Shadow Council Dagney Rhodes pushed her blonde hair behind one ear, round cheeks pink with a flush of emotion. “We know discord is the last thing we need right now.” At least someone understood it. We had to work together, to trust each other. Our separate ways, the privacy witches clung to, the secrecy, had to stop. At least, to the point we could go to each other with problems and ask for help without losing face. “But our numbers are so reduced.” The Rhodes coven had once been over two hundred witches, now down to just over twenty. I knew personally. I saved them from the Brotherhood the same day their beloved leader, Violet, was killed. “And we are helpless if the Brotherhood returns to finish us off.” “We’re proposing a second layer of connection,” Karyn Barrett said. “A shadow council to watchdog the NAWC. And we want you to lead it.” It’s been six weeks since the near-destruction of North American witches, six weeks since the Brotherhood stripped the territory of its Council magic. Nervous times are only intensified as the other paranormal races begin their own power struggles, drawing Syd and her friends into a seemingly endless spiral of complications. Add to that her frustrating search for the next piece of Creator, and Syd has her hands full. Too bad she’s about to discover not everyone she trusts has earned her faith…