Page 10 of Witch Queen

“Brim thinks he’s after their magic.”

Another thought struck her then. Her stomach grew heavy with dread and guilt.

Could it be that our attacks injured his core? And he needs his subordinates’ powers to heal himself?

“Oh fuck,” Nikolai said hoarsely.

The color had leached from the sorcerer’s skin, leaving him ashen. His crow familiar made a worried sound.

“What is it?” Mae said tensely.

“I think I know how he’s killing them,” Nikolai replied numbly. “And he doesn’t even have to be in New York to do it.”

“What?!” Karin gasped.

Blood pounded dully in Mae’s skull as the truth Nikolai had just grasped emerged from her subconscious.

“The spell your father put on them,” she mumbled. “The one I erased from your core.” A dizzy feeling swept over Mae. “That’show he’s killing them?!”

“It has to be,” Nikolai murmured, his knuckles white.

Derrick cursed.

“How utterly evil,” Marlena mumbled.

Mae swallowed. “He must need the black magic he put inside their cores to recover from the wounds Nikolai and I inflicted on him during our last battle.”

Abraham drummed his fingers on his armrest. “It still doesn’t explain how or why he’s choosing to leave those men and women’s bodies here though.”

“His black magic can open rifts.” Nikolai cut his eyes to Mae, his expression haunted. “As to why?—”

He paused, his face darkening with disquiet.

“Itisa message,” Mae stated flatly. She scrutinized the photographs on the table. “He’s telling us we’re next.”

CHAPTERFOUR

“Dammit!”Bryony cursed. “Does that mean he’s managed to find the soul of the first Sorcerer King?”

“I doubt it,” Mae said grimly. “If he had, he would have come after us.”

The study door opened before anyone else could speak. Violet and Miles Nolan came in ahead of Ephra Erwin. The Houston coven High Priestess appeared physically drained.

Violet rocked to a stop when she clocked their bleak expressions.

“What happened?” The witch grimaced. “Did someone die?”

“Yeah,” Roman muttered.

Violet recoiled. “Really?! It was a rhetorical question.”

Ephra’s expression grew stilted when she saw the pictures on the coffee table.

“I see you told them about the bodies,” she murmured to Bryony.

“Where were you?” Mae asked Violet and Miles curiously. “And why does Ephra look like she needs a tonic?”

Ephra gave her a jaundiced glance as she plopped down on the couch next to Karin. Karin passed her a sandwich.

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