Chapter 35 #2
As she sat, Kier unfurled his arms to pick up his cup and sniff its contents. Even with the overload of aromas in the cottage, he was able to scent what she’d used. There’s nothing amiss.
Still, he switched his own with the seer’s in case she’d slipped something inside it he couldn’t decipher.
When Carwyn shook her head at him in disbelief, he shrugged. You witches are known to be crafty little tricksters. He was exercising caution.
Harietta, none-the-wiser as to what he’d just done under her nose, clasped her cup with both hands and took a sip.
Her answering smile was comforting; she’d likely taste her own poisons if she knew what they were.
Carwyn lifted her own cup to slurp it loudly before quieting, but Kier looked at his own.
He picked it up, sniffed it to find it harmless, and set it down. Carwyn winced at him but made no other reaction to his refusal.
“You’ve come a long way,” Harietta said, reaching her hand out to clasp Carwyn’s gloved one. “I was worried about you on your journey. I was unsure if you’d bring Valerie with you.”
Carwyn’s smile filled her voice. “Valerie is no longer at home.”
Harietta’s lips parted in surprise. “Really? A man, perhaps?”
A quiet giggle surrounded Carwyn’s answer. “Yes, you could say that.”
The foreign witch hovered her hand over her mouth to hide her own mirth demurely. “I knew she had passion inside her, even if she was so cold-hearted. I hope she’s well. It pleases me to hear that. Your mother truly worried for her happiness.”
Carwyn’s eyelids flickered in surprise. “Really?”
“Of course. Your mother loves you all, even if she doesn’t always show it well.” She wrapped both her hands around her teacup with a solemn, sightless gaze into it. “She calls it duty. Strictness to ensure you all take the right path.”
Carwyn gripped the teacup tightly with both hands. “Yes. Duty. Especially as she needed to go against her own teachings...”
“Yes. Having four daughters was a decision she didn’t take lightly. She visited me each time, wondering if she was making the right choice, but I couldn’t truly give her the answers she sought. She feels the need to be strict for that reason. She knows some of you will leave her watchful eye.”
Kier observed Carwyn’s features darken, as if a stormy, looming cloud hung over her mind. “She’s not wrong. Once we leave, she cannot control us anymore.”
“How is Helvette? It’s been a long time since she visited me.”
“She’s well. Kaeylyn keeps her hands busy.”
“I bet. I’ve foreseen her to have a rather wild and free-hearted personality. She no doubt drives your mother crazy.”
“Admittedly... all of us.”
Both females laughed softly, and he frowned at them as they began a conversation revolving around her three sisters. They seem to know each other well. I thought Carwyn said she’d only met her once. Then again, Harietta led the conversation with such ease that even he found himself softening to it.
Especially as they spoke more on Kaeylyn’s growth and Aldora’s refusal to leave home. Carwyn tiptoed around Valerie’s apparent banishment, likely hoping to avoid revealing her knowledge of her whereabouts and that she’d bonded with the ShadowHunter.
It was a small peek into Carwyn’s life, one he was easily fascinated with. I do not know these things about her. Blasted! He was annoyed that he hadn’t asked more questions regarding those she obviously cared about.
He glanced at the pretty witch, her hair in a wide beam of sunlight, giving it a golden halo as she took another sip with a smile at the rim of the cup. Her own gaze slid to him and widened before her cheeks stained with a cute pink.
“And who might you be?” Harietta asked, placing her elbows on the table as she rested her chin on the backs of her overlapping wrists.
“I thought you were a seer,” Kier deflected, cocking a brow.
Her lips pressed together, tightening her smile. “I foresee many futures, but it doesn’t mean all of them or my own.”
He grunted and folded his arms. Still, we have been here quite some time and nothing has happened. He eyed Carwyn’s nearly empty cup and considered his own. I’ve never had tea before. Would it be terrible to drink tepid?
“Harietta... about my abilities,” Carwyn impatiently interjected.
The female waved her away. “Yes, yes. You wish to be rid of such wondrous gifts. I know.”
She stood and walked over to the bookshelf behind Kier. She patted each item in search of something, and he twisted in his seat to make sure he kept his eyes on the possible threat.
A few minutes passed before she growled, “Come on. I know I placed it somewhere here.”
A heavy thud, followed by the delicate clatter of ceramic, came from in front of him, and he turned to find Carwyn collapsed in her seat with her head and both arms upon the table. The teacup had spilled, the last of its watery red-hued contents dripping off the very edge.
His chair scraped as he rose to grab her cup and sniff its contents, and immediately he scented something off within it.
He snarled as he turned to the foolish seer.
“I’m sorry about this.”
Powder was blown over his face, spicy and thick with fairy blood. He coughed when it clung to the back of his nose and throat like sand. He shot his hand forward, grabbed her by her thin neck, and lifted her until her toes came off the ground and her head hit the ceiling.
She scratched at his fingers with long nails as he crushed her throat, squeezing so tight she wheezed. “How quickly do you think I can snap your neck before your dust takes effect?”
Yet, when he went to do just that, to break her fragile neck, he grunted, unable to do so. His arm quaked with exertion as it refused to give him what he sought, to do as he demanded. He couldn’t even fully crush her throat and choke her, allowing her sips of air.
His vision wobbled as he looked around, wisps of incense swirling and floating through the streaks of sunlight.
Each breath was getting harder and tighter to take, and before he knew it, her feet touched the ground and his grip softened. He stumbled back and used his chair to support himself as the strength in his legs faded.
“I knew you couldn’t be trusted,” he slurred with a sneer.
“Indeed.”
He glanced at Carwyn and the discarded cup beside her. I should’ve smelled hers.
But he’d thought they would’ve been poisoned in unison. Together. He hadn’t foreseen that she would have magics that would protect her after he discovered her betrayal. She has a spell in place. Something that prevented him from harming her within her own home.
When he took a step towards Carwyn so he could lift her and walk them free, his knee caved in – the effects quicker than he’d anticipated. He should’ve escaped immediately, rather than linger to threaten her pointlessly.
He could’ve asked her why, but there was only one answer: because she was vile, just like all witches who touched evil magic. Selfish. Cruel.
When his body gave out and his head went rushing to the hard floor, his eyes grew heavy just as her murky form approached him. Tucking her skirt behind her backside, she crouched next to him.
“I do so hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.” Her voice was sweet, and she sounded sincere.
Rot in hell, vermin.
Then he succumbed to darkness.