“Don't look too glum. I've had lots of practice.”
No wonder the Calix chose her. I wouldn’t admit defeat but I needed to regroup with a different plan. A rare miscalculation on my part, I had prepared for a kindly old caretaker, not an elemental force.
I knocked her hand out of the way and I stood to my full height, which I forgot, was pretty much as tall as hers. “I will be back and you will give me the Calix.”
“See you then, boy.”
Every muscle clenched at her descriptor but I stepped out her front door anyway, unsure if this would end with my blood or hers in the sand.
Chapter 7
Maggie
Arthur was so sweet he didn’t think it strange that I wanted to help when I showed up at his back door again. I might have been mud spattered and magic burned, but he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to cater to a King properly when I formally introduced myself to him as Noth’s maidservant. Arthur appeared just as excited to meet a King’s servant as he was a King and peppered me with questions about court life. I stole what I could from the boring days in Ward’s Keep and made up the rest. At least he didn’t ask why Noth strapped me onto a giant crow. I guess a crown exempted you from a lot of questions. Lucky for Rat Face.
I hoped the fury of his casual dismissal didn’t show in my expression. Noth and I had been playing with each other for so long, I think it gave me a bit of false confidencewhen it came time to eliminate him. Noth constantly huffed, commanded and slouched his way through the Keep, looking completely incompetent. All that noise hid a deep well of skill, smarts and power. I should have known. I did the same.
I didn’t mention to the innkeeper that I had magicked myself back here. It took twenty cramped, rubbed-raw orgasms to even get enough power to work a return spell. I tried not to be disappointed when the simple magic depleted everything I had again.
I did whatever I had to while I waited for Noth to come back to the inn. Everyone thought I sat around all day consulting star charts and living my best Universal life but I knew how to wield a broom and rake out a fireplace. I could cook basic things and kept my sacred space at home spotless so I could get my hands dirty. Rue recruited me for all her daily tasks and Arthur wasn’t so different. Everyone had to eat and keep house.
“Could you be a little less… aggressive? I only have one broom.” Arthur’s voice broke into my recitation of the plan.
I looked down at the broom I had ground into the floor. More bristles than dust littered the pile.
“Don’t you have anything of quality around here?”
Arthur’s mouth opened and closed. My face heated in proportion and guilt swamped my chest. Why couldn’t I keep my tongue civil, even when the man was my ticket to this latest scheme? I stuffed my anger back down into the black hole it kept seeping out of and made nice withArthur for the next hour. A real conversation about his children and his beloved inn went a long way to restoring his smile and making me less of a fuck-up.
He even provided me with an old apron and cap, the perfect disguise, and more importantly–opportunity. I could admit I had been impulsive on my last two tries. Stabbing didn’t work, whether with blade or crystal, and I knew I had to change tactics. Briefly returning home gave me space to think, to come up with a more realistic strategy. That led to a visit to Emrys and our favorite foraging spot.
My commitment to revenge wouldn’t waiver and I wouldn’t succumb to my own ugly decisions. Rue deserved better from me. Certainly better than hopping on my enemy’s dick for power. I shook my head. I would figure out how sex fueled my magic when he was dead. It would be better than asking him to explain further which would all but guarantee I tripped on his cock again.
Noth slammed into the inn, blind to Arthur’s bows this time. I watched from a distance. His windswept hair remained untangled, his face as handsome as ever, ruined by the black mood pouring off him in waves.
“I’ll give you whatever gold you want if I can get a decent meal out of this Goddsforsaken town.”
So Rat Face returned to his usual arrogant ass self because I heard him all the way in the small back room.
“Of course, Your Highness.”
When Arthur returned to the kitchen, suddenlynothing we had done all day looked right. Arthur worked himself into a frenzy to cater to that butt waffle, adding and removing food and utensils, second-guessing what exact kind of meal would make a King happy. My hand covered his once he had the tray assembled.
“I can take it up. If he’s mad, he’ll be mad at me,” I said.
With the way the man’s hands shook, it was better for everyone anyway. A tiny bit of shame sparked as he gave me a grateful smile. I shouldn’t have softened my heart because I really couldn’t afford it. As I took up the tray, I poured the distilled Soft Shadowblow into the pitcher of wine with nary a tremor in my hand. I chanted my vengeance like a mantra all the way up the stairs to his door, invoking Rue’s name with every step. Focus would have to see this through with doubt still eating at me. I kept the knock on the door soft and my head bowed so he only saw the top of my cap.
Not that it mattered much. After he opened the door, he fairly ripped the tray out of my hands.
“Finally,” Noth snarled and shut the door in my face.
Well, at least that meant he would finish the entire pitcher of wine. Curses and clattering furniture followed me downstairs, where I waited. I wouldn’t say patience was my strong suit, but for some reason I wasn’t exactly in a hurry to see Noth’s lifeless face. Rue still tsked in my head, reminding me that this was a bad idea. Magic ill-used was not the witch’s way.
I told Arthur I would take care of Noth’s late-night requests so he turned in with little protest.
After another hour of waiting, I snuck up to Noth’s room. He hadn’t bothered to lock his door. His arrogance would be the death of him, literally. I slid into his space to find him in a drunken sprawl across the bed, his hair everywhere. It fell in breathtaking rivers of silk to the floor, glimmering with a life of its own. I marveled at the way it never seemed to tangle or snarl. I resisted the urge to touch it. The memory of it slithering across my body tempted me to forget that I was here to make sure he died, not indulge in anything else.
Taking up a chair for my vigil, I noted every slowed breath, every twitch of his handsome face, brushing away thoughts of those lips on mine. I batted back the time he pulled me to safety when Evie’s tail knocked me off the ramparts of Ward’s keep. The constant melancholic undertone in his eyes didn’t stop me from making sure the pitcher of wine stood empty.
