I used my leverage to the wall to stand, getting my face as close to Tomin’s as my chains allowed. “Verena is gone. And I don’t just mean from your clutches. In fact, I have a feeling in my gut that everyone’s gone. Which means it’s just me and you left.”
“Gone where?” Tomin’s hateful eyes widened a fraction, just as the darkness entered the cabin like a guest with an invite written in gold. “What have you done?”
I extend my hand towards him. “You aren’t going to offer me my congratulations?”
“For what!” Spittle hit my face as Tomin lost himself to inconsolable rage.
“For winning the Witch Trials, of course. Considering I’m the last witch left, I think you should be grovelling at my feet already.”
Tomin barely got to open his mouth before the darkness washed over us. Chains fell away. The cabin was stolen from view. It was only me, the familiar dark, and the presence of a man who knew, in that moment, that he had lost.
But the truth was, that all depended on what Tomin was going to do next.
PART V
THE GRAND FINALE – THE CROWNING
45
HECTOR
Istood in the middle of the very place this all began.
My family home was untouched in time. The cold, ash-coated fireplace was at my back, the stones pressing into my spine to keep me upright. Ahead of me was the living room I had watched my parents die within. The same cream sofa, the same mahogany dining table where we’d shared many a meal. I took a deep inhale and smelled my mother’s incense that was heavy in the air: sage, lavender and bergamot.
“Hello?” My voice cracked with the weight of damning emotion as I regarded the empty room.
Tomin was nowhere to be seen. Wherever Bahmet had stolen us away to, it seemed he was keeping us separate. My eyes kept falling upon the closed door as if he, and his Hunters, would come bounding through it any second, ready to kill me. Finish the job they failed all those years ago.
“Really unoriginal, Bahmet,” I called out again, turning in circles as I searched the dark corners for a demon with glowing eyes. “You must be really uninspired to bring me back here. It was only a few months ago the last trial had me facing the past like this. Have you run out of ideas?”
The darkness hissed, snapping sharp teeth. I spun my head around swiftly, noticing the sudden presence of a being in the room with me.
Bahmet lounged on the sofa, legs spread wide and his arms extended on either side of him. He’d not been there a second before, but that wasn’t to say I’d ever been alone. The demon lord had simply waited for the right moment to reveal himself.
“You have got it all wrong, Hector Briar,” Bahmet said, gloved fingers drumming the cushions as if he was impatiently waiting for something. “This is not a trial. This is the grand finale. And you, are my victor. But of course, you know that already. Your meddling in my affairs has manufactured this very moment. Oh, how proud you must feel. Which, did you know, is a sin.”
I swept my hands out to the sides, and bowed my head with the dramatics of a Shakespearian actor. “Have you got a cake and balloons hidden around here? A glass of champagne maybe? I do love a good old celebration.”
Bahmet leaned forwards, huffing a silver mist out his goat nose. “I would not get ahead of yourself just yet, Hector. Just because you have won, does not mean I am necessarily desperate to crown you. I have been in the body of a Briar before, and she repressed me. What is to say that you will not do the same?”
I pouted. “How could you think so lowly of me?”
“Easily, actually.” Bahmet’s suit creased as he stood. The demon took his time flattening out the lines with a brush of his hands, even straightening his thin black tie back into place. “My wit is telling me that you are not trustworthy.”
“If this has got anything to do with the fact I have petitioned to destroy you, then I hardly think wit has anything to do with it. The signs have been pretty obvious.”
Bahmet snorted, red eyes darkening to pools of old blood. “You are not making your case. In fact, every word out of your mouth is only making my decision easier.”
“Your decision being?” I looked around for effect. “Because last I remembered, I’m the final witch. The new Grand High I believe. Unless you want to try possessing Tomin, and see how you get on in a human’s body?”
“Or…” Bahmet began to pace, hooves clicking against my mother’s polished floors. “I could simply wait. I suppose, if I do not accept you are my victor, it would take some time for the witches of your world to grow desperate again. In time they would seek the Witch Trials, begging for my help to save them from the horrors of the world. Hunters killing witches in broad daylight, hate spreading like wildfire amongst villages, towns, cities, countries… the world. Just like Eleanor Letcombe called for me all those generations ago, another witch will do the same. And, as you can imagine, I have grown rather comfortable in my ability to be patient. I can wait, bide my time, and find a witch who willnotdestroy me the moment they get the chance.”
My nails dug into my palms so hard it was impossible not to wince. Bahmet noticed my stiffening and laughed, the sound like two stones grating against one another.
“I think this is what you call a checkmate, is it not?”
I shook my head, trying to steady my breathing. “I never liked chess. Boring game for old, boring men. I’m more of a Monopoly guy. And if we are going on that analogy, you’ve rolled a dice and miscalculated. You think you’re landing on Mayfair, but you’ve skipped it and gone back to Go. Yes, my intention has been to kill you.”
