Page 25 of Soul of a Witch

He needed to do that again. Immediately.

“Mm, my sweet lady witch.” His hand moved to cup my face. “Your needs have been so terribly neglected. You’d be far safer indulging your wicked desires with me rather than that wretched fae.”

“I…I, uh —” Could he tell I was turned on? Was it obvious? Perhaps he could see it on my face or…God forbid…could he smell it?

“Suddenly so shy,” he said. “But the dirty thoughts are there, aren’t they? Give them a voice, go on. You can make them real.”

There was a pulse between my legs, a need that merely squeezing my thighs together wasn’t helping. I dared to look at him, to really look. I dragged my eyes down his bare chest, longing to touch, perhaps to lick my tongue across his skin as he had to me.

Could I create the same feeling in him that he had in me? This same frantic heat?

He chuckled, and I snapped my eyes back up to his face.

“I don’t know,” I blurted. “I’m a virgin, I…I don’t know what to say —”

He loomed over me, the unknowable black abyss of his eyes deeper than ever.

“A virgin…” he said. “Who desperately wants to be fucked to oblivion.”

I wanted to melt into the ground. “I didn’t say that. I never said —”

“Don’t be afraid to tell him what you want, girl! You have every right to your pleasure!”

My eyes widened, and I whirled around, searching for the source of the shout. It was the same voice I’d heard when I first entered the house, but just as before, no one else could be seen.

“Who’s there?” I gasped, and Callum finally stepped back. But he didn’t take his eyes off me. The intensity of his gaze was unnerving as he motioned ahead, further down the path.

“Go see for yourself.”

I brushed past him, pretending to be unflustered. He didn’t know what I wanted. He didn’t have the slightest idea. He wasassumingI wanted to be…Goddamn it…fucked to oblivion.

He was assuming correctly, but I wasn’t about to let him know.

The path curved through the greenery until I reached the base of a large tree. The trunk was massive, easily the width of two cars parked side by side. The limbs curved with the domed glass above, the depth of its branches filled with a chorus of birds. Water trickled down its trunk, the little streams splitting around a large stone tablet. There was writing carved into the stone, and I knelt so I could read it.

The first few sentences were written in a runic language I’d never seen before. But at the bottom was inscribed,May our knowledge overflow like wellsprings.

“Over here, my dear,” the voice sounded again, clearer and far closer. I turned, following another narrow path that curved around the trunk of the tree. There, I found an alcove surrounded by flowering vines, paved with pale stone tiles. Mice peered at me from the grass, their little black eyes blinking curiously as finches flew overhead to observe me, perching on the branches above.

There was a small table with two chairs, formed of intricately wrought iron. An old radio sat on top of the table, its wooden frame and two knobs making it appear like a relic from the 1950s.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Everly. My stars, it’s been so many years.”

The voice crackled with static as it sounded from the radio speakers. Staring in disbelief, I stepped closer and twisted one of the knobs to increase the volume.

“Oh, yes, that’s much better!” the voice boomed and cackled loud enough to send a flock of nearby finches into flight. “Ha! Now I can shout at you properly. It’s taken you ages to get in here! I should have warned you about old Darragh. He’s a horny wretch, isn’t he?”

The voice was contorted, but I knew it, even after so many years. As I glanced back at Callum, he nodded toward the radio and said, “She can hear you. She’s nearby; the radio is merely her conduit.”

I sat on one of the chairs, bracing my shaking hands on the edge of the table as I said, “Hi…uh…would you mind telling me your name?”

“Would I mind?” the voice cackled again. “Put some confidence in your voice, girl! If you want something, you’d better make damn well clear. That’s your first lesson. But of course, I would not mind. I am Winona Laverne. I’m sure I look very different from when you last saw me.”

“Oh…oh, you could say that again.” I felt like I couldn’t get enough air. “You’re…you’re my grandmother.”

“I am indeed.”

“And you’re…you’re dead…”

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