Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

The Head of the Council smiled at Wolfe. “I, for one, approve of this proposal. That is one vote for the change.”

The Council Member beside her shook her head as her Family Leader glared at her, then nodded to Reiko. “I also agree with this measure. I will support the change to Coven Rules.”

“I vote against.” The woman next to her insisted as soon as she stopped speaking.

“I vote for the agreement.” The next agreed.

“I vote for the agreement.” The last three all agreed.

Reiko nodded. “The Council prefers unanimity. What would bring you into agreement?”

Her question was a ritual one, for any time that there was a dissenting voice in Council, which basically made it the default response to all proposals.

“The Council Positions must remain in the Council Families.” She insisted.

“You could always marry them in.” The Head of council suggested with a smirk.

Wolfe knew that a witch married into the Family didn’t have the same status as one born to it. Her children would be born to the Family, but she wouldn’t be allowed to inherit Family assets unless there were no natural-born women of the Family left.

Then it would start with the men with the strongest wives. That was how the Coven had always done it, and putting a Sister in Law on the Council would throw off their entire hierarchy.

[Hierarchy of greed and viciousness. Seriously, these women are despicable. There are like three that might be redeemable in the whole room.] The Fae Advisor informed Wolfe, reading his thoughts.

“You know that marrying them in wouldn’t help. What leverage would we have over them if they were just a sister-in-law?” The Council member retorted, and the room fell silent.

The Fae Advisor turned to Reiko and whispered, clearly audible in the silent room.

“She said the inside part outside, didn’t she?”

Reiko nodded, while the rest of the Council glared at their compatriot.

They were supposed to put the Coven’s interests before their family’s, and if the Council decided to censure her, she wouldn’t get a vote to stop it from being unanimous.

Censure was rare in the past, as everyone had to agree, and they all had their allies, but she had broken the unspoken rule. The Council comes first.

“Would you like to rephrase that?” Reiko asked carefully.

“A rogue council member is a danger to the entire Coven. That is why they must be raised from birth within the Council Families.” The Councillor insisted.

“Do you not trust us to pick our own successors? Do you not trust your own judgment on who would be best to inherit your position?” The Council Leader asked.

The two of them were the oldest on the current council, as some had been killed in the fighting, and nearly a century of tenuous friendship seemed to be working to sway the Council Member to see reason.

“As long as the Council Members reserve the right to individual judgment on who is the best successor.” She reluctantly agreed.

Reiko smiled. “Then it is settled. The Council has measures in place to deal with inept or incapacitated members, and we trust each other to make good choices. The change in rules is formally approved. The Council will pick their own successors as they see fit.”

A surge of magic flowed from her through the whole city as she implemented the change in the Coven bond, and instantly, every witch of the Morgana Coven knew that the rule had changed. That the Council was now free to pick any witch that they wanted to take their place.

At first, there was fear that this was some nefarious scheme, but the news was playing their morning report, and it was covering the advancement of the Coven Leader to Rank Three.

The reporters dropped their prepared stories as soon as they felt the change, and the speculation began.

[This is Lori Lee of Channel Seven News with an exclusive update. The Coven Council has just now changed the rules on succession. Inside sources tell me that the potential of a witch outside the Coven Council Families was too great to ignore, and just now the change in the rules seems to confirm their intentions to appoint the most powerful Witches in the Coven to succeed them as Council Members.]

That was almost entirely guesswork and conjecture, but they were the most watched news channel in the city, and the reporter was willing to stake her career on the guess. If it worked out, she would be a newsroom legend, the first to inform the city that any girl with power had a chance to join the Council.

If not, well, she would probably be reassigned to do road reports on the travel conditions between the city and the nearby villages. Without an armoured car or escorts.

The formal change left the Family leaders scrambling for ways to make sure that their preferred candidate got chosen above all others, but a few of them had been intending to push one who had stronger family ties and business influences, instead of a powerful witch.

That wouldn’t work if they couldn’t force the Council to choose who they wanted anymore, so they were going to have to either cultivate someone from the newer generation to take over, or find a way to make their business plans work without using the Council to force through preferential treatment for the operations.

Even worse, they couldn’t outright say it because the other Families would jump on them for admitting corruption, and Coven Leader Reiko was not known for looking the other way. Now that she was even more powerful, she would have fewer reasons to compromise when they tried to force an issue.

If she got her way and progressed again and progressed to Rank Four with Wolfe’s help, she would be able to almost completely cut them out, and leave them on the level of the Crime Families, who had no official ties to the government other than a single advisor, as the Council Families had.

The whole situation was a mess, and the Fae Advisor was beginning to wonder if the Morgana Coven knew what Popcorn was.

She was going to need a lot of it for what was coming. You can’t watch a drama without popcorn.

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