Page 92 of Which Witch Is Wicked?
Lucy threw back her head and laughed. The devilish sound grated, much like cloven hooves scraping down a tin roof. "Now, now, my pet. The havoc you have wreaked on my behalf makes me feel inclined to reward you. What would you like? Just tell me and I will make it happen. That is, besides that witch you fancy." Her tone darkened. "She, you cannot have."
Julian refused to look at her and lifted the bottle to his lips and gulped.
"Let him be," Bane said.
Slowly she swiveled her head on her shoulders without moving her body. No matter how many times he'd witnessed the trick, it was always disconcerting to see a head turn ninety degrees. He knew she did it to remind him of who she was. Basic horror 101.
But she didn't scare him. Not anymore. He had her number.
"Youdareto order me about?" She aligned her body with her head and handed off her drink to Dru, who tossed back the vodka and set the glass aside.
"I dare much more than that." Bane took a step toward her, his shoulders squared, his eyes cold. "I've wanted to do this for over a thousand years. Once you enthralled me. Not anymore. I see you for what you really are."
"And just what am I, Killian Bane?" Her voice literally sizzled the air between them.
"A spoiled kid who didn't get enough of mommy's attention. You can play the victim all you want, throw your tantrums, and wreak havoc, but I don't believe in you anymore. So fuck off."
"Bane," Nick warned, flanking Lucy's side.
"Stay out of this," he ordered. "This is between her and me."
"You've chosenherside then?" Lucy asked in a venomous hiss acidic enough to strip paint. "That bitch who up and left you—all of you—to flounder without direction? Without a thought to your wellbeing, your future, your spirit. You would chooseheroverme?" she thundered.
"I'm not on your side or the Goddess's. I'm on mine."
"Does this have to do with those four witches?" She switched gears as quick as a Formula One driver. "Which witch has caught yourfancy?"
He shuttered his expression, but Tierra's name popped into his head and Lucy snatched it out.
"I should have known it would be the earth witch." She smirked and then her eyes alighted with pleasure. "I hate to break it to you, Bane, but Tierra de Moray has been sleeping in another's bed. The bitch is pregnant."
"I know." Bane relished watching the smugness on Lucy's face fade in confusion when her arrow failed to strike its target.
"You...know? You're aware she's with child, and it doesn't bother you that she carries another's bastard in her belly?" she scoffed. "Well, I for one never thought of you as the progressive sort, Death."
He let the silence weave around them, heard his fellow Horsemen hold their breath for what he'd say next. Dru slowly shook his head and telegraphed, "Don't do it, man." Nick stood at Lucy's elbow ready to do her bidding, while Julian slumped in his chair like he didn't give a fuck about anything anymore.
"Tierra's child is mine." In all his years, Bane had never enjoyed saying a statement more so he repeated it. "It'smychild that she will bear.Ispilled her virgin's blood andmyseed grows inside her."
Lucy's mouth fell open, and she deflated before his eyes like he'd taken his fist and sucker-punched her in the gut. Within seconds she had herself under control and raised her head to glare at him. Her eyes flared with the fires of Hell and she dragged in a breath that seemed to increase her size. But he knew it was an illusion.
A shrewd glint entered her eyes. "You willpayfor lying to me. Death does notcreatelife."
Bane smiled, not hiding one bit of his triumphant emotion. "He does when he lies with the most powerful earth witch since the last King of the Druids. Yes, I was there. I watched over Tierra as she claimed the crown and staff, witnessed the return of the Druids and the beginning of your end."
10
Tierra stumbled outside into the gardens, kept moving until breathing became easier and the debilitating nausea abated. Another moment in that house and she would die. The last week, she and her sisters had searched everywhere, taking the manor room-by-room, looking for whatever had been hidden in the house. They'd found nothing.
But something evil was hidden inside.
She trusted what Killian had told her, and if that wasn't enough, her physical reaction made her a believer. Aerin and Claire had tried to explain away her responses as morning sickness and that Tierra was being overly dramatic because of the pregnancy. That was a bunch of bullshit. This wasn't normal morning sickness. Didn't matter that her pregnancy wasn't normal either. Sheknewdanger lurked in the manor.
It must be a person instead of an object. That was the only thing that made sense. A body could move in and out of the house, yet whoever it was had somehow confused the wards.
While Tierra was affected the most physically, even violently at times, the effect on Claire and Aerin was more subtle. They were more demanding, bawdier, and quicker to anger. Of course they didn't see it that way and were pissy with Tierra when she'd tried to talk to them. Moira, on the other hand, dissolved into tears at the craziest things, like the taste of fried chicken, Aunt Justine looking at her sideways, or the smell of magnolias. Moira worried incessantly and tried to help heal the rift developing between all of them to the point of exhaustion. Moisture bled from her eyes in unending streams, and if this kept up, Tierra feared Moira would drain herself dry.
Tierra had to do something. Things couldn't go on this way. Nightmares plagued her sleeping moments and sickness her waking ones. She'd lost weight, and her clothes hung on her thin frame. The weight loss made it easier to see her baby bump, and it was harder to hide her pregnancy.
