Chapter 7 #2
“She wasn’t senile.” Joss slammed her teacup down and rose.
She pointed a ring-bedecked finger at her mother.
“Grandma Charlotte knew exactly what she was doing. Look at this!” She swept her hand at the parlor, the Braddox Family oil painting.
“You’ve always cared more about appearances than the actual demesne.
All of the work you’ve done in the last four years was for show, but what have you actually done?
Verna said the Hexen Holler elementary school has a haint.
And the church has at least five cursed items on display.
” She counted on her fingers. “There’s a wampus cat in the graveyard by the day care, a raw-head under the Buck Creek Bridge, and last night I swear to the Horned God there was a banshee in the woods. ”
“You’ve been gone, traveling the world and living a privileged life, Josephine. What could you possibly know about running a demesne?”
“It’s Joss,” Blaire corrected the elder witch. “Get it right next time.”
“As though I would take any advice from a hedge witch.”
“There it is.” She tapped her nose. “That’s the Geraldine I missed.”
“You do not get to speak to Blaire that way.” Joss moved in front of her, making herself a wall between Blaire and her mother. “Not after you hexed me and did everything in your power, my entire life, to discredit the Carvers. They’re more Hexen Holler than the Braddox witches have ever been.”
“Don’t you dare to speak to me that way,” Geraldine warned.
“Or what? You’ll hex me again?”
“Gladly,” she spat. “Only this time I think I’ll make it a bottling and erase this trash from your memory once and for all.”
The door across the parlor slammed, and all three witches whipped their heads around at the sound.
Chester and the Braddox cook, Tina Carver, stood shoulder to shoulder, the latter clutching a trembling tray of cakes and cookies. Her cheeks, normally pale as mountain snow to match her shock of white-blonde hair, were red with fury.
“Oh, hell yeah.” Blaire pushed her knees and rose. “Dessert.”
“Sit, Blaire Carver,” Geraldine ordered.
“Mm, no. I only take orders from the Witch of the Demesne.”
“I am the Witch of the Demesne, and I said sit.”
“No, you’re not.” Joss grabbed Blaire’s hand. “We are.”
“You?” Geraldine staggered back. She tripped against the chair, grasping the back to keep her feet.
“How? When? I would have—” Poise overtook shock, falling upon her like a curtain.
She righted herself, and in an instant was the austere witch Blaire and the demesne knew well.
“Last night. That was the power swell we felt. Rude of you to perform a ritual of that size without seeing the steward of the demesne first.”
“Fresh out of fucks to give when it comes to being polite to you, mother.”
Geraldine’s cheeks flushed darker. Pride bloomed in Blaire’s belly, along with a deep, rich warmth she’d never before named.
Oh, she’d thought it. Night after night in Joss’s arms. Or in the bed of her truck when they were teens, sprawled on a checkered blanket and watching the stars.
Or working small magicks, growing berries and herbs for her beautiful girlfriend to turn into potions.
And here it was again, bigger and stronger than before, and echoed along the bond they shared.
“I love you.” The words came easily, as if they’d been there all along, waiting their cue. “I love you so Horned God-damned much.”
Joss faced her, eyes wide and watery. “Yeah?” she asked, breathless.
“Yeah.” Blaire nodded. She raised a hand and pinched her fingers. “A little bit.”
“Thank the Goddess. It was going to be incredibly awkward if you didn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you.” She grabbed Blaire’s face and hauled her in for a kiss, pulling away only when Tina cleared her throat. “Didn’t you read any of the letters?”
“No.” She frowned. “I didn’t really have the time, between sleeping, and, you know.”
“Well, I did, while you slept. We’ll read the rest together, but that was what I was trying to tell you, this whole time. In every letter.”
Words flashed and faded, briefly read and barely seen in the moonlight.
Dear Blaire. Beloved Blaire. You would love it here, Blaire. My Blaire.
“Oh.”
“Oh.” Joss grinned. “Sorry it took me so long.”
Tina cleared her throat, hauling their attention away from each other. “What do you want us to do with her?” She pointed the tray at Geraldine, now sinking into the chair with a dazed look on her face.
Joss set a sweet kiss on Blaire’s mouth and turned on her mother, all softness hardening to a diamond-sharp edge.
“Will you testify before C.R.O.W.?” she asked. “Will you tell them what you did?”
“No,” Geraldine answered dully. “I’ll lie to the tribunal or whoever you sit me before. I’d rather die than admit I did anything wrong.”
Tina let out a long, low whistle. “Goddess, she’s awful.” She jerked her chin at the teapot and cups on the table. “How strong did you brew that stuff?”
“It’s chamomile,” Chester said weakly.
“And tell-me-now,” Joss added. “The Braddox family’s own truth serum. Nicely done, Blaire.”
Blaire blushed and tipped her head at Tina. It hadn’t been hard to slip into the kitchen and dump the potion into the tea. Still, credit was due. “Helps to have family with connections.”
Tina sketched a curtsey and tossed the tray onto a console table beside the door. “Happy to do it. He had some, by the way.” She hooked her thumb at Chester, and a slow, wicked grin stretched across Joss’s face.
“What do you say, Chester?” She advanced on him slowly. He pointed to his chest and glanced over his shoulder, as though another Chester had manifested into the room. “Will you testify? You were there that night. You helped her hex me and kept it a secret. Will you tell C.R.O.W. what you did?”
“Yes,” he squeaked and pressed against the door.
“Yes, ma’am. Please, I like this job, and your family.
And Geraldine told me you were running away.
She said Blaire had broken your heart, and you were running, and she didn’t want you in any pain, and asked me to help.
Please.” He clasped his hands, begging his truth. “I didn’t know.”
“Wow, that stuff is strong.” Blaire cocked her head, taking in the butler on his knees.
Joss inhaled slowly, then flicked two fingers, bidding him to stand. “My grandmother always liked you,” she said. “And you used to take me to the park to play with Blaire and let me change my clothes before we got home so my mom wouldn’t know.”
“You were a good girl,” he said meekly.
“I’m a good witch, too.”
“You are.”
Joss extended a hand, giving him one solid shake. Again, she pressed her palms down the front of her blouse and slid them into her pockets, setting her jaw as she approached her mother. “Get out.”
“What?” Geraldine wavered.
“Get. Out.” Joss repeated. “I don’t care where you go, I don’t care what you do, but from this moment on, none within our demesne will harbor you.
” She held out a hand, and Blaire took it, matching her intent and her desire.
Dizziness crawled into her brain, leaving her light-headed as the sacrifice was taken to bind the magick of their decree.
“From Seven Devils to Rich Mountain, from Blue Hole to Altapass, none will heed your words, none will welcome you at their door. You are banished from Hexen Holler, Geraldine Braddox. So say the Witches of the Demesne.”
“You can’t,” Geraldine gasped and clutched a strand of actual pearls.
“We did,” Joss and Blaire said in unison.
She staggered away, wobbling in her heels for the door. Chester held it open, turning his face away as his former boss rushed from the room.