Page 28 of Wicked Warlock
I nodded. “Oh, yeah, but we didn’t have a choice. It was either be killed by Nylore, the Unseelie general, and die for good. Or take the risk and have her kill us and send our souls to Hades on the off-chance that he’d send us back.”
Zinnia pointed toward Soto who’d taken up a seat next to Ophelia. “And you are?”
“Soto.”
“And what are you, Soto?” Zinnia arched an eyebrow at her.
“Technically, I’m a bit of a freak who helps out mortals in the Unseelie realm. That’s how I found him.” She pointed toward Kylian.
“So you helped them find Logan and get out of Unseelie? Why would you do something like that and why should we trust you?”
Soto sighed. “First, you should never trust an Unseelie. Second, because they made a deal that if I help them, then I get to live in the mortal realm.”
“So I can’t trust you?” Power seeped over Zinnia’s hand.
“You can trust me. I’m half-Seelie and half-Unseelie. The mix helps.” She reached over and tried to slide one of Ophelia’s knives from the holster on her hip.
Ophelia smacked her finger away. “You want a knife, get your own.”
Soto reached into her boot and pulled out a long blade that looked like a sharp little needle. She held it out to Ophelia. “I got one. Less cutting, more straight stabbing.”
Ophelia turned to Cross. “I want it.”
“I can’t just take it from her.” Cross motioned to Soto.
“Why not?” Ophelia studied Soto. “She doesn’t look too bad.”
Cross shook his head. “I am a wise man. And a wise man says any chick under five-foot-two who carries a knife like that in her boot is a chick with which one does not fuck.”
“So it’s experience that’s got you acting like a pair of testicles? One little hit and you’re all sensitive about it.” Ophelia crossed her arms over her chest and slid lower in the chair.
Cross rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t a hit. You stabbed me.”
“By accident,” she muttered. “Jeez, I stab everything.”
“Ugh, fine.” Cross turned back to Soto. “Yo, can she have your knife?”
Soto looked from her long thin needle-like knife to Ophelia’s thick hunting knife. “I’ll trade.”
“Deal.” Ophelia yanked the knife from her holster and tossed it to Soto. She caught it and tossed the needle knife to Ophelia. O made the stabbing motion with it. “You know how many eyes I can take out with this?”
I waved my hand between the two of them. “And that right there is how fast Nova ended up making a deal and us getting thrown out of the underworld. There’s also another problem.”
I didn’t want to tell them, didn’t know how to say among the most powerful witches and warlocks in the world that I was completely powerless. I held up my hand and waited for something to happen. They all looked at me, waiting for me to explain. “My magic is gone.”
“What the hell do you mean, gone?” Zinnia sat forward and motioned to Niche. “What do you think?”
Niche shoved her glasses farther up her nose and started making notes on her clipboard. “I’ll have to do a full physical workup to be sure. But there’s no known record of any warlock losing their powers and surviving it.”
She sounded so clinical and calm. “Excuse me? Surviving it?”
“Well, technically speaking, a witch or warlock without their powers is like losing their spirit. We’ll have to figure out where yours have gone.” Niche scribbled across her page again but didn’t look panicked in the least.
The sound of my beating heart filled my ears. “So you’re saying I’m going to…”
“No. Not at all. We just have to figure it out.” Niche shrugged. “We have some time.”
“Some time!” Okay, we were in triage mode, which I had to admit seemed like I was starting to move to the top of the list.
