Page 80 of A Touch of Flame
The sharp point had penetrated the bone and in a split-second, Laura’s life was ended.
She’s grabbed Maeve’s wrist once more as the last of her life-force left her body.
Maeve met her gaze. Laura smiled and mouthed, ‘Thank you’. The light in her eyes dimmed then vanished. Her hand fell away.
It was over.
Silence held the evil space for a long moment, then the witch-choir began a celebratory chant.
But that was the moment Maeve became a true witch. Rage flooded her mind and her body at what had been done to Laura and to herself. Yes, she’d ended Laura’s suffering but she’d also taken her life. Now that she remembered it, she would have to live with what she’d done the rest of her days.
A fury had possessed her and a desire to destroy this room and the women who had given themselves to the darkest part of the human spirit. These witches didn’t deserve to live. They’d abducted an innocent woman and tortured her.
With her killing power at full bore, she’d swept her arm in an arc over the two nearby witches. Each had screamed.
Maeve had then turned on the choir and done the same. Women fled in all directions.
She went berserk and burned the drapes on the walls, just as she had done when she’d rescued Kiara.
She tried hard to locate Veyda, the one responsible for this coven and for Laura’s death.
She couldn’t see her, so she went around and blasted the entire room, piece by piece with her killing power.
When her energy began to fail, a new voice entered her mind.You must leave, or Veyda will return and kill you.
It took her a moment to recognize who it was.Laura?
Yes. It’s me. I’m going to get you out of here.
But you’re dead?
I’m a ghost now. Let’s go. You need to leave the back way, the way the witches departed. Take the hallway to the right.
So, Laura had led her out of Veyda’s compound.
Once outside, Maeve had no idea where she was.I don’t know where to go and Veyda will find me if I return to my house.
I know a place. You’ll stay with Kiara. She’s a good woman and will teach you what you need to know.
Maeve came back to the present fully. She sat back in her chair and wiped her cheeks. Once more, tears had appeared without her realizing it.
“Are you okay?”
She glanced at Kiara, but barely saw her. “Remember the night I showed up on your doorstep?” Maeve rubbed her left wrist where the poisoned paste had touched her a year-and-a-half ago. As promised, she didn’t even have a scar.
“Of course, I do.”
“I didn’t remember until just now how I’d gotten there. Did I talk about what happened? Have you known all this time?”
Kiara nodded slowly.
“Oh, God. What have I done?”
Kiara sighed heavily. “It’s been a huge burden, but I was convinced you could only know in your own time, when you were ready to understand and accept the truth.”
Maeve kept shaking her head back and forth. What she’d done was too horrible to process. She’d killed the wife of the man she’d fallen in love with.
She felt numb and wished she could scream and cry it all out. But somehow it seemed like the perfect end to the whole thing. She’d arrived in Five Bridges with apparently more inherent ability than any otheralterwitch in a long time. Veyda had wanted her in her dark coven, she’d wanted to train her in the ways of sacrificial torture and death.
