Page 185 of Blue Moon Mistress

“Is it going to be bad?” Charity asks.

“I don’t know.” Breaking this kind of magic without knowing the original spell is dangerous. Even with it, we could be in for a fight if Bethanywantedwhat Aphrodite offered.

Lending my breath to the smoke, it flows over Bethany’s writhing body and I circle around her, moving to where her head is raised off the pillow.

I have to reach through the bars of the headboard to grab hold of the sides of her head, to pull her down so that I can place my thumbs at the center of her forehead, my index fingers to her temples.

When I start to whisper the incantation—I have to place it once more to steal the power away from Aphrodite’s shadow—she tries to jerk her head from my hands, but with the last word…

Her body goes limp, and Victoria makes a sound.

“Donotlet her go.”

Her heart has stopped, but that was always a part of the plan. My next words slither from my lips, whispers coalescing and coiling around her.

When her pulse returns, it’s slowly, like a dimmer being raised, rather than a switch being flipped.

I pull my hands away as she blinks awake, utterly still, as if frozen.

The whole room seems to inhale with her.

The gasped breath pulls Bethany right off the bed and she sits up, whole body heaving.

But she looks normal… I wait long enough to hear her speak to her sisters, and then I slip away. The coven can sort them out for the rest of the day.

Forty-One

It’sa short walk from Mrs. Miller’s back door to theirs, but each step closer eases the tension in my shoulders.

And when I peek my head into the living room, they’re still where I left them.

There’s a note on the fridge door.

JOHNNY -

DON’T EAT STEAKS

4 DINNER 12/4

I smile at the sharp words in Thomas’ handwriting.

A day late for dinner isn’t all that bad.

And they’re on a sheet pan already. Even better.

I slide the whole thing out of the fridge and set it on the counter. It only clatters a little. And letting them warm up means their grill will have plenty of time to get up to temp.

I wrap my sweater more tightly around me and slip out to the back porch. A quick glance at Mrs. Miller’s back door shows me acompletely dormant house… not that I think the old woman has any chance of attacking today.

It takes me a few minutes to get the grill going.

It’s fancy and I don’t want to burn the house down.

But I’m desperately glad to get back inside

The herbs and spices I ravaged yesterday are still strewn across the counter and I pick through them, putting everything back except the pepper and salt.

With one more glance at the dark doorway, I pull the little container of rosemary from the fridge and set a sprig aside.

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