She paused, taking a deep breath. This was the first time she was introducing him to anyone at all, she realized. Her little broken family was gone, and the only scrap of it she had left was the feline man before her. It was appropriate that Holt be the recipient of this first introduction. “Holt, this is Anzan.”My mate. His bride.“My partner.”
Holt slid off the counter. Even in his man skin, he moved like a cat. Careful and graceful, always with the edge of threat.
“It’s nice to finally make your acquaintance,” Holt purred, extending a hand. It hung in the air for the space of a heartbeat, before one of Anzan’s hands met it. “I’ll admit, I was rather surprised to discover you here, but I can’t say it was an unhappy revelation. Our Elizabeth has been alone for too long.”
“And where were you, exactly? In those years that she was alone?”
Ladybug turned, aghast. She remembered, too late, that Anzan had a bone deep dislike of authority, and that while he was obsequious and deferential to her, his tongue was sharp.You literally just asked him to fight with you. What did you expect?
Holt, for his part, did not seem unduly perturbed. “A rather delicate situation, that. You see, I was bound to my witch until relatively recently, and it wouldn’t have been appropriate to be fraternizing outside of our magical relationship with another. And in any case, I was banished from this house, for quite a while. Residual energy does linger, even when spells are revoked. I’m quite happy that she and I caught up now.”
“And why is that, I wonder?”
Ladybug closed her eyes. She didn’t know why she thought this was going to be easy. Both men had a propensity for prickliness and sarcasm.
“Because I have promises to keep, boy.” Sure enough, Holt’s voice was just as sharp, uncowed by the Araneaen’s size. “Promises I intend on keeping regardless of their cost. And what of you, spider man? Your sort isn’t typically found in towns like this, are you? Very cozy little set-up you’ve found yourself here. I suppose she was an easy mark, is that it?”
“That’s enough,” Ladybug snapped, stepping between the two men, glaring at Holt.
The familiar only laughed. “Oh, I see the way it is. He’s allowed to pick at my motivations, but I cannot do the same.Favoritism. I understand, Elizabeth. Fine, then.“ He turned his attention back to Anzan, hopping gracefully back onto the counter. “Do you know,” Holt began again, his voice light, “I don’t believe I’ve ever been personally acquainted with an Araneaen.”
“There are more than twelve million of us around the world,” Anzan responded stonily. “I don’t think that means anything other than the fact that you’re not as well-traveled as you would perhaps like others to believe.”
Holt’s sharp-edged smile was as gleaming and threatening as a knife, the one she could remember seeing a million times before. “Hmh . . . maybe so. Twelve million . . . what’s your story, then, spider boy? Twelve million of your fellows out there, and somehow you wound up here in this house, of all places. Isn’t that fortuitous. How did you even wind up in Cambric Creek?”
“All the witches in the world,” Anzan countered steadily, “and yet this is the door you decided to scratch at. Despite theresidual energyof having already been banished. I’m not sure if fortuitous is the word I’d use. So why don’t you tell me your story, cat man, and perhaps I shall tell you mine.”
Ladybug gave up, ignoring both men to fetch herself a piece of fruit from the bowl.Best to let them snipe at each other until they’re tired and give up. Anzan’s voice was measured, and he had not moved. He cut an imposing figure, while Holt lounged against the countertop as if he were boneless, but she knew bulk did not matter here.Don’t let him intimidate you, but don’t challenge him.
There was a small smile playing at the corners of Holt’s mouth, quivering as if he were trying and failing to hold it back. “Very well,” purred with a small shrug, smile twitching again. His sharp green eyes seemed lit from within, and that too, was familiar. “I am an imp. Or at least, I was. You know of my kind, Araneaen?”
Anzan did not flinch. “You are from beyond the veil. A fae creature. From the otherworld.”
“Yes, that’s right,” Holt agreed, the corners of his mouth turning up in a slight smile as he slid off the countertop again and began to slink around the kitchen. “But I am that no longer. Even so, my brethren and I are still highly regulated in this realm. It was a wise woman who first thought to call forth an imp to be her magical companion. I was the first of my kind to be brought through the flames in such a way. She called for me and I was compelled to respond.”
Ladybug watched Anzan’s brow’s smooth out as Holt spoke, his hard jaw slackening. He was a sucker for a good story, and Holt was nothing if not a captivating showman.
“I stepped through the flames to her from the other side, and I came out as a white kittling, as small as her shoe and as helpless as a babe. As she gathered me into her arms, she pronounced meHolt.”
His voice reverberated as he said his name, rippling with ancient magic, and Ladybug shivered. She could hear the echo of the old crone’s voice, giving him a name, giving him power for the first time in this realm.
“I relied on her for sustenance, for attention, for everything. She became my whole world. I assisted her and she kept me like a pet, and that is how it went. Until the hunters came. They called herWitch.”
Another ripple of that old magic, something moving within her, a vibration in her very blood, something she felt down to her marrow.
“And so she had a name as well, something for me to call her. When the witch hunter came, he picked me up by the scruff of the neck, and named me demon, casting me back into the fire.”
Anzan did not blink. Ladybug wasn’t sure if he was even breathing.We might never need to watch a movie again. All he needs is Holt to tell him some dramatic story. All that’s missing is the popcorn.
“But I did not die that night. For I still heard her calling for me, that witch who had called me forth, my mother in this realm, who provided me sustenance and kept me at her side. I could see her there in the flames, being dragged away, tied to a chair, and still, she called for me by name. I was bound to her in that half-life, and I was bound to her still. I stepped back through the fire.”
Holt paused for maximum effect. Ladybug knew this story well. It was not embellished or fabricated, there was no need. Authricia said that’s where Holt’s power came from — twice born of the flames, loyal to his witch until the end.
“My fur was scorched black from the flames, but I was a defenseless kittling no longer. I went back to my witch. And when she was put to the flame herself, I walked beside her to ensure she knew the path home to the dark mother.”
Another pause. A note of manic conviction had entered his voice, the zeal that could only come from one who had devoted their life to the craft. She did not know Holt well, despite the years he had spent in her life, and she knew he was not entirely trustworthy, but Ladybug knew there was no question of his devotion to the craft, to the relationship he had with the witches he had served. Anzan’s eyes were wide and round, and he was held just as tightly in Holt’s thrall.
“That was in the old country, of course. Here, witches were not burned. Here, we walked to the noose, with our heads high. And that has been my life in this realm. Bound to one witch after another. I have served many. And then one day, the dark mother bade me to look into the flames to See, and I saw her there.”
