The Necromancer Council

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Cissy smoothed down her skirt, hoping she was presentable enough to be seen by the High Council. She hadn't worried about this the last time she'd been here, but that was because she'd only just been freed, and she'd had Tabby and Richard with her to offer support.

Though she supposed Richard would still be inside the Council room, he'd just be sitting in his seat rather than being there to support her.

She sucked in a deep breath and pushed through the door and stepped into the grand chamber that served as the decision room for the five most important paranormals in the country. Cissy knew it was unusual for any person to have been in front of the High Council as many times as she had, but that didn't make her feel special. Not when most of the people who entered here didn't walk out free.

"Narcissa, welcome," the oldest man on the Council said, his gruff voice completely the opposite of his words.

She wasn't sure how he'd ended up elected, but it certainly hadn't been due to his sparkling personality. No matter how many times she interacted with him, he never seemed anything less than annoyed by her presence. Though she suspected it wasn't personal and he was like that with everyone.

"Thank you for seeing me," she responded, her voice shaking ever so slightly. Hopefully, none of them would notice, and if they did, they wouldn't mention it.

"We're happy to hear from you," Aella Dentro said from her seat to the left of the old man.

It was fascinating to see how the younger members of the Council reacted in contrast to the older ones. As far as Cissy was aware, the storm nymph was around her age. It was impressive for her to have gained as much power as she already had so quickly.

"Thank you for giving me the time to recover from everything before I went about setting up the Necromancer Council once more," she said, hating how stiff and formal she sounded, and how much she felt like it was necessary to speak that way. "The time has been invaluable, but I believe that it is now the right moment for me to start the process."

"That's excellent news." Aella smiled reassuringly at Cissy.

"It's about time," the older man muttered.

"We can't expect someone who has been through what Narcissa has to carry on as if it didn't happen," the third man on the Council said. She was reasonably certain he was called Barker, but she had no way of double-checking that without potentially making a fool out of herself in the process.

"Barker is right," Richard spoke up, confirming what she thought was the case. "I needed a break after what I saw in Alvin's den, Narcissa was there for so much longer, I can't begin to imagine what she experienced."

A shiver ran down her spine at the memories invoked by Tabby's mate. She hated what her cousin had done to her, but knew it would be something she had to learn to live with.

"If you have someone else to take on the job of running the Council, then I'm more than willing to step aside," she said, infusing her words with as much confidence as she could.

While she did appreciate the honour of being asked to set it up, she really wouldn't mind it if someone else took over. There had to be dozens of necromancers more suited to the job than she was. Sadly, she didn't know any of their names, so had to hope they wouldn't ask for suggestions.

"You're the right choice," Richard said firmly.

The older man snorted. "You're saying that because then your family runs one of the Councils."

"That's not the reason I think Narcissa would make a good Council member," Richard responded through gritted teeth. "Her appointment has nothing to do with my mate being her cousin."

"Hmm."

"Richard is right," Aella said. "We agreed that Narcissa was going to take on the position because she is a good fit. She knows the right people and views necromancy in a way that's productive for all of us."

Pride and fear welled up within Cissy in equal measures. It was good to have someone recognise the person she tried hard to be, but at the same time, it was a lot to live up to and she wasn't completely sure she'd be able to live up to the expectations. The only way to find out about that would be to try.

"Thank you for your votes of confidence," she said.

"If there's anything we can do to aid the transition, then please let us know," Aella said. "The High Council is here to help in any way that we can. I can show you to the Necromancer Council chambers in this building now if you'd like? I'm sure you're aware that you don't have to use them, but they are yours if you choose to."

Cissy nodded. "I think it's best if we do. We've been set apart from other paranormals for too long, it would be good to finally start to change that." She wasn't sure if it would work, especially with the prejudices other paranormals had against her kind, and the ones that went the other way as a result. But if she didn't try, then there was no chance of even starting to be able to fix it.

"Then we should get going now. I only have five minutes until I'm due to leave for my next meeting," the nymph said, rising from her seat and crossing the floor so she was level with Cissy. "That's just enough time for us to get you the key and show you where it is."

Cissy widened her eyes, confused about how abruptly the meeting was being called to an end. She'd expected something more formal to signal the end of it, but now she thought about it, she'd never once had that experience with the High Council. But up until now, she'd always left mid-meeting.

Despite her apprehensions, she turned and followed the other woman out of the room, unsure how successful she'd call the meeting overall. She'd gotten what she wanted, but that had been on the table the entire time, so it wasn't news.

She shook her head, ridding herself of the confusing thoughts. It didn't matter how she'd gotten here, the important thing was that she made the most of the situation she'd found herself in.