Page 34 of Witch Unbound
She patted his hand and then fixed her attention on me. “You ready?”
I pushed back my seat with a scrape. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
She led me to a door across the kitchen but stopped, hand on doorknob, to address Lauris and Bramble. “Try to block out the screams.”
It was only as we slipped through the door and headed down the steps that it hit me. The screams she was referring to would be mine.
Chapter Nine
The basement had been converted into a workroom with vials, potions, and bookcases lined with old texts. There were a couple of strange-looking machines and a wall hung with sharp, pointy implements.
Fee had told me about the blood witch who’d held Jasper captive, about her torture devices, but there was nothing like that here, and I wasn’t sure if that made me feel less or more nervous.
Ida pulled a stool out from beneath one of the work counters. “Have a seat.”
I parked my ass as she gathered supplies. A few vials, a bowl, a knife, and some white cloth.
“How long will this take?”
“Not long.” She held out her hand. “Let’s do blood first.”
I laid my hand on her palm and she drew the blade across it, leaving an icy numbness in its wake that erupted into fire a moment later.
She pushed the bowl under my hand. “Squeeze, please.”
I obliged. Blood dripped for a moment, then stopped.
“Harder.”
I squeezed. “I am.”
She turned my hand over to reveal a bloody, unmarred palm.
I’d healed.
She arched a brow at me. “Something I should know about?”
I shrugged one shoulder. “I’ve been going through some changes.”
“We’ll have to cut again.”
We went through the motions three times before she had enough blood.
“Now for pain,” she said with a slight smile.
Sadistic much. “Fabulous.” I grinned brightly at her and took a moment to block my connection to the guys. The last thing I wanted to do was freak them out.
“Ready?” Ida asked.
“What’re you going to do? Poke me with your pointy implements?” My gaze flew to the wall lined with sharp things.
“No need for that.” She rubbed her hands on her thighs and then handed me the white cloth.
I took it. “What’s this for?”
“Nosebleeds and drool.”
“Huh?”
