Reiner gives her a curt nod as the elderly woman resentfully looks at him. He walks to the brand-new wooden door and casually opens it for me. I step through it, and when we are outside, he turns around, stands in the doorway, and casts part of his fog inside, effectively killing three witches—the first ones the mist reaches. It forces itself into their bodies, causing all three of them to implode, their blood, body parts, and organs painting the walls of their quarters. It's a gory mess. The faces of other witches are covered in streaks of red and chunks of flesh. A screaming erupts. A vicious smile forms on my face as I take in the scene.
“You beast,” Helda hisses.
“This is a gentle reminder, Helda, that your scheming little coven is inferior to ours. I don’t need much to kill you all. Imagine if her shadows come playing as well. I hope that you didn’t lie to us, for your coven's sake,” he says.
With those reprimanding words, we leave behind a coven in mourning.
“Do you think I can share with him that his bloodline is cursed?” I ask Reiner absentmindedly.
We returned to Reiner's house after Sable and Helda finally caved in and told us a large amount of new information. Especially the bargain they had made with Fynn’s mother, which I would never have guessed, yet it explains a lot.
“I mean, I am sure his sister already knows, fuck, she might even know more than we do. That Umbra holds more information than any of us, and for all we know, he eavesdropped on everything as he lurked in the shadows,” I ramble along.
“Don’t worry about the Umbra, my love; he’s not interested in us at all, thankfully. If anything, that girl he bonded with is a blessing in disguise; his focus is solely on her and her protection. As long as we leave her alone, we are safe. I’m certain he’s fully aware of all this, and so is that girl. The real question is, how much will we share with her brother? Too much could cause him to provoke the Umbra, and I have no desire to have him track us down in case that stupid boy rats us out.”
I nod at that. Fynn can be impulsive, which is a feature we need to consider. Like Reiner, I do not want to learn about or experience the Umbra’s power first-hand. I heard the stories as akid and knew them to be true; they served to instill a fear of the species from a young age.
“I’ll just tell him a small portion: that he suffers from a cursed bloodline, which is why he gets those headaches. It will show him that I went out to seek information for him, which he will appreciate. What do you think? Should I tell him that his love for Jodelle is a result of the curse?”
“You could, but I would tread the subject carefully. We don’t know how strong this curse is and how much power it holds over him; it could provoke violence, and the last thing you want to do is accidentally kill him while you protect yourself,” Reiner responds.
“That’s a fair point,” I say as I tap on my nose, thinking about the best possible way to approach this.
After hearing about the arrangement between the Waning Gibbous coven and Adira, Fynn’s mother, it’s evident why Adira needs the curse broken. I want it broken as well. I need to get Fynn all to myself, without that wench of his interfering.
“Perhaps it’s wiser, even though it repulses me, for you to keep going with the seduction, put more pressure on him, make him give part of his soul to you, and make him fall irreversibly in love,” Reiner murmurs.
I crawl onto his lap and rest my forehead against his, knowing he is right. With the knowledge we now possess, I must try it. I kiss him and playfully bite his lower lip. A low growl escapes him.
“Promise me you will always erase that scent and replace it with yours. I hate that you have to go through this,” I say.
“You know you’re mine, and I will mark you as such every time,” he promises.
“We have to do this,Ihave to do this, it’s for us.”
“I’m sorry you need to endure all of this, baby. If I could, I would do it in your place, but he doesn’t seem too fond of me.”He smirks. “Imagine the things we’ll be able to do, Caria. We could even start our own coven.
“But first, I will show you all the things I have been truly imagining doing to you. You were so damn powerful in that room, the way you spoke to Helda, how you managed your shadows and put her into submission. That was an elder of another coven thatyoubrought to her knees. You made her cave, broke her, and forced her to spill their secrets to us. It was hot.” He grins, then nibbles on my earlobe.
I giggle at the sensation.
“How do you even know her, Reiner? She was definitely not happy to see your face. The hostility cut through the air like a sharp knife.”
“You picked up on that, huh? Can you understand her dismay? Who wouldn’t enjoy seeing this handsome face appear at their doorstep?” He laughs.
“Tell me, Reiner, I want to know,” I press.
“Well… You see, my love, that old hag and I go way back. We have quite a history. I knew her when I was still a little boy, a teenager, I don’t know, I was like thirteen or fourteen. Anyway, I might have accidentally killed several of her coven acolytes. I wasn’t as much in control of my fog then as I am now; like you, I was just beginning to understand my powers, how to wield them, and how to control them. Some of Helda’s coven members belittled me; I don’t even remember what it was about—it was surely something trivial. I’m sure I broke something that I shouldn’t have. I decided I wanted to teach them a lesson and scare them off. I was an angry kid, you see, and getting a reprimand from an individual who belonged to a lesser coven, in my eyes at least, didn’t sit well with me. I wanted to teach these witches that I belonged to a superior coven. Well… let’s say I taught them,” he chuckles smugly.
“Of course, Helda was furious, and when she caught me, she dragged me to the elder of my coven. She demanded that I be punished for the damage I had caused to her coven. Fortunately for me, the elder of my coven warned her instead to stay away from me and told her he would never take demands from a lesser witch. Helda didn’t know that witches in my coven are raised with a certain superiority; our arrogance is instilled in us from a young age, and we are only taught to respect the Death Witches. He cautioned her that if she dared to reprimand me or manipulate me again, he would return the favor. When she stomped away, enraged, the elder of my coven applauded me and told me to continue my practice of magic. Of course, being the little shithead that I was, I would show my face as often as possible just to terrorize Helda, taunt her, let my fog seep through cracks, and practice on her acolytes with my powers. That sort of shit. Basically, the elder of my coven gave me a free pass to fuck around, and I took it without question.”
Reiner pauses, then looks at me apprehensively, waiting to see whether I judge him or not. I gesture for him to continue.
“Eventually, I grew out of it, but I’m sure the beldam never forgave me for killing and tormenting a bunch of her coven members. I don’t even know how many of her coven I am responsible for killing. I lost count. I was a busy kid, I guess.”
Reiner shrugs, and I can’t help but laugh at the story. I see his shoulders slacken from relief. I understand why the old woman was not amused by his antics and why Reiner had such an arrogant attitude upon entering the house.
“I’m sure she was delighted that I practiced my powers on her coven as well,” I giggle.
