Page 52 of Evil Eyed
“I want my guests to enjoy my hospitality. Otherwise, well, lady, dire things happen when the rules of hospitality are violated. Honestly, I hoped to see who would win the curadmír.”
“What’s that?”
He gave her a slow, sly smile that confirmed my worst fear. “The best cut of meat from the table. I’ve prepared such a lovely suckling pig for my guests. Who’ll take the haunch?”
Riann pushed to her feet. Rainbows began to spin around her, though I wasn’t sure that she was consciously drawing her magic. “I will.”
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Keane rose to his feet so quickly that his chair tumbled backward. “No, Riann. You can’t do this.”
If there was any chance at all that Vivi lay trapped in that pig, I was going to get her out. Whatever it took.
“Be my guest.” Boss Man practically oozed with smug glee. As if he thought I was too stupid to understand what he’d done to my best friend. Or maybe he thought I wouldn’t challenge him. I wouldn’t try to save her. Or, more likely, hewantedme to try and save her—so he could watch me fail.
But I wasn’t going to fail. Not this time.
Rage simmered hotter, fueling the gleaming wheel of magic that spun in my mind. Golden treasure magic hummed to a fevered pitch, desperate to be used. Emerald green sparked through the golden strands, taking our power to a whole new level. Nothing that compared to Evil Eye’s power, but more than the treasures had ever pulled before.
Not to mentionmymagic. I could see it now, the dark velvet ribbons winding through the wheel. My love of all things gothic and strange, shadows with faces and tentacles closing in. I wasn’t scared of that darkness, because there were also strands of rainbow light dancing across the canvas. Brushstrokes of hope and love, as delicate as a dragonfly’s wings.
A painting without darkness and shading was flat and one-dimensional. I needed the shadow for distance and depth. To make the highlights shine all the brighter and bring the image into perfect focus.
I poured all my heartache and loss into the power streaming through the wheel. My frustration and anger at myself for falling for Jonathan in the beginning. For staying in a horrible marriage, unable to break out of his trap for five fucking years. My inner child, aching loneliness, suffering that horrible feeling of never fitting in or belonging. Never accepted because I was too weird and strange.
The child who’d lain awake at night and wondered why the people who were supposed to love her didn’t care about her at all. Vivi had been my dragonfly then, my only ray of light in this dark, miserable world. I would do anything to save her.
I walked over to stand between Keane and Warwick. A giant butcher knife lay on the table, waiting for whoever claimed the prized cut of meat.
Aidan dragged his boots off the table, thumping his feet down so hard the entire table rattled. “You offer hospitality. Fine. I’ll eat every last motherfucking crumb on this table as long as you let Riann take her friend and leave.”
“Ah, now that’s very tempting, Slaughterer. Very tempting indeed. Perhaps you haven’t taken a long enough look at the delicacies I’ve prepared for you.”
Aidan flicked a wriggling maggot off the tablecloth. “I’ve looked. It’s all shite and I’ll eat it anyway. Just let them go.”
“Now why would I consider letting the most powerful treasurekeeper you’ve ever called to your side go free, when she could do so much more for me?”
I picked up the butcher knife, surprised at how heavy it was. It felt more like one of Aidan’s swords. “We had a deal, Evil Eye. I came to you willingly. I even brought the treasures with me. All I ask is that you allow Vivi to return to her home unharmed.”
“I say again, lady, all will be granted once the rules of hospitality are fulfilled.”
“Remember what I said about Warwick before we came to an agreement?” Aidan asked casually.
I nodded, a wry smile quirking my lips. “You said that I’d been lepreconned.”
He gave me a startling wide smile, his blue eyes shining like brilliant sapphires. “I refuse to let you be Evil Eyed. Not on my watch.”
Boss Man clapped slowly, a mockery of amusement. “Good show, Slaughterer. So sweet and touching. Yet again, I must express my doubts about your sincerity to uphold the rules of hospitality. None of you have even taken a bite of the feast I’ve prepared for you.”
“Well, then, I should get busy carving that pig.” At my words, the poor thing quivered, increasing the sinking weight of dread and horror in my stomach. Whether it was Vivi or not, the animal was still alive, even though it looked like a crispy, roasted pig down to the rosy apple in its mouth.
My men all stood, thickening the tension in the air. Deadly weapons at the ready, they hovered in my mind, one whisper away from drawing blade and fighting to the death. Warwick pressed against my back, though he didn’t wrap his arms around me. One slight misstep and he’d whisk me away to the Summer Isle. The treasures would die fighting around this table of nightmares, and I would never see Vivi again.
:I need to see through the glamor but I don’t want Boss Man to know what I’m doing before it’s too late,:I whispered to Warwick.
: I’ll bring the hag stone to your right eye at your word.:
To the treasures, I said,:Create a diversion.:
