Chapter 13

"My wife was right, you know. The church would be a nuisance and I'm sure she might feign to like my people but deep inside she wanted her coven. Shall we agree to give her full control over my village? After all, Winterberg needs new offspring. Those raiders were foolish to take the youngsters but smart enough not to burn the village.” Ambrose said.

“Is that so? Well, we must follow through. Our term is sacred. It rings true and real from every realm in my domain. It is constant, unbreakable but the codex was beyond my reach. Only the mother church knew its location."

Ambrose wasn’t surprised by her words. She was a true stickler for the principles. More than anything, he’d taken that awareness from his few brief encounters with her. She was fair and balanced if needed, never making a judgment in urgency or out of excitement. She was perfect in every way and thought he hated perfection. But the Countess was the best ally, from the perfectionists, with her powerful focus