldn't be.

“Please unhand me,” I said through gritted teeth. Tobias looked back and forth between my eyes, and I knew he wanted to say something, but he wouldn't. I was happy we had people around, so he wouldn't talk to me. I wasn't capable of having a rational conversation with him right now. Not when everything that happened last night was still so fresh.

He wanted me because he was attracted to me but didn't want to act on it. Attraction and infatuation were two different things. He didn't want me, just my body. He was just too good of a man to act on it.

I hated that it made me respect him more.

All of the other men that I had tried to be with wanted a quick fuck. They wanted to return to their friends and say they had bagged the witch. They wouldn't even acknowledge me or look at me after. They just got up and left after they got what they wanted.

It was a lesson I took an embarrassing amount of time to learn. Most people avoided me, making it difficult to converse with anyone, so I could get to know them and build an emotional connection. After years of this, I decided to just grab what I wanted and hoped they would enjoy me enough to want to stay once we were done.

They never did.

But watching everyone around me find their soulmates, that unconditional love, made me want it too. I would never stop looking for it, but I was growing tired.

I was tired of strangers wanting nothing more than a quick fuck and never giving me the time of day again after. I was tired of people rushing to get away from me when I came near. I was tired of getting my heart broken by a man who didn't even realize he was doing it.

I needed a break.

But it was something I could not afford, not with an unknown threat looming over us and a red- headed vulture in the castle waiting for me to make a mistake so she could steal my job and possibly my magic.

I could feel his eyes on me as I made my plate before returning to my seat at the table. Killian and Natalie were already eating, and the queen sent me an amused smile as I placed my plate on the table.

“Seems like you could use a good sparring session. Do you want to meet after lunch? It's been a while since we got to train together." Natalie asked, and I knew it was a good idea. Still, her indirectly pointing out my bad mood made me return my glare to Tobias, the source.

His brown eyes burned through me, and I held his gaze as he ignored his half-eaten plate of food. "That sounds great. It's been a while since we got to train together. Just the two of us.” It was an indirect snub at Tobias, which I was positive would be ignored. He had been released from being on her immediate detail unless she left the castle, but he still hovered around her.

Now that he knew there was another threat we needed to deal with, even if he didn't tell anyone, I knew he would be watching the queen closely.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Natalie glancing back and forth between Tobias and me with an amused smile. But the longer I held his stare, the angrier I became.

It was petty and stupid, something I hadn't done since I was a kid. The prior council members and the previous King and Queen yelled at me plenty of times about my immature antics and pranks growing up.

Yet, as a cockroach climbed out of his food, the childish attack made me feel happier.

Killian coughed once, slamming his fist against his chest as he laughed from two seats down. Even the corner of Tobias's lips twitched as the disgusting insect stumbled from the ceramic dish onto the table.

I couldn't pull my eyes away from him if I wanted to. His heated gaze was filled with amusement as he lifted his large hand and slammed his fist down on top of the bug.

My jaw dropped open as Tobias picked up his fork and scooped up a bite of his food. He sent a wink my way as he shoved it in his mouth in a silent declaration of “Game On.’