Page 41 of Wicked Warlock
Tension hung heavy in the air. It sizzled between us. She knew why I was here and so did I. One of us was going to walk away and the other wasn’t.
“Impressive collection you have here.” I snapped up an empty vial and walked around the shelves, examining the potions. I grabbed a bright blue one and tipped a drop of it into the empty vial then held it up to the light. It swirled and glittered.
“Years of work.” She huffed and sat up straighter.
“Torture and murder, you mean.” Kylian leaned again the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.
She didn’t acknowledge Kylian at all. “The others will know what you’ve done.”
I didn’t answer, didn’t need to. She would be the simplest of all. Quick and easy.
Kylian scoffed. “What others?”
A touch of the red potion in the corner to stop the heart, three drops of the green for complete lung paralysis, five drops of the black to choke the mind and soul. I swirled it around, mixing it together. It began to bubble like soda and smoke like dry ice. In New York, people would pay to take a shot like this. Now Cora would. I glanced over my shoulder at her as she sat there, gaping at me.
“They’re dead?”
“Yes.”
“You are a vile, evil creature and a disappointment to your father.” She rested her hands on the table in front of her.
A disappointment to my father? “Thank you.”
“For what?”
I placed the vial on the table in front of her and stood over her. “I live to disappoint.”
She looked up at me with bug eyes. “You might’ve disappointed him. But you’re exactly like your father.”
I chuckled. “If I was, you’d have a knife in your gut, and I’d be gone.”
Kylian sighed with boredom. “Which can be arranged.”
She pushed away the vial. “The warlocks need the council. Without us—”
“Without you, the world would be a better place.” I didn’t care what she had to say. I knew her crimes. The countless murders and illegal enchantments performed on people for the sake of what she thought was right. How does anyone know that their way is the right way?
“I make the world better. Order, dignity, the true way of life.” She folded her hands in front of her.
I leaned down low to get eye-to-eye with her. “Every villain is the hero of their own story.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “And you’re the hero in this one.”
I shook my head, feeling the cold surety of my actions coming over me. “No, death is never a hero’s answer. But in this case, it is a mercy you don’t deserve.”
“And how does this story end…,” she glared at me, “hero?”
“With the kind of mercy someone like you doesn’t deserve.” I pushed the vial toward her. “Bottoms up.”
“The world will not thank you.”
Cora grabbed the vial, put it to her lips, and tipped it back, swallowing down the contents. She slammed the vial on the table, shattering it beneath her hand. A small pool of blood flowed out from her hand over the table. She tried to clear her throat, and her eyes turned bloodshot in an instant.
I didn’t need to wait for her to die or watch what would happen to her next. I left her sitting there and walked out of the room. “Moving on.”
Kylian fell into step beside me. “That’s cold.”
I shrugged. “She’s responsible for the death of thousands. Would you rather I beat her to death?”
