Page 29 of Home Is Where the Witch Is
“We still need to check out her alibi. I’ll go speak with her brother once we’re done here for the day,” Hella offered.
Dracula nodded. “Solid plan. Who’s next?”
“Medea,” Emperia almost groaned.
“Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any worse,” Declan added, leaning back in his chair with all the enthusiasm of a wet noodle.
“Believe me,” someone with a strong Greek accent snapped from the threshold. “I feel exactly the same way.”
The woman was standing straight and tall, arms crossed over her chest in a classic defensive pose. She had one dark eyebrow cocked as she glared at the Council, obviously feeling as though this was a waste of her time. And now she’d overheard them trash-talking her. Rosie wanted to crawl under the table.
“Medea,” Hella said, attempting a smooth recovery with one of her winning smiles. “Thank you for coming.”
“I wasn’t aware that I had a choice,” Medea snarked.
Recovery denied.
“You didn’t.” Emperia’s face was as impassive as ever. “We assume you know why you’re here?”
“Because the fool boy from New Zealand went and got himself murdered?” Medea asked sarcastically.
“That’s averystrange thing to say when being questioned as part of a murder investigation,” Chaoxiang noted. “Why was he a ‘fool boy’?”
“Aata was as transparent as a pane of glass,” Medea said, leaning back in her chair as though already bored by the proceedings. “By announcing his wish to be the holder of a brand new Council seat, he set himself up for retaliation.”
“From whom?” Emperia’s glacial gaze was piercing. “Not from the Council, surely?”
“And I can’t imagine his own people would mind his advocating for sovereign autonomy,” Declan added.
Medea shrugged. “Who knows?”
A short silence crept through the room until Hella disturbed it with a short, huffy laugh.
“It sounds very much like you do, sugar,” the tiny drag queen sassed. “So spits it out. We ain’t got all day.”
“Do you think it’s a coincidence he waited until the actual election to make his desires known?” Medea rolled her eyes. “Or is it possible that he might have crafted an alliance—say, with a certain Australian witch? Perhaps if theybothhad seats on the Council, they would have two votes instead of one.”
Declan tensed his jaw. “So you’re saying that Tya knows more about this?”
“Maybe.” Medea smirked. “Maybe he wasn’t everything he seemed to be, and someone found out. People don’t like being lied to.”
“So you knew he was a Taniwha?” Rosie leveled her gaze at the other witch. “Is that what you were trying to do at the motel that day? Blackmail him?”
“I think you’ll find that most people knew.” Medea’s scowl made it look like she wanted to spit on the ground at the mere mention of Aata’s secret, but she didn’t deny it had been her at the Beep ’n' Sleep. “It’s prudent to stay abreast of news that can see you murdered by something no better than a beast.”
“Ironic,” Declan muttered.
“What happened, Medea? Did you decide to make your move while he was outside of the Council’s protected compound? Is that why you both argued shortly before his murder?”
“I didn’t kill him,” she insisted, “but I’d like to shake the hand of the person who did.”
“You’re disgusting,” Dracula snapped. It was the first time he’d spoken since the Greek candidate had come into the room.
“What’s disgusting is that creatures like you and him are allowed to becoming involved with our politics at all!” Medea’s voice had risen to a shout, and she banged her fist on the table to emphasize her point. “Half the time you’re all too busy fighting amongst yourselves to pay attention to what's happening with witchkind anyway. Maybe you should be questioning your precious Frenchman.”
Chaoxiang narrowed his gaze astutely. “And why would we do that?”
“I’m not saying anything else until I have a lawyer present.” The Greek witch sat back in her chair, folding her arms over her chest once again to indicate that she, at least, was done with this nonsense.
