Page 149 of Black Willow Witch
Well, hell.
Magick hissed. Popped. Crackled. Sparked and spluttered in the air. Then the front door swung open . . . just as the manor’s shield fell.
And there stood Emberlyn. She took in everything with a glance – the masked witches, the leashed Rabid, Reena on the ground.
Did Emberlyn tense? No. Did she curse? No? Did she look in the least bit bothered or even remotely interested? No.
Her expression remained neutral. No surprise. No fear. No anger. Not even a hint of unease. ‘Well, that was rude,’ she remarked.
‘We couldn’t have exactly knocked on your front door,’ said the ‘goat’, her voice carrying a deep, almost mechanical echo that made it hard to identify her – a sure sign that she was struggling to ‘digest’ the power she’d borrowed. ‘Until now, that is.’
‘What do you want?’ Emberlyn asked them, appearing bored. ‘I’m busy.’
‘We mean you no harm,’ the wolf said, the same echo in his voice that made it as indistinguishable as that of the goat.
Emberlyn shot him an incredulous glance. ‘You attacked the shield around my home, which is no different than battering my front door.’
‘We merely meant to get your attention,’ the wolf assured her.
‘Right,’ drawled Emberlyn, all skepticism.
The goat lifted her chin as she spoke. ‘We came here to invite you to join us.’
Emberlyn’s brow pinched. ‘Excuse me?’
‘As of this night onward, I will lead the coven. Join it. Be part of my inner circle. You will find belonging to the coven more palatable without Reena at its helm. We will have killed her before the night is over. Her time has passed. The old ways are dead.’
Oh, they planned to kill Reena? Good to know. She supposed the only reason they’d brought her here alive was so that Emberlyn would see what these people could do; that they collectively had the power to take down a powerful witch. It was a subtle threat, really.
‘So many in town have scorned you for the types of magick you practice,’ the goat said to Emberlyn. ‘Not us. We understand you. Applaud you. Relate to you.Join us,’ she pressed. ‘You need not be alone anymore. You can work magick alongside likeminded witches who accept you.’
‘You think I’m like you?’ Emberlyn chuckled. ‘That’s . . . that’s funny. Not in a million years would I show up at a person’s house wearing a goat mask, bloated on loaned power. It’ll leach from your system soon enough, but you won’t regain whatever parts of your soul you gave up in payment. And if you had to borrow power just to subdue Reena, well, can’t say I’m impressed.’
Reena almost smiled. Emberlyn sure knew how to deliver an insult in a way that put a true dent in a person’s ego.
There were more flutters of wings just before three more crows appeared, all settling on the porch roof, their beady eyes focused on the faction.
‘If you are not with us, you are against us,’ said the wolf, his tone clipped.
‘Andyou’reagainstme, in truth,’ began Emberlyn. ‘You don’treallywant me to join your little cabal. You think to get me on side so that I don’t interfere with your plans. What you all truly want is me out of the picture. You’d turn on me the first chance you got, but you’d wait until you thought I’d never expect it.’
Agreed, thought Reena. The faction would likely seek to learn from Emberlyn first, but they would eventually get rid of her.
‘Our overture is sincere,’ the wolf argued.
‘If you do not join us, you will leave us no choice but to ensure that you meet the same fateshewill meet,’ the goat threatened, gesturing at Reena.
‘Thanks, but I’ll pass . . .Penelope,’ Emberlyn added, her voice hardening. She flapped her hand and – that easily – masks beganflickingoff, revealing surprised face after surprised face.
Penelope. Ames. Bennet. Ethel. Thad. Getty. Ruben. And lastly—
Reena gasped. ‘Ward?’
Her husband glared at her, his expression sour. ‘Betrayal is like a hot blade to the heart, isn’t it? I felt it knife through me when I heard about you and Carver. A year you spent in his bed. Ayear.’
Reena stared at him, shocked. No,beyondshocked. He’d given her not the faintest clue that he’d learned about her . . . indiscretion.
‘You were so good at hiding it that I might never have known if it hadn’t been for Penny,’ he said.
