Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
Hanging out with a god was kind of cool. Especially when said god basically kicked down the doors like he was part of a paranormal swat team. The second ward fell in seconds, a wash of rot permeating through the air as soon as we stepped over the line.
“Oh,” I breathed, immediately regretting it when the scent of human remains blasted me in the face. My involuntary gag made Cernunnos chuckle.
“The cycle of life is not always pretty,” he mused.
A dozen witches came at us. Not all of them would have felt the first ward fall. The magic was so unique, Cernunnos suspected they had outside help. But all of them felt the second one.
Spells flew at us, but Cernunnos froze them with a swipe of his hand.
The witches stumbled, slack-jawed at his casual display of power.
“Who leads this coven?” he demanded.
A dark-haired witch stepped out from behind the others.
She inclined her head at Cernunnos, surprise lingering in her green eyes.
The witch looked at me for longer, her eyes narrowing.
Magic glowed in her eyes, fading after a moment.
She was trying to pierce Cernunnos’s glamour to no effect. Ballsy.
“I am,” she said, her voice husky and feminine. Like most witches, she was beautiful, and an image of her writhing above Soren sprang into my mind unbidden.
Gods. This was stupid. I didn’t even like him all that much, but my ego was bruised, and I couldn’t stop thinking about eight of these damn witches. Was one of them her?
The witch’s lips curved in a smile. “To what do I owe the pleasure, Horned God? I apologize we have not made appropriate deference to you. We were unaware you walked these lands.”
Ooh. Flattery will get you nowhere. Not with Cernunnos anyhow. “I do not take human sacrifices, witchling.”
From the almost undetectable flinch, Cernunnos’s use of the term describing an inexperienced, young witch stung. Her lips tightened.
“From the smell, you’ve sacrificed many innocent lives for your spell work. What is it you are trying to accomplish?”
The witch looked at me one more time.
“Do not worry about my companion,” he chided. “She is with me by my choice and my choices do not concern you.”
The rebuke made her jaw tighten. “We are merely practicing for the promotion of one of our sisters. She is about to take the position of High Priestess in our sister coven.”
Liar. I smelled it all over her. The witch was good at controlling her emotions, but I was a vampire and Cernunnos was a god. Her fingers, trapped inside her voluminous robes, held a fine tremor, and her heartbeat had sped up.
“Are you registered as a dark magic coven?” Cernunnos asked mildly.
Holy shit. Was that even a thing? I did my best to keep the surprise off my face. Maybe Cernunnos and I should team up and form a paranormal detective agency where we tear down wards and bust bad guys. We could call it Vamp Gods ? and charge outrageous rates for our services.
At the end of every case, we’d go have a beer and bust each other’s chops for our poor dating choices, then do it all again the next week. What a life that would be.
“We are a relatively new coven and—”
“Your lies are wasted on us. I will ask you again. Are you registered as a dark magic coven?”
The witch swallowed, her eyes darting nervously from me to Cernunnos.
“No, your majesty.”
Oooh. She busted out the majesty. Girlfriend knew she was in deep shit now.
“Why not?” His voice was mild, almost uninterested, but antlers were slowly growing from his head, and his clothing was morphing from that of a young athletic coach to the god of legend.
A fine bead of sweat had broken out on the witch’s forehead. Her coven members were frozen with fear, their eyes wide and still on Cernunnos. When he spoke again, his voice morphed into a thing of fearsome beauty—a savage and wild sound, the rumble like an unexpected thunderstorm.
“Tell me what business you have on fae lands.”
The witch pulled her hands from her robe and wrung them nervously. “We are searching for someone, Your Majesty. Someone who wronged us.”
“Not just searching,” Cernunnos said. “You could have easily done that in one’s living room with a single piece of hair or clothing. Elaborate.”
Another witch stepped up. The leader’s lips thinned. “You are not needed, Elladora. Return to your place.”
Cernunnos held a hand up. “Do you wish to speak, young witchling?”
She whispered something to their leader who shook her head sharply.
“Speak!” Cernunnos commanded.
The younger witch had hazel eyes—not pureblooded, but her eyes were dominant green, so at least half.
She was pretty in a girl next door way, not the poreless, shining beauty of the others with bright green eyes.
With them standing so close together, I suspected their leader was immortal.
The younger witch might be long-lived, but she had a very human air about her.
Something about her put me slightly at ease. “Someone has wronged us, Your Majesty.”
My stomach sank. Fucking Soren.
“We are here to right the wrong.”
“Do you know whose property you trespass on?”
She shook her head. “No, I am sorry. We can move.”
Cernunnos studied her. “You will need to move several states, child. This land belongs to the fae queen.”
Everyone’s eyes widened at that one. Evie wasn’t one to plant a flag and scream about her victory.
This land used to be controlled by Donovan, one of the Shifter Lords who met an untimely end.
When a Lord died, no one advertised the news.
Another Lord was quietly chosen and moved onto the territory for them to stake their claim both on the land and through its people.
Evie took the land from Donovan and refused to allow another Lord to live on the property. She’d done Soren a great favor by allowing him to bring some of his Packmates to reside here—a decision I was sure she was regretting right about now.
From the looks on their faces, none of them knew about Evie’s claim to the land. Cernunnos was technically within his rights to kill them all where they stood.
And they knew it. The other witches began whispering among themselves, a few looking to the darkness of the woods beyond.
“I wouldn’t try it,” I said. “We’ll catch you within seconds.”
The leader spun around and hissed a warning at the others before turning back around. “We will leave. Immediately.”
“Tell me about this person who wronged you,” Cernunnos demanded.
She licked her lips. “He is a man of no importance to you, Your Majesty. His crimes are for us to answer, not someone of such high standing as yourself.”
Dear gods. This witch knew how to lay it on thick.
“I will be the judge of this man’s importance.”
Annoyance at her defeat flickered in her eyes. “He has lain with most of our coven.”
The younger witch stiffened.
“And one of them is with child.”
The floor bottomed out from my feet. I swayed where I stood. That was impossible.
Unless…
“How long ago?” I croaked. Tears burned the back of my eyes, and I squashed the betrayal down.
The witch looked at me. “Six months.”
Truth.
Soren had lied right to my face, and I hadn’t smelled the untruth on him. He said he’d been with them two years ago and implied he hadn’t been with anyone since me.
“Bring the witch,” Cernunnos said, defeat in his voice. He edged slightly closer to me, his body heat warming the cold edges of my soul.
A stunning witch with wide green eyes stepped forward. Cernunnos stepped up to her and placed his hand on her abdomen. His eyes flared with power for a brief second.
“Who is the father?” Cernunnos asked.
She licked her lips and glanced at her leader. The witch nodded.
“Lord Soren.”
I closed my eyes for a split second, but an odd scent hit me.
Lie.
The witch was lying. My eyes flew open. Cernunnos slowly shook his head and came back to my side.
“Your witch is not pregnant with a shifter’s child,” he said gently. “Regardless of Lord Soren’s otherwise appalling behavior, he has not begotten a child on anyone here.”
The lead witch’s eyes widened. Her attention snapped to the young witch who bowed her head and sobbed.
“I’m sorry!” She turned and ran, not getting far before the other witches grabbed her.
“What will happen to her?” I asked.
“We would never harm a witch’s unborn child,” she said. “Her punishment will occur once the child is born, and it is not for you to get involved. Witch business is private within covens.”
“You will vacate this place by six a.m.,” Cernunnos said. “If you do not, I will come back and raze your coven to the ground.”
The witch opened her mouth, thought better about it, then closed her mouth. “Very well, Your Majesty.”
“I do not interfere in mortal meddlings,” he said. “Nor do I hold dominion over witches. Take your revenge if you must—”
My head snapped his direction. Godsdammit, Cernunnos. He could have told them to drop all their nonsense against Soren and they probably would have. Then I could have gone home!
“But know if you strike the Lords, they will strike back twice as hard. Be prepared, witchlings.”
She dipped her head in acknowledgment. “Noted, Your Majesty.”
A tense silence occurred. Cernunnos wasn’t done. “What strange magic created your outer ward?”
The other witches started murmuring again. They were really bad about keeping things chill. If they pretended not to know, Cernunnos might not punish all of them, depending on the answer.
A familiar scent began to leak around us, overshadowing even the rank smell of human remains. I froze in place, my heartbeat hammering against my ribs. Sweat pooled at the small of my back, and fear iced through my veins.
I knew that smell.
Cernunnos stepped closer and gave me an odd look.
“The magic is mine, Your Majesty.” The voice belonged to no one.
But I knew the sound.
A woman appeared from thin air. Tall, stunning, and the evilest person I’d ever met in my entire life stood before us.
I stifled the whimper threatening at the back of my throat and kept my expression currently blank. Inside, I was screaming, horror and pain and raw, unfettered terror flooding through my veins.
Cernunnos knew something was wrong but stood his ground. He inclined his head. “And you are?”
A delicate and pale hand capable of unfathomable cruelty touched her ample chest. “My apologies. My name is Minka Belyaev.”
That was not her name.
I should know.
The woman standing before me had given birth to me in an alley several hundred years ago.