Page 131 of Night of the Witch
How long until they get here?I ask Holda.
She doesn’t respond.
“Tut-tut now, meine Schwester; no more sleeping.” Dieter pats my cheek again, harder. “We have things to do before tonight.”
I try to question him. To speak, in any way.
But I feel something in my mouth. Metallic, hard, like a bit on a horse’s bridle.
I prod it with my tongue only to feel that it encases my tongue, pulling it out grotesquely so I can’t speak, can only moan in a panicked rush as my gaze flies to my brother.
“I have to give credit where it is due—humans are ingenious when it comes to developing ways to stretch the body to its limits.” Dieter tugs on a bar that runs along my jaw, and I feel how the whole thing loops around my head, yanking my tongue out. “They developed this to keep a witch’s tongue from wagging during interrogations. Which seems pointless, doesn’t it? How can you confess your sins to their most holy of men if you are as good as muzzled? But it isn’t about confessing, we both know. All they want from witches is silence.”
He uses his finger hooked through the bar to lean in closer, tuggingmy face to his, the heat of his breath scorching and vile. “But with this, you won’t be able to cast any spells, will you? Go ahead and try. Mumble for your goddess.”
I do try. It comes out garbled, a desperate, choppy churn of noise.
Dieter beams and releases me, my body rocking in the air. He turns, grabs something from a chair by the table, and faces me again, holding it up triumphantly.
The bottle he’d brought to Birresborn. The bonding potion he’d wanted me to take, to connect my magic with his.
“This is your last chance,” he tells me sweetly. “If you agree to take this bonding potion, all this stops. Your mouth open like that, alldistended—you can drink this potion easily. That’s all you need do, sister. Nod—will you take it?”
He waits. He has to. The magic will not work unless I take the potion willingly. It’s part of the spell—one person brews the potion, the other drinks it, and only then, with that level of trust, will the bonding spell work.
But if I become bonded to Dieter, he will drain magic from me, use me until I am nothing left but a shell of a person, refilling my body with power like his own personal store of magic.
Panic dizzies me so powerfully that I feel myself on the edge of passing out again, blurred vision palpitating, clouds of fog encroaching—
Friederike!Holda shouts, her voice ripping through my head.Please—I know I have misled you. But please, you have to sever from the Well. Accept wild magic. Now, please—save yourself!
How?I whimper.How? I can’t speak. I can’t do anything.
Tears burn my cheeks. I fight through them, fight for a squirming shred of strength, and glare at Dieter.
I shake my head.
His deranged hope falls. Crashes off his face in a tight glare. “Friederike. I do not think you understand what is at stake.”
I hold my glare on his eyes. Maybe it’s for the best that I can’t speak; at least this way, I can feign resolve.
Inside, I’m falling apart.
Dieter’s lips purse.
In a flash, he hurls the bonding potion into the fire. The bottle shatters, flames eating up the potion in a sudden gust of heat and intensity, and I flinch helplessly, manacles clanking.
Dieter straightens his tunic, smooths his blond hair back. “You chose this path, Fritzichen. Remember that. We did not have to do things this way.You chose this.” Then he grins.
He grins, and it pierces my stomach with cold.
“I have other ways of getting your magic,” he tells me. “The bonding potion was merely the least…messy. But.” He lunges toward me, hand clamping to my jaw, holding me close as he exhales down into my face. “We are fated, you and I. Did the voice not tell you? It told me. The great vision for us. You and I, champion and warrior, warrior and champion, bound together to change the world.”
I go slack.Holda? Is he—
I’m so sorry, Fritzi. I told him many things before I realized the lengths he would go to. This—this is not what I intended. I had dreams of the greatness the two of youcouldachieve, but he is—
You didn’t tell me. I’d be sobbing if I could. As it is, I choke down cries, tears dripping over Dieter’s fingers on my jaw, and I slam my eyes shut.You didn’t warn me!
