Page 74 of Midnight Witch

The three girls screamed and ran out of the tent.

Cortes pinched the bridge of his nose. “Was that strictly necessary?”

Bone clinked as Alicia shrugged. “They were getting on my nerves.”

Movement caught Mae’s eye. Gloria was escaping through an exit at the rear of the tent.

“Contain!” Mae barked.

A curse sounded outside. The tent flaps parted again. Gloria and her cat appeared inside within Mae’s prison. They glared at her.

“So you finally found me!” Gloria hissed. Blue spell bombs burst into life above her hands, her eyes and those of her cat brightening with the same light. “Don’t think I’ll go down without a fight!”

“We’re not with the Dark Council if that’s what you’re worried about,” Vlad said coldly.

Gloria faltered, still suspicious. “You’re not?”

Cortes took a step forward. “Do you recognize me?”

Gloria stared at the Columbian’s hard expression. Her lips parted on a gasp.

The spell bombs in her hands dissipated as the color drained from her face. “It’s you!”

Cortes lowered his brows. “So, you really are the one who helped Raya!”

Gloria swallowed. “Look, it wasn’t like I had a choice in the matter! She threatened to kill my daughter!”

Cortes stiffened.

Mae stared.That explains a lot.

“I don’t think she’s lying,” Alicia observed.

Cortes slowly uncurled his fists, the rage fading from his eyes.

“We’re only here to talk,” Mae told the haggard witch urgently. “We have no intention of hurting you.”

Gloria pursed her lips. “Is it about the Illusion Sorcery they used to make the world forget about you?”

Nikolai frowned. Vlad’s eyes shrank to slits.

Mae’s belly knotted.So, she knows about it.

“Will you run if I endContain?”

“No.” Gloria scanned the figures around her with a jaundiced look. “It’s not like I’d get far anyway.” She eyed the tent’s entrance with a frown. “We should switch location.”

CHAPTER30

Gloria’s trailerwas on the far side of the field next to where her tent had been. The clamor of the fairground faded to a dull drone as they crowded inside and shut the door.

Nikolai noted the careful distance Mae and Vlad maintained from one another as he leaned a hip against the worktop of the tiny kitchen. He didn’t know what to make of his feelings on the matter.

On the one hand, he should have been thrilled that they were fighting. But he couldn’t bring himself to feel happy about the situation. Not when it was clear they were both hurting from the fresh tension simmering between them.

“So, is that old crone still working for the Dark Council?” Gloria asked as she took a seat at her dining table.

Cortes arched an eyebrow. “You knew she’d joined them?”

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