The Coven (Coven of Bones Book 1)

THE COVEN COVEN OF BONES BOOK 1 HARPER L WOODS ADELAIDE FORREST LOTUS MOON PUBLISHING Copyright © 2023 by Harper L Woods All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Cover Design: Opulent Swag & Designs Editing: Kaye Kemp Book Polishing Chapter Headings & Scene Breaks: Etheric Designs Created with Vellum For those who love them villainous. ABOUT THE COVEN Revenge. Raised to be my father’s weapon against the Coven that took away his sister and his birthright, I would do anything to protect my younger brother from suffering the same fate. My duty forces me to the secret town of Crystal Hollow and the prestigious Hollow’s Grove University—where the best and brightest of my kind learn to practice their magic free from human judgment. There are no whispered words here. No condemnation for the blood that flows through my veins. The only animosity I face comes from the beautiful and infuriating Headmaster, Alaric Grayson Thorne, a man who despises me just as much as I loathe him and everything he stands for. But that doesn’t mean secrets don’t threaten to tear the school in two. No one talks about the bloody massacre that forced it to close decades prior, only the opportunity it can afford to those fortunate enough to attend. Because for the first time in fifty years, the Coven will open its wards to the Thirteen. Thirteen promising students destined to change the world. If the ghosts of Hollow’s Grove’s victims don’t kill them first. TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS The Coven is a dark paranormal romance with gothic vibes and a dark academia setting. The male lead in this series is pushy, domineering, and manipulative. He goes beyond my typical morally gray antihero and is in my opinion an actual villain who gets his HEA. Triggers include: - dubious consent - forced feeding - graphic violence - rough and explicit sexual content - forced proximity - betrayal - references to past abuse & traumatic reactions to triggering stimuli - knife violence - graphic depictions of blood - physical harm inflicted upon the main character - ritualistic murder CONTENTS Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Also by Adelaide Forrest PROLOGUE ALARIC GRAYSON THORNE In the 329 years since my making, I’d come to appreciate the finer things in life. The beauty of the meticulously cut colored glass in the arched windows and the prisms of light they cast over the dark stone tile of the halls at Hollow’s Grove University was only one of those. It was not to be diminished by the tantalizing scent of witch’s blood drifting from the messenger escorting me to the tribunal room. The Covenant wouldn’t wait long for any, not even the male they’d appointed as the Headmaster of their precious school. Cobwebs and dust lined the pathway before us, and I turned up my nose at the way the University had fallen into disrepair since I’d last set foot in it fifty years prior. The witch at my side stopped before the tribunal gates at the end of the hall. She waved a well-manicured hand over the lock, watching as the iron and gold mechanism rotated until it parted. Gears turned slowly, the ripple effect sliding up until the rest of the locks followed suit. The bars latched across the seam where the two doors met finally retreated. The soft click of them opening a signal for the witch to grasp the handle. “How many generations separate you and George Collins’s sister?” I asked, forcing the witch to pinch her lips as she looked over her shoulder at me. “Nine generations separate The Covenant and I,” she said with a sneer. The witches were always so testy when discussing what had become of their leaders, of the two witches who’d commanded them through the centuries. Susannah Madizza and George Collins were no longer—replaced by the two halves of The Covenant when the Hecate witches raised them from their graves. “A shame,” I said with a grin. “Sarah Collins was quite lovely before she died. It is unfortunate she wasn’t able to pass that along to her descendants.” The witch’s face fell with shock as I stepped through the gate she opened. I turned to the right and moved toward the tribunal room where The Covenant waited for me. My escort remained at the gates, the good little puppy her great-, great-, great- whatever grandmother had seen fit to raise her to become. “You’re one to talk, you undead bastard!” she called out behind me. I adjusted the jacket of my suit, straightening the lapel as I grasped both the inner doors of the tribunal and swiftly pulled them open. The Covenant sat in the gilded chairs they’d had fashioned centuries ago, skeletal fingers grasping the arms as what had once been Susannah Madizza leaned forward. Her hood shifted to the side, allowing some of the sunlight shining through the kaleidoscope windows at the side of the circular chamber to illuminate what remained of her face. The flesh had long since rotted from her body, leaving only the gaunt shape of a skeleton to stare back at me. Her neck tipped at an unnatural angle where it had snapped when they hanged her, the slightest slant to the side displaying the manner of her death all those years ago. Her eye sockets remained