Page 26 of Witch Untold
I know this move. It’s meant to render me insignificant. It doesn’t work. I’m too aware of my importance.
“You’re a demon,” Mircea says to Conah.
“Last I checked.” Conah’s voice is hoarse.
“Your kind disgust me.”
Conah’s eyes flash with rage. “Have you forgotten your lineage?”
Mircea’s mouth turns down and he rolls his shoulders. “I recall my lineage just fine.” He blinks his gray eyes slowly and turns to look at his brother, who’s drawing a bloody line down an unconscious Elijah’s cheek. “Leave the warlock alone.”
Radu licks the blood from the cut with an impossibly long tongue, then grins, showcasing crimson teeth. “I’m ready.”
Mircea moves to stand in front of me, and the grip the wall has on my body intensifies, crushing my bones.
It hurts, surprising me, but I don’t flinch or cry out.
“We need your blood.” Mircea’s left eye twitches. “There will be pain, and I cannot promise you we won’t lose control and drain you.”
“You can’t kill me.” But I’m not too sure. Not right now. Not in this room.
“Oh, Mircea, that sounds suspiciously like a challenge, don’t you think?” Radu tips his head to the side and grins widely at me. “Are you challenging us, you…” He looks momentarily confused and flicks a glance toward his brother. “Whatishe?”
I lock gazes with Radu. “Me? I’m your worst nightmare.”
The brothers exchange glances and then they both lunge at me.
* * *
Radu emptiesthe contents of his stomach all over the stone floor. Mircea looks like he wants to join him, but he isn’t a glutton like his brother. He barely took a gulp or two while his brother latched on like a limpet.
My blood obviously doesn’t sit well with them.
Good.
The wounds on either side of my neck throb. Blood trickles down my neck.
Radu straightens and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “Mircea, what now?”
Mircea exhales through his nose before approaching me. “You and the anchor are connected.”
I don’t bother replying.
“You know when she’s in distress. You can find her when she’s in need.”
Where the fuck are they going with this?
Radu grins again, the crazy, too-wide grin that makes me want to punch him in the face.
“What you don’t realize is that she can feel you too,” Mircea continues.
They’re wrong.
“Look at his face,” Radu says gleefully. “Look at him. He thinks we’re wrong.” His grin drops and his expression is suddenly deathly serious, sending a spike of dread through me. “Oh, we’re not wrong, malevolent. Your connection is two-way; you’ve just never been in enough distress for her to fully feel it.”
Mircea carefully unbuttons his cuffs and rolls up his sleeves. “You’ll call out to her. You’ll bring her here.”
Like hell. “Fuck you.”
