Page 84 of Don't Bite the Botanist
Renata arched an eyebrow. “I don’t believe this is nothing.” When he didn’t respond, her face twisted in anger. “Tell me what this is Ethan, or I might not choose to spare Tressa when this is done. I’ve been more than patient with you all, and I’ve gotten nothing but lies and disrespect in return.”
He glanced over at his mate who was still lying on the beach where Renata had thrown her, barely able to lift her head to look at him. The fear he thought he’d suppressed came rising back up. He didn’t care what happened to him, but he had to know Tressa would be okay.
His shoulders sagged. “I think it’s a protection potion,” he admitted. “My mom was some sort of witch. One of her friends gave it to me.”
Renata stared at him, her eyes searching his, and then she tossed her head back and laughed. “A protection potion? Delightful.” She pried the small vial out of his hands and sniffed it. “I don’t smell anything. Are you sure she didn’t give you water? A bit of false courage?”
“Doesn’t matter now,” he gritted out. “Does it?”
“No,” Renata said, pressing the stake into Ethan’s chest. “It doesn’t.”
The wood burrowed through skin and muscle, inching toward his heart. He ground his teeth together through the agonizing pain. He wouldn’t beg for his life. Jake had begged, and it hadn’t saved him.
Maybe Ethan should have died in that lab. Maybe it would have been better if he’d never met Tressa. Never had that brief moment of happiness. That teaser of what could have been.
Maybe dying would be easier if he didn’t know what he was leaving behind.
“I’m sorry to drag this out,” Renata said, and it actually sounded like she meant it. “But I did tell you what would happen if you tried anything.”
She pressed a little harder, and Ethan heard his sternum crack. Blood filled his lungs, and he coughed, sending small red splatters across Renata’s face. When she pulled him in close, every aspect of her looked exactly the same as it had that night, right down to the flecks of blood on her skin.
“Do it,” he bit out. “I’d rather die than spend another second looking at your hideous face.”
The smirk she gave him belied any sense of the civility she claimed to have. “In that case,” she replied, the vacant depths of her dark eyes prepared to swallow his soul, “your wish is finally granted.”
She lifted the potion in front of his face and crushed the vial.
“Goodbye, Ethan.”
Chapter forty-five
Tressa
Tressa braced herself for the final push. The final thrust that would lodge the stake into Ethan’s heart and tear him away from her forever.
But it never came.
“What…?” Renata choked out, gaping at her hand that was sizzling and slowly turning black. “What is this?” She released her hold on the stake and stumbled back from Ethan.
Tressa blinked at her, then glanced at her mate who was staring at Renata, seemingly just as shocked as she was.
She let out a cry of pure gratitude when the realization struck her. Ethan’s mom and her friends really had been honest-to-Lilith witches.
And she was really fucking glad Ethan hadn’t drank that potion.
Renata fell away from the group, flailing wildly as if she could dislodge whatever dark magic was ravaging her body. Her skin cracked, smoked, and began to burn. Ragged screams filled the air as she clawed at her seared flesh, only managing to knock off loose hunks of black char that crumbled to dust before they even hit the sand.
Saiden and Derrick rushed over to help Tressa to her feet, and all four of them watched, stunned, as the blackness crawled up Renata’sarm, across her neck, and down the other side, rapidly devouring her entire body.
Nobody moved for what felt like an eternity. Then Tressa’s brain kicked back on, and she turned to Ethan.
Who still had a stake lodged in his chest.
She raced forward and pulled him into her arms just as he collapsed. She carefully lowered him to the sand, her fingers wrapping around the sharp piece of wood, ready to yank it out of him.
“This isn’t over,” a raspy voice wheezed, and Tressa whipped her head up in time to see Renata fall to the ground, her disintegrating legs unable to hold her upright. “She will come for you. She will restore balance.” Renata’s eyes locked on Tressa’s, the only part of her body left that wasn’t flaking away in the breeze. “The world is changing, Loloma. Enjoy your happiness… while… you…”
Her final words were lost as her body slumped forward and crumbled into a smoldering pile of ash.
