Gray witch, p.14
Gray Witch, page 14
“I can tell you a different type of horror story,” I offered, “if it will make you feel better.”
I hated to upset Meg, hated more that she couldn’t act on her fury, that she was dependent upon others to do what she would have done gladly. Maybe a side note might break the ice and let her temper cool.
“This must be good.” She gestured at Asa. “His scowl says he’s ready to murder over it.”
“The High King of Hael has a crush on me.” I kept my voice light. “He wants me to have his babies.”
A loud crack jerked my head around to find Asa had broken one of the bedposts. Snapped it clean in two and left him with what resembled an ornate baseball bat. He frowned at his hand, at the wood, at me.
“Looks like your mate finds your anecdote as amusing as I do.” She lit another cigarette. “If Stavros has his eye on you, you must be careful.” She flicked Asa a glance. “Or you’ll wake up with Asa’s brother in your belly.”
The snap of Asa breaking his bat in two startled me to the point I almost dumped out Meg.
“I was trying to lighten the mood.” I wavered on who to comfort first. “Asa, it’s all right.”
Shaking splinters off his hand, he dipped his chin. “I’m going to walk around the building a few times.”
He didn’t wait for me to say goodbye, and that stung, but it was my fault for riling him.
“It’s more than the comment, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” I tore my gaze from the door and focused on Meg. “Stavros sent me flowers, and candy.”
“That’s not good.” She took a long draw. “It’s not funny either.” She pointed the red ember at me. “Don’t yank that daemon’s tail. He believes anyone saying no is playing coy.” She pointed to the hair bracelet on my wrist. “Ask your man. He can tell you. His father takes what he wants.”
“When I tell Clay a bad joke, he calls it terrible then moves on with his life.” I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the door Asa had walked out. “Apparently, when I tell Asa a bad joke, he storms off to prevent himself from portaling to murder his father.”
Never one to talk about Clay unless forced, Meg skirted the mention. “You’re his mate.”
“What does that have to do—?”
“You’re his mate.”
“But I—?”
“You’re his mate.”
“We’re not actually mated,” I rushed out before she could interrupt again. “We’re just…”
“Having sex, bandying about the L word, and planning a future together.”
“Um.” I fumbled for a smart response. “Well…” I avoided her eyes. “Yes?”
“I’m a warg. I’ve seen every shade of mating there is, and yours has begun. You’ve moved past the denial stage into the maybe it’s just physical stage, while Asa is ready to place his crown on your head.”
“He didn’t grow up with the best examples of love to follow, so how is he so good at this?”
“Children raised in split households often wonder what if. They daydream about what it would be like if their parents reconciled or to have one home they all shared.”
“But he knew about his father,” I reasoned. “What Stavros did to his mother.”
“I doubt his mother told him until he came of age, or until his trips to Hael commenced. The truth of his conception might have shattered his hopes for his parents, but I guarantee he spent so many years wrapped up in the fantasy of it that he wants it for himself. He believes he can have it. With you.”
“That’s a lot of responsibility,” I said lamely. “What if I don’t live up to the hype?”
“You won’t,” she assured me. “You can’t.”
“That’s comforting.” I scowled at her. “Then what’s the point in trying?”
“Don’t conform,” she advised me. “Smash through his preconceptions. Show him who you really are, what you really want, how life with you will really be. If he sticks around, and I have no doubt he will, then you’ll have the best of both worlds. Someone who loves you for yourself and is willing to build the best possible version of the future for the both of you.”
“I ought to go apologize.” I rubbed the base of my neck. “I’ll do better with the jokes.”
Clearly, Asa had been stewing since the rose incident to be chill in the moment but blow a gasket now.
“You’ll do fine,” she assured me. “That boy’s crazy about you.”
“I’ll go find him.” I checked with her. “You’ll be in touch?”
“One of my kinsmen will, yes.” Her light mood darkened. “Old Man Fang is a legend for a reason.”
The story claimed he went insane after eating a powerful black witch and began eating members of his pack until only his mate remained. It was said he even consumed their children before she shot him with a silver bullet through the heart. The lore also claimed she buried him in a silver casket to punish him into his afterlife.
“I’ll be careful.”
With a doubtful huff, she swirled into nothing, and I got up to dump and rinse the ice bucket. As eager as I was to rush after Asa, an open link to the other side was asking for trouble. The second Meg left, so did the water that had held her.
Done with tidying, I stepped outside to find Asa. I didn’t have to go far before I heard voices. His, and a woman’s. Their low conversation made me think it wasn’t a casual meeting. Before I decided if I should interrupt, Asa must have caught my scent or heard me. He turned around, spotted me, and grimaced.
A slight woman with rose-gold hair pressed a hand to his chest and leaned around the corner to see what snagged his attention. Her lips glittered, glossy and full. Her nose was a pert little button. I pegged her age mid to late twenties, but that could have been a glamour.
Dull pain radiated through my chest when he wrapped his arms around her and hauled her back into their nook with an urgent warning.
He was hiding her.
From me.
The dull roar in my ears usually reserved itself for those who had trespassed against him, but I was deaf to Asa as he put himself between her and me.
He was protecting her.
From me.
An itch in the back of my throat had me swallowing hard to erase the phantom taste of her blood as I imagined biting into her heart like a ripe apple. Warm with copper juices and meat that would sustain my power. The pinch of hunger contracted my stomach, twisting it, cramping it, and that black magic voice from my past whispered I should devour her for the crime of touching my mate, clinging to him, clutching him. But he read my intent, and he approached me with his hands held in front of him.
He was ready to take me down.
For her.
An inhuman snarl revved up my throat, and my fingertips sharpened to daggers. I waited until he put a few feet between him and her, and I pulled on my bond with Colby for the strength to ram my shoulder into his with bruising force. I spun him aside, and he hit the wall. With the path clear, I sprinted for the woman.
“Wait.” He found his balance. “Don’t.”
Fire erupted behind me as I lunged with my claws out, but my roar was crushed along with my ribs.
“Bad Rue.” The daemon had grabbed me around the middle, deflating my lungs as he dangled me from my waist several feet above the sidewalk. “No hurt Callula.”
“I won’t hurt her.” I kicked and clawed at him. “I’ll kill her.”
“Rue cute.” The daemon squeezed me in a hug. “Don’t be jelly.”
“I’m not cute,” I snarled. “I’m about to commit murder.”
“I’m not sure Asa would appreciate that.” The woman strode forward. “I’m Callula Alfre Montenegro.”
“This Asa’s mom,” the daemon explained. “Lady Callula.”
“Oh.” I lost the furor pounding in my head and deflated in his hold. “Well, this is awkward.”
“Rue be good?” The daemon cast me side-eye. “If I put down?”
“I’ll behave,” I tried to make it a promise. “I apologize for the whole attempted murder thing.”
“Rue love me.” The daemon thrust his hair at me. “Pet.”
Happy that forgiveness was earned on one front, I returned my focus to Lady Callula, whose gaze stuck to the daemon as I ran my fingers through his hair.
“You’re such a brat.” I yanked the silky strands. “Why is Asa’s mom here?”
“Asa’s mother?” Callula squared her shoulders. “I’m his mother as well.”
A frown knit the daemon’s brow, and he folded his arms across his chest, saying nothing in return.
Had she ever come right out and claimed him? Or had he read more into her tone than I had?
“I apologize, again, for my misstep.” I was making a great impression, I could tell. “He referred to you as ‘Asa’s mom,’ and I did the same without thinking.”
“You’re friendly with that—?” She bit down on her next words. “You’re close to that part of him?”
“I am.” I heard the testiness in my voice. “And we are.” I elbowed him. “I’m his second-best friend.”
“Asa mentioned he met someone.” Her gaze sharpened. “I didn’t think he’d choose a witch.”
“We get that a lot.” I shrugged like the slight didn’t matter. “Good thing love conquers all.”
“You love him?” Her doubt stung me, but it was the daemon she fixated on. “All of him?”
“That’s how love works.” I might not be a pro, but I knew this to be true. “I’m all-in.”
“Do you think, as a witch, you could bind him?”
Ba-bump.
A rush of anger so cold it scalded crashed over me, deafening me, sweeping away all my good intentions until her heart became the only sound in my world. “What do you mean?”
Ba-bump. Ba-bump.
“His daemon half,” she explained, as if it were obvious. “Could you bind it to his fae half?”
Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump.
Light strobed behind my eyes, and then I was holding my athame to her delicate throat. “Come again?”
“You can’t mean to share your life with both of them?” Her horror was palpable. “That’s unseemly.”
“Lady, I’m a black witch. I’ve done the worst things you can imagine and then some. Usually, I was smiling while I did them. Laughing even. But to bind the daemon to the fae as one personality would be to strip away the facets of the man I fell in love with, and I would rather slice you in half than tear him down the middle.”
Tears filled her eyes and tumbled down her cheeks, and her bottom lip trembled as she held in a sob.
She must not have experience with blades being pointed at her throat.
As my maybe future mother-in-law, she better get used to it if she had more of these bright ideas.
“I’m done here.” I paused in front of the daemon. “Even if Asa and I don’t work out, if she ever tries to cage you, come to me. I don’t care where I am or what I’m doing. You come to me, and I’ll fix it.”
With a sour taste in the back of my throat, I returned to our room.
Alone.
This was not how I pictured meeting his mother would go. I hadn’t meant to act like a jealous harpy, but with the restrictions placed on Asa’s person, I was floored to see another woman fondling him. Though, I guess with it being his mom, it wasn’t technically fondling, but still.
How had she gotten here? What did she want? Did I care?
I was still so mad at her gall in asking me to bind her son, I wanted to stab something.
I sank onto the bed and scrubbed my face with my palms. I didn’t look up when Asa entered the room. I didn’t peek when he knelt in front of me. I didn’t blink when he pried away my hands. I stared at a stain on the carpet that reminded me of Saturn and waited for him to reprimand me for scaring his mother.
“Come here.” Asa dragged me into his arms, and I pressed my face into his neck. “I’m not mad.”
“I am,” I mumbled against his skin. “She asked me to bind you.”
“I know.” He nuzzled me. “I heard.”
A throat cleared behind him, and I found Callula, lovely as ever, standing in the open doorway.
“I would apologize again,” I said, throat tight, “but we both know I wouldn’t mean it.”
“I would settle for your word you won’t attack me again.”
“Don’t provoke me again,” I countered, “and I won’t.”
“That’s fair,” she allowed and shut the door behind her. “I shouldn’t have tested your loyalty, but Asa is my only child. I worried when he told me he was in fascination with a black witch.” Her gaze penetrated me. “Though I do wonder at that. Your magic is…interesting…but not as dark as I expected it to be.”
“My loyalty?” A dangerous adrenaline high shot up my pulse. “You asked me to bind Asa.”
Her idea of vetting me was worse than when I jokingly suggested Stavros had been the one testing me.
“It was the worst thing I could think of,” she admitted. “I hadn’t expected to see you tonight, or I would have prepared a more suitable and less antagonistic approach.”
Call it instinct, but I didn’t believe her for a hot minute. “That would have been nice.”
“My son has been greedy with you and kept you all to himself.” She risked a step closer. “I understand why, now. He’s had so little acceptance in his life. Then there was you.”
“Then there was me,” I repeated, keeping hold of Asa like she might snatch him back.
“I didn’t want you to make the same mistakes with him I did.” She twisted a ring on her finger. “I wanted to know you could love all of him, every part, before I gave my blessing. Mating is forever, you understand. I had to know he was as loved as he deserves to be.”
“It wasn’t your place,” Asa growled softly. “You have no right to play your games with her.”
“I’m your mother,” she growled back. “I have every right.”
“Why did you hide her from me?” I released him and sat back. “You’re lucky I didn’t gut her.”
“She arrived unannounced.” He rose and sat beside me. “I caught your scent, knew how it would look, and tried to protect her until I could introduce you.”
“Fascination heightens emotions,” his mother explained, as if I didn’t know. “He was right to worry.”
The effort of not punching her in the face made my fingers twitch, and her smarmy attitude didn’t help.
“She’s aware, Mother.” Asa sounded tired, and the fight drained out of me. “I’m so sorry, Rue.”
“We both could have handled this better, but make no mistake. This is not your fault.” I left no doubt of who was to blame, in my humble opinion. “What was so important she made a surprise appearance?”
With tempers running high, it felt safer directing the question to him rather than her.
“High Priestess Naeema sent me to deliver this.” She reached into her robes and pulled out a carved box she wisely passed to Asa to give to me. “It will protect Rue as long as she wears it.”
“Wear it?” I cracked the lid and sucked in a gasp. “It’s beautiful.”
A delicate gold choker with an intricate pattern that reminded me of hand-knit lace rested on a bed of blue velvet, but there was no clasp on either end.
“Grandmother sent this?” Asa touched it with reverence. “It’s a very generous gift.”
“It will hide you from Stavros,” she told me. “He won’t be able to track you, or my son, when he’s with you.” Her gaze went unfocused on the bed behind me. “Even if your treacherous y’nai bring Stavros to your door, he won’t sense you.”
“This is Tinkkit, isn’t it?” I swallowed when she nodded once. “That means it was made for me.”
The ancient fae art required the crafter to imbue their individual projects with intent for the specific recipient, almost a wish for them, and the magic in the craft took over from there.
“Asa can remove it.” She lifted it, and the fine links caught the light. “Anyone of our bloodline can.” She let a flicker of insecurity show. “Mother keyed the transference of its power to me. I must fasten it around your neck, with your permission.”
Instinct swung my gaze to Asa, who nodded, and the stare he locked on his mother held a promise of violence if this was anything other than what she claimed it to be.
I won’t lie.
It was kind of hot.
“All right.” I fought against my breathlessness. “I’ll allow it.”
Given her height and slight build, I elected to kneel on the floor to give her the best access to me without my hair posing a risk to her. Since she was Asa’s family, she might be immune when it came to me. But, given my violent reaction to her, and the questionable loyalty of the y’nai, she might not be.
“Hold still.” Her fingers gripped my shoulders gently. “This will tingle, but it won’t burn.”
Cool metal touched my nape, flooding me with serenity, and the oppressive darkness I had struggled against since fashioning the grimoire into an accessory lifted until I could breathe easy again.
Busy soaking up the relief, I startled when Callula yelped and stumbled back.
“How…?” Her voice trembled. “What…?” She thumped against the door. “I don’t understand.”
“Asa?” I checked my neck, but I only felt the one chain. No choker. “What happened?”
Slowly, I faced her, uncertain if her fear was directed at me or the jewelry or both.
“Mother.” Asa helped her to her feet then sat her in a wobbly task chair. “We need a moment alone.”
Worry carved grooves across Asa’s forehead as he led me out to the SUV where he locked us in.
“Can you ward this?” He didn’t crank the engine or fasten his seat belt. “How long would it take?”
“Not long.” I shut my eyes and drew on the well of magic within me to push out a temporary shield. “Got it.” Out of breath, I slumped back against my seat. “How bad is it?”
“The choker vanished when it touched the pendant’s chain.”
“Of course it did.” I pulled the pendant out from under my shirt. “Well, that answers that.”
Golden threads wove through the original chain, bright against its ancient patina.
