Page 86 of The Witch and His Crow

I smiled because I didn’t feel powerless at all. ‘Something like that.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Ismacked into the ground, the force driving air from my lungs. I didn’t know if it was the fall that had my teeth slicing into my inner lip, or Jaz’s knuckles as they cracked into the side of my face. Either way, I was bleeding…a lot.

Eleanor’s grimoire had fallen to the ground too, the leather cover making a pleasant sound as it skidded across the floor. Blinking away the stars behind my eyes, I spat out a gob of blood. Before I could reach for the book, sharp nails crested over my scalp as the water-witch snatched my head back. I hadn’t caught her name. It was as unimportant as the identity of the other two witches who allied with Jaz. Regardless, their intention was clear as day. They wanted me dead.

Shame I was going to disappoint.

‘Hold him steady,’ Jaz commanded as her coven surrounded me. I was on my knees, the water-witch still grasping my hair, a fire-witch and air-witch grasping my shoulders on either of my sides. Jaz stood before me, face flushed from the excitement. It didn’t take much to please her, since I was powerless and unable to fight back. Although her irises glowed with their emerald circle, her gift to cause pain was useless if mine wasn’t working. But her knuckles did the job just fine.

I spat more blood out my mouth, delighting as it splashed across her shoes.

‘What’s taking you so long?’ I asked, feigning a smile as if I enjoyed being beaten to a pulp.

Jaz tilted her head, smiling so wide her face split in two with the grin. ‘Are you so desperate for your own death that you’d beg me to be quicker? You really are no fun, Hector. Let a girl enjoy herself.’

The water-witch behind me giggled. I quickly silenced her by throwing my skull back and cracking it into her chin. Although she didn’t let my hair go, she did gasp in surprised pain. That sound alone was worth it.

‘Let him go, Terra, and you’re next,’ Jaz warned, forcing the water-witch to tighten her grasp on my hair. I felt every single strand begin to rip, one by one.

Of course Jaz didn’t care that I’d hurt a member of her coven. Jaz could surround herself with people and call them allies, yet she’d be the first to plough them down if the moment required it. I didn’t imagine she’d let any of them live when it came to the final Trial.

‘Now, are you going to open that door or not?’ Jaz asked for the fifth time. She’d not long taken the key from me by force, using it to unlock it. And still, it didn’t open. Whatever spell I’d used was stronger than any ordinary lock and bolt.

I just couldn’t tell her that.

‘You can ask me ten more times, and my answer will stand,’ I replied, blood smeared across my teeth no doubt.

Jaz’s eyes brightened, the emerald circle spinning faster. Knowing she longed to cause me pain with her gift, but couldn’t, was one of life’s greatest pleasures. ‘I don’t like being told no.’

‘Clearly,’ I said, until the wind was knocked from my chest as a boot collided with it. Jaz was quick. I couldn’t do anything but allow her to batter me as the three witches held me down.

Nails pricked skin as she clutched my chin and lifted my face back up. Our gazes locked and all I saw was pure hatred. It was the type of emotion I held for the people that killed my parents. And yet I’d never met Jaz before the Witch Trials.

‘We didn’t need to be enemies, Jaz,’ I heaved, fighting helplessness. I could see the grimoire in the corner of my peripheral vision, but I didn’t dare pay too much attention to it for fear Jaz would understand its importance. I’d not just risked going up against actual demons to lose it to her.

‘Do you think your mother said the same to mine before she killed her?’

The world stopped still at Jaz’s declaration. Everything made sense—the hate, the spark of revenge I recognised in Jaz’s expression. I hadn’t contemplated other contestants having family who partook in the last competition for the role of Grand High. Jaz’s entire life had probably led to this moment. ‘I didn’t know.’

‘No shit,’ Jaz sneered, her mouth so close to my ear that I felt the heat of her breath. ‘Because she was fucking killed, the same fate you’re going to meet. You know, I’m surprised your little coven-mates didn’t tell you. I wonder what else Romy keeps from you…’

Jaz pulled back. ‘I suppose we’ll never know, since she’ll be dead by dusk.’

Regardless of my precarious position, I couldn’t ignore the seed of guilt which sunk its roots into my gut. I swallowed it down, longing the viper to constrict around the guilt and devour it.

‘I’m sorry,’ I exhaled, making Jaz pause from completely withdrawing. ‘But if my mother killed yours, it was clearly because being a cunt is something that runs in your family. What’s the saying again… oh yes, the rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the rotten fucking tree.’

Jaz pondered my comment, chewing it between clenched teeth as though she tested it for poison. ‘Open. The. Door.’

I leaned forwards, as much as the witches holding me allowed. Stopping inches from Jaz’s face, I bared my teeth like a trapped feral dog. ‘I said no.’

Her expression broken into a sudden, sickly smile. She snapped her attention to the witch at my side. I followed, catching glowing ruby eyes. Fire-witch.

‘Burn them out,’ Jaz commanded.

My blood spiked, my heart skipping a good three beats. The fire-witch released my arm, but that meant I could move. So I grasped his arm, sinking my nails into his flesh, anchoring myself to him. ‘Do it, and I’ll kill you’

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