Chapter 536: Venner

It didn't take me long to go from stunned silence to fury. Okay, so Mom was right to worry. So. Right. The last time I'd seen the back end of Venner he'd been trying to kill me. Had almost killed Liam's grandfather, Fergus, forcing us to send the old Gatekeeper through the Gate so the seal could be rebuilt after we failed to answer the knock.

All so whiny fairy boy here could run home to his Sidhe momma or something equally pathetic.

Before I could gather myself enough to ask what the bloody hell was going on, a small, slender witch of advanced age stood from the leather chair she'd claimed in front of Mom's desk and smiled at me. Well, kind of smiled. More like barracuda'd. I'd never seen that many teeth in someone's mouth before.

"Welcome, Coven Leader," she said in a voice so graveled I was amazed she could speak. "It's a delight to finally meet you."

"Sydlynn," Mom rushed into the conversation with a forced smile of her own and tension in every line of her body, "may I introduc