Page 35 of Highballs & Hexes

“This fucking place!”

A breeze swept the room, and Tadhg drew back into the shadows. The habit of hiding from Loman O’Connor had never left him, but it had come in handy until he was caught this week. All those months, he’d begun to believe he was paranoid, as his family seemed to suspect. Yet he’d been right. Someone was stalking and abducting all the unwilling victims of this godforsaken prison and returning them to their original jail cells.

And he knew exactly who that someone was.

“You’re not to speak to the woman again, or it’ll go worse for ya,” the hooded figure growled.

“Fuck off, why don’t ya!” Tadhg snapped.

The material dropped down, exposing the man’s head and strong facial features. His eyes were glowing with fury. “I’ll not say it again.”

A shiver chased along Tadhg’s spine, but he held his chin high as he moved forward. He wrapped a hand around one of the metal bars and shook it.

“Why not supercharge it like Loman? Steal our magic to fuel yours?”

“I’m no thief.”

“No. Just a fucking liar and kidnapper, aye?”

The man’s scowl held confusion, and he shook his head slowly. “There’s an order to things. A rightful place. This is where we belong.”

He caught the man’s slip.“We?”

“Just keep your gob shut. No more noise out of you, boy.”

“I’m no boy, and when I get out of here?—”

“You’re not getting out unless I let you out.”

“I swear—” Tadhg’s next words were cut off with a strangled cry, and as he struggled to draw a breath, his captor shook his fist. The invisible hand on his neck squeezed and caused Tadhg to reach out beseechingly.

It took strong magic to choke another without laying a finger on them, and the man in front of him held an impressive amount. Tadhg’s standard allotment was a pittance in comparison.

As dark spots danced in his periphery, he grew dizzy and fell into the wall, sliding down to land on his hip with a painful thud. The impact would leave a bruise, but it was the least of his worries. His most pressing need was air.

He was seconds from death when the man’s fist opened, releasing Tadhg to gulp in oxygen through coughing fits.

“Remember what I told you. Don’t talk to the woman.”

Speaking was painful, but he refused to be cowered. “If you hurt her?—”

“Hush your whist,” the man said, albeit a little gentler and with a grim expression. “I’m not after hurting your sister, or anyone, for that matter.”

Yeah, and hadn’t he just about crushed Tadhg’s windpipe? The man was cracked in the head, and Tadhg needed to remember to tread carefully until such a time he could gain the upper hand.

“How much longer are you planning to keep us here?” he asked in a neutral tone.

The man’s mouth thinned into a flat, white line. Frustration simmered in his eyes, and his head rocked back and forth in a negative motion as if Tadhg’s question was too much for him.

“You’re not a bad man,” he told his captor, lying through his teeth. Anyone who would abduct and re-imprison another lunatic’s previous victims was just as evil in his book. “I know you’re not. I’ve seen?—”

“Stop. Talking!”

“Don’t hurt my sister.Please.”

The man pulled up the hood, hiding his close-cropped graying hair, and drew the front low to keep his face in shadow. “Behave, Tadhg Bohannon. If I have to come back, I’ll not be happy with ya.”

“I’m trembling in me boots,” Tadhg sneered. And he really was, but he’d be buggered if he’d admit it.

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