Page 25 of Perfectly Petite Shorts
Done with words, Maxine’s meaty fist swung. I dodged the first two, but the third caught me on the chin and bounced the back of my head off the brick wall. Pain lanced through my brain, making my vision swim. Maxine turned into a hazy blur of half a dozen trolls. Her garish, floral dress swirled with nauseating color.
I’d like to say I got a hit or two of my own in, but thatwould be a lie. I don’t even think I managed to rip a single hole in that damn dress. The best I could claim was splashing it with my blood, adding crimson to the kaleidoscope of color.
I’m not sure how long Maxine used me as her punching bag. I didn’t think she’d kill me outright. Maxine wasn’t that kind.
“You always gotta do shit the hard way, Vander.” Maxine’s noxious breath assaulted me again, her lips close to my ear. Her voice sounded like muffled static. I barely registered her hand rummaging around in my pockets. I might as well have been a corpse for all the fight I had left in me.
Maxine’s shoe nudged my shoulder. I think I grunted but wasn’t certain. All I knew was that some type of animalistic sound exited my mouth.
“Do yourself a favor and don’t come around the club again. Next time I won’t be so sweet to ya.” Chuckling, Maxine wandered off. The sound of her heavy footfalls faded as the cold wind blew into the alley.
I lay there, each breath an act of agonizing pain. Forget about a couple of broken ribs. I had to wonder if Maxine had left a single one intact. Wheezing, I somehow managed to push myself up. I leaned into the cold wall. My mouth opened, little more than a silent scream pushing its way through. My eyes were swollen shut, my mouth was full of blood, and more than a few teeth were loose.
I had absolutely nothing left. Maxine was right. I was a shit warlock. I couldn’t even make a pain charm without fucking it up. Even the best warlock couldn’t do healing magic, but they could mask or even dismantle pain. I should have been able to do that at the very least. Only, I couldn’t.
I had the juice to do it. Too much juice. My magical manipulation was wild and untamed. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t seem to get a handle on it. Worthless as he was, if my father had lived, he could have at least taught mecontrol. I could have taken it from there. But he hadn’t lived long enough. Dear old dad had gone and gotten himself killed.
My father, Viktor Kines, was worse than a screwup. He was the kind of warlock that gave other warlocks a bad name. He’d made poor decisions in his life but none as bad as when he decided to cross a brownie. One did not cheat a brownie and expect to come out the other end alive.
Then again, one might say the same thing about cheating a troll.
I wanted to laugh but couldn’t muster the energy. Besides, managing even the slightest chuckle would have hurt like hell.Like father, like son.All my life I’d wanted to be the exact opposite of my father. But here I was—broken and bleeding in some shitty alley. No one was out looking for me. No one would miss me when I was gone. Facts were facts. I was a fuckup just like my father.
That cold, harsh truth reverberated through my battered brain as my body finally succumbed to welcome darkness. I let it come, not even attempting to fight it. If Gaia had any mercy at all, I wouldn’t wake up.
Georgiana
“How are things going?” Almeria was one of the witches who sold consignment goods in Brownies Bits and Boggles. She was a talented witch but hated marketing herself. That was true of a lot of witches. Many had their heads stuck in the clouds and couldn’t be fussed with putting up with their clientele. Almeria was, perhaps, the poster child illuminating this problem.
“Well, overall,” I answered while going through the latest wares Almeria brought. My eyebrow rose as I stared at one and asked, “A love potion? Really, Almeria?”
Her giggle made Almeria’s many bracelets jingle anddance, adding a metal cadence to the sound of her mirth. “Oh, Georgiana, you know me better than that.” Picking up the charm, Almeria twirled it within her slender fingertips. “It’s notreallya love potion. I wouldn’t make something like that. Goodness, Fairy law would be all over me if I tried to pilfer something like that to the public.”
Almeria wasn’t wrong. Fairy law did not look kindly on that kind of thing. “Then what is it?” I could read magical signatures, and this one hadlove potionwritten all over it.
Almeria winked while handing it back over. “Nothing so potent aslove.” Waving a dismissive hand in the air, Almeria’s ringed fingers danced in the sunlight pouring through the windows. “Think of it more as infatuation.”
I bristled. “Almeria, that is cutting too fine of a hair for my ease.” I set the charm on the counter and pushed it toward her. “I’m sorry, but I can’t sell this in my store.” It wasn’t Fairy law that stopped me—it was my own unease. Charms and potions should never be used to manipulate feelings. That was a hard line I wasn’t willing to cross.
Almeria’s lips twisted into a pout. “Oh, poo.” She snagged the charm and let loose a deep sigh. “All right. What about the rest?”
I sorted through the other charms she’d brought and couldn’t find a reason to dismiss them. Almeria and I’d been doing business for at least a decade. Her charms were decent and did exactly as promised. They were good quality, and I accepted the rest with ease. “I’m happy to sell the others.”
“Wonderful!” Almeria clapped her hands. Her flowing sleeves slid up her arms, exposing her dainty wrists and forearms. “Same commission as always?”
I nodded. “Of course.”
“You’re a peach, Georgiana. Even if you don’t recognize a brilliant charm when you see one.” Almeria winked to take the sting away.
I could only shake my head. “For your own good, don’t head down that road. Nothing positive comes from manipulating others’ emotions. Trust me on this.”
Almeria deflated a little. “It’s really harmless, and the effect only lasts, at most, twenty-four hours.”
“A lot of damage can be done in that time.” I stepped off my riser and made my way around the counter. My feet on the floor, I barely came to just above Almeria’s waist. She wasn’t exceptionally tall for a witch. “Trust me on this.” I grabbed her hand and patted the top. Almeria was still young. While she had a coven, they were more dispersed than most, and from what I understood, Almeria wasn’t terribly social when it came to hanging out with her coven members. The fact she was dabbling in emotional charms was disconcerting.
Almeria stared at the charm, twisting it within her fingers. “Is it really that bad?” She sounded a little lost. “I promise I didn’t create it with anything sinister in mind. I just thought…maybe it could help someone.”
“I know that.” And deep down inside, I did, in fact, know that. All brownies had an innate ability to read other’s intentions. “I think you need to spend a little more time with your coven leader.” Witch coven leaders were often their elders and had a lot of experience and wisdom to pass down.
