Page 14 of Witch's Rite
Ash looked at me. "You already know, don't you?"
"She thought you were going to call her by someone else's name," I said with a nod. "I felt her pain and embarrassment. It felt like a betrayal."
Ash's tight-lipped frown and the regret in his eyes confirmed it.
"It was a misunderstanding," he said. "I explained myself and I think she believed me. But I still planted seeds of doubt in her mind."
"This is fucking why we should just tell her," Sal declared. "She must think this is such a mind game and we're just jerking her around. Nearly a thousand years of waiting for our woman to come back to us and we might lose her because ofyou."
"You think I don't fucking know that?"
Ash whipped around to face Sal, who tossed the chair aside like it was a tennis ball. It crashed into the wall in a shower of splinters that forced me to shield my eyes. When I looked again they were nose-to-nose like a pair of boxers facing off, both brimming with explosive energy.
"This is precisely why we shouldn't say anything, so we don't allow for more misunderstandings," Ash snarled with aggression that was rare to see from our cool, aloof leader. "So I lost my head for a second and fucked up. I'm not an angel anymore, in case you forgot."
"What is there to misunderstand if we're not talking out of our asses in the heat of the moment?" Sal shot back.
"Everything that she already has in her own mind!" barked Ash. "Memories are subjective. We can't fuck with her perceptions and implant our own versions of things."
Sal shoved first, sending Ash stumbling back a few steps in surprise. "Get the fuck out of my face, fucking fairy wings."
"Say that again, little pussy."
Ash lunged for Sal, which seemed like a good time to step in.
"Hey, hey, hey now," I said, blocking Ash with my back while holding my arms out in front of Sal. "Looks like we could all use a little cooling off."
Sal's green eyes flashed with fury, but he turned and left the room with only a low growl. In the next moment, his presence was gone from the house. He probably left to set a chunk of forest on fire or whatever he did to let off steam.
Immediately, the tension decreased in the room. Ash let out a tired sigh and paced back toward the window. I knew he wasn't angry at Sal. At this point, we had grown used to his temper tantrums and always picking fights. At least this time, we knew it was out of caring for Deja.
Hell, both of their tantrums were for that very reason. It wasn't often that I was the calm in our storm.
"He has a point you know," I said after a few moments. "Deja feels like we're playing mind games and isn't happy about it. That could ruin everything."
"So what do you suggest?" Ash asked bitterly, leaning out over the windowsill.
I hesitated. He was not going to like what I had in mind.
"You should give her some space," I said. "Let me and Sal have some time with her, and we'll bring you back into her good graces."
"Heh," Ash scoffed. "You would suggest that. And what makes you think you won't make the same fuck up as I did?"
I walked up next to him and clapped him on the shoulder.
"We don't. That's just a risk we have to take."
8
DEJA
"It's called glamour," Diana explained. "Glamour is magic that tricks the eye into seeing something different than what is actually there."
"So that's how she disguised the covers of her books," I mused, blowing over the surface of my new chamomile tea blend.
"Exactly," she confirmed, picking up her own teacup. "You can apply a glamour spell to objects, buildings, even people and animals. Witch children often play pranks on each other by making slugs and such look like kittens."
"So it's easy enough for kids to do?" I asked hopefully. "And I can make it look like we're talking about something completely normal and not witchy?"
