Page 23 of Hellish Witch

My gaze dropped, tracing the inked feathers twitching on his throat with his steady pulse. The winged birds looked alive as if they took flight across his skin, refusing to stay as mere tattoos.

“You need to speak to the queen,” he said, pushing my chin up with the sneaky tip of his tail and forcing me to meet his depthless eyes.

The “or I will” was left unspoken. My brother’s most ruthless enforcer never made empty threats.

I pulled back, annoyed he was treating me like a kid. Again.

“You threatening to tattle on me, Kill?” I quirked a brow, batting aside his silken heart-tipped tail and crossing my arms.

He smirked, a deliciously dark twitch of his lips, like he found my defiance amusing. My quip felt more petulant than sassy now, and it pissed me off even more.

“I don’t need to, Eve. Here I am the law, and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect this kingdom.”

“Stop bleeding all over my kitchen and get out,” I huffed, pinning him with a stern glare. “Apparently, I’ve got a witch to see.”

Chapter 8

Islammed the ornately carved door shut a little harder than necessary.

Killian crossed his arms, and his biceps tensed distractingly. The stubborn bastard had insisted on waiting while I’d sped through a shower and dressed.

I’d then pretended the cookie-thieving hellcat sprawled out on my sofa didn’t exist, and left her snoozing peacefully.

The incubus leaned against the wood siding of my cottage like he had a right to it. A part of me hated that he sort of did.

After all, he had built it.

Last year, when my brother had finally crumbled enough to admit I did need my own space, Rex and his enforcers had built my cabin. I’d shamelessly ogled the hot enforcers while we’d worked—I was part succubus, after all—but really, I’d only ever had eyes for one infuriating incubus.

Until my brother had jokingly growled at me to focus on nailing the timber and not one of his friends.

Killian’s lips twitched like he was remembering a similar thing.

The Bloodwood called to me from just behind the single-storey cabin as I avoided piercing navy eyes. The trees were like the pine forests I’d seen on Earth but with a mix of subspecies native to Hell. Towering redwoods dominated, bleeding rich crimson sap to give the forest its name, but there was a myriad of flora from black ebony hugged by lichens to colourful wildflowers brimming with poisons.

The day after construction, two trough-like planters had appeared outside my cottage, right under my shuttered front windows.

Blooming inside was my favourite flower: bloodbores.

The rich red petals brightened the dark wood façade of my home as much as warning people away, given this flower held a special kind of poison. The same flowers had also been carved into my heavy-set front door.

The flowers were similar to the hellebores I’d seen on Earth, which I supposed was how they’d got their name given demons had been visiting since ancient times. I’d been foolish enough to accept the summons from a nature mage. At first, he’d seemed sweet when he’d started by offering me a multicoloured bouquet of the pretty flowers. Too bad he’d tried to bargain for a deal that would have had me on my knees to earn them and a bland dose of his energy.

Unsurprisingly, I hadn’t taken the deal, but it was still a better experience than my last summoning, which had ended up with me sold to hunters.

From what our witch queen had told me, I wasn’t strictly a nature mage myself, but the healer in me had always been drawn to certain plants for their medicinal uses, as much as their beauty. The majestic creatures of Hell had always fascinated me too.

Killian watched me with an unwavering intensity.

I turned from my cabin and my scrambled thoughts, heading down the path. My throat dried as the demon fell in step beside me, in the opposite direction of his home.

I shot him a sideways glance. “Where do you think you’re going?”

He shrugged his wing arches, unfazed by the blood still seeping down his front from the wounds I’d failed to heal. “With you.”

I ignored the stupid little skip of my heartbeat, flattening my expression. “I don’t need babysitting, Kill. I think I can walk to Rex and Zoella’s on my lonesome.”

It was early enough that the village was still peaceful, the sun barely cresting the vast forest to bathe the low rooftops.

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