Page 130 of Black Willow Witch
Humor glimmered in Kerr’s eyes. ‘Because her hair has turned lime green, and there are tiny bits of mold in it.’
Ripper went still. ‘You’re joking.’
‘Nope,’ said Kerr, the word coming out on a barely suppressed chuckle. ‘I mean, it could be thatanotherwitch is responsible . . .’
But it was unlikely. Very unlikely.
When Emberlyn hadn’t explicitly stated that she wouldn’t retaliate over CeCe territorially marking his tire, he’d expectedsomething. But then days of nothing had gone by, so he’d assumed that she’d chosen to let it be, to just be content with the fact thathehad dealt with it. And it now seemed more than probable that he’d assumed wrong.
Ripper returned to the consultation room with Kerr close behind him.
Emberlyn didn’t look their way, seeming absorbed in what she was reading as she skimmed her finger along a page of the open book. Her nose wrinkled at whatever she’d read.
‘Em?’
‘Hm?’ An absent response.
‘Em?’ Ripper pressed.
‘Yeah?’ she asked distractedly, still not looking at him.
‘Remember when CeCe marked my tire?’
‘Um-hm.’
‘Did you retaliate?’
‘You said you’d handled it,’ she said, her tone flat and inattentive, her gaze still locked on the book in front of her.
‘I did, but she’s recently developed a strange little problem.’
His witch blindly reached out and grabbed a small bottle from the collection she’d plonked on the altar. ‘Misfortunes often befall those who cause issues for others.’
‘Misfortunes. Right.’ Ripper folded his arms. ‘Her hair is green and moldy.’
Emberlyn pulled the topper off the small bottle. ‘Oh. Yeah. That was me.’
Kerr barked a chuckle, his shoulders shaking.
Figuring he should have expected that she’d do something like this, Ripper rubbed at his nape. ‘You haven’t been anywhere near her. How could you have done it?’
‘Proximity doesn’t make a difference with all spells,’ she replied, sprinkling some sort of white powder into the cauldron.
‘Her hair is her crowning glory,’ Kerr cut in, grinning. ‘But of course you knew that.’
‘Of course.’ Her eyes cut to Ripper. ‘At least I didn’t make her smell of urine the way she did your tire.’
He felt his head twitch to the side. ‘You considered that?’
‘Among other things, yes. I like to plot. You know that.’
Yeah, he did. ‘Can you undo the spell you cast?’
‘Icould,’ she said, jamming the cork back on the bottle.
‘Are you going to?’
No response.
