Page 38 of Which Witch Is Wicked?
“That isn’tentirelytrue.”
This time it was Aerin’s turn to pause. “Come the fuck again?”
“My brothers and I are divided on this issue,” he confessed.
“Really?” This was news to her. “Where do you land?”
“I am…conflicted. I haven’tlandedon a side as of yet. It is all, up in theair, as it were.” His soft chuckle washed over her like silk gliding over nude flesh.
Puns. Ugh.
“Har. Har,” Aerin said acerbically. “Yuck it up, chuckles. But if there are those of you who want us to end the world, why are you still trying to kill us in order to stop it?”
“You know I can’t answer that,” he replied. “There are powers at play that you can’t possibly—” He caught himself just in time and silence stretched between them once more.
She could see him in her mind as though she’d conjured him with a spell. His dark, gothic elegance underscored by a hint of archaic brutality. Beautiful features, artistically rendered with such flawless precision that even the staunchest atheist would have to admit only a god could sculpt such perfection. Pale as a vampire, strong as a mountain, and lethal as the plague. Literally.
That was Julian Roarke.
Maybe she shouldn’t have fucking called him.
“I must admit,” something warmed Pestilence’s voice. Scotch, maybe, or laughter. Hard to tell. “After spending an infuriating half hour at said marketplace today, I lost what little faith I had left in humanity. I’m leaning toward complete planetary annihilation.”
“A man like you shouldn’t joke about that,” Aerin said through a burst of laughter. “But I can’t say I haven’t experienced the same thing.”
“You have a lovely laugh, Aerin de Moray.” The sincerity in his tone sobered her immediately.
“Thanks.” She brought a hand to her burning cheek. “Will you at least tell me why you’re conflicted? I want to understand you.”
“Have you ever looked up what the word Apocalypse means?”
“Don’t try to change the subject on me, Julian,” she warned.
“I can assure you, I’m not,” he redressed. “Just indulge me for a moment whilst I explain.”
“Okay,” Aerin said carefully.
“If this prophecy is allowed to come to fruition, Aerin, it won’t culminate in complete obliteration of the planet, or of humanity. As I was saying before, the wordApocalypse, when translated from Greek, its original language, literally means a revelation. A lifting of the veil, as it were. What we, the Horsemen bring about, would be mass devastation, there’s no doubt of that. But it would be more of a cataclysm really, than true annihilation. It’ll mean the gods of creation have forsaken mortals. That the planet would be on the open market, so to speak, for anyone with sufficient power to take hold of. To put it simply, no one wants to rule nothing. But scorched earth can easily be reseeded, and the outcome of that battle could be worse than anything our feeble minds could devise. On the other side of that argument, there is a chance for humanity to redeem itself. To start over. The strongest would survive the conquests, the wars, and finally the plagues. They would be ripe for the picking, ready to follow someone with enough power and—”
An idea straightened Aerin’s spine. “Someone like us?” she posited.
“Like you?”
He made a wry sound. “Perish the thought… but yes.”
Interesting…
“Though the likelihood would be more of the deity variety,” he rushed on. “And none of them good. Listen, Aerin, there are those whose interests are directly tied to this prophecy. Who’ve waited literally millennia to swoop in and take over. To subjugate any who are left and to claim all errant power in this world for their own. Do you understand me? Some of them arecloserthan youthink.”
The hidden meaning in his voice could have choked a whale.
“Who do you mean?”
“Ican’tsay,” he repeated his earlier words. “But, who knows where we’ll stand when the smoke clears?”
Who, indeed?Aerin thought. Something to consider. Might well-meaning, benevolent elemental witches make for some excellent overlords?Hells yeah. A damn sight better than the current fuckwads in power. If the de Moray Druids ruled the planet, would little kids starve? No. Would religious war devastate nations? Not on her watch. Everyone would be all happy and fed and shit. Plus, Druid magic made for one hell of a health plan.
Was that a terrible idea?
