Page 11 of A Witch Out of Time
Despite walking through rolling farmland for what felt like hours, Veles’ spooky goth palace seemed no farther away than when I’d started. It seemed a bloody waste to decorate your lair like a sex dungeon when you were clearly not getting laid. The all-black interior with blood-red accents would be way hotter if the focal point was a spanking bench instead of a dusty altar for boring, dead-people spells. Annoyed that I still seemed to be in the shadow of the highest turret, I turned and raised a middle finger. All I saw looking back at me was the strange, neon orange orb that passed for the sun around here.
“My Beautiful Sun…”
Shaking my head with a growl, I tried to ignore the sudden vision of my sweet witch running those delicious claws of hers through soft, golden curls. While I craved Vasi with an instinctual pull, that new-love giddiness was all mixed up with the raw pain of what Ace had put me through—and the depths of what I still felt for him.
Fathomless depths, to be exact.
I wasn’t exaggerating when I called Asa myGueneshem—the light of myentireworld. The day I first laid eyes on him, shining like a diamond among lumps of coal alongside the other new recruits, I knew he was the man I would spend the rest of my life with. But if this shared fate of ours meant we were bound for eternity, then his decision to focus all of his love toward Vasi, to simply discard all we’d shared…
Well, then, I may as well stay here in Hell.
While it was clear Ace would still “allow” me to fuck him—presumably for Vasi’s sake—I honestly didn’t know how I could be expected to keep my emotions out of it. How I’d be able to simply let him go. He was as much a part of me as my own breath and blood, which was precisely why this was killing me.
I angrily kicked at a thorny shrub in my path, finding an odd sense of satisfaction in the explosion of blue petals raining down from the ruined blooms.
“Oh, yes. Please, feel free to destroy the legendary blue roses. They’re only extremely rare and infused with magical properties coveted by Yagas for generations.”
Spinning around, I loudly groaned at the sight of the two bird-ladies who had first invited us to join Veles in the underworld. Just like last time, the fiery-plumed Gamayun took the lead while the inky-black Alkonost lurked in the background like a dodgy chicken.
“Piss off,” I growled, in no mood for more prophetic declarations. I would much rather continue thinking about a sloppy sandwich where I was the meat between Vasi and Ace’s buns.
Is that too much to ask for?
“Hmm...it depends,” the Gamayun cocked her very human head in a very birdlike fashion. “If the reason you’re not getting what you want is that you yourself are the one standing in your own way…well, you have no one to blame but your own reflection.”
The dizzying word vomit reminded me of a long-dead great-aunt who used to join in every conversation no matter the incoherence of her contributions. Of course, her mouth always being full ofbaklavawhen she spoke didn’t help the situation.
Who I wouldn’t suck off right now for some kestaneli baklava...
“The idiot mortal isn’t paying attention, sister,” the Alkonost snarled, revealing teeth much pointier than a human head should possess. “Why waste your timetellingto one who isn’t yet ready tolisten?”
I snorted. “I’d be all ears if you said anything worth listening to, birdbrain.”
Both paused their clucking to judgmentally stare me down, and I took advantage of the silence to continue pining after Ace. Just when I’d dared to hope they’d keep their beaks shut tight or—even better—disappear completely, the Gamayun smiled. “I don’t believe it’shimyou’ve lost,” she chirped, clearly pleased with whatever armchair wisdom she was about to impart. “But rather, your own sense of self. And I wonder...did you ever truly possess that in the first place?”
This feathered fuckoffery was making my head hurt. Instead of gracing the vulture with a reply, I squatted down next to the shrub for a closer look. Suddenly remembering Vasi used blue roses in her dream tea, I retrieved some of the fallen blue petals and tossed a handful in my mouth, quickly swallowing them down. Anything to escape my current reality.
A dream world sounds fucking golden right about now.
“Oh, I wouldn’t do tha…” the Gamayun’s voice sounded oddly muffled as I fell backward, my vision going dark.
Blinking open my eyes again, it took me a moment to realize I was flat on my back and staring up at the domed ceiling of a cave. Unlike the balmy temperature of the Nav, it was bitterly cold here, which seemed an odd detail considering this was supposed to only be a dream. I thought I could hear faint screams coming from somewhere far off, but that wasn’t what captured my attention.
Ace?
I only caught him out of the corner of my eye, disappearing down a narrow passageway, but I would know that man anywhere. Scrambling to my feet, I hurried after him, almost tripping over a discarded plate and cup as I took in the filthy mattress covered with a thin stained blanket.
What the hell is Ace doing in this cave?
My pace slowed as I came to an intersection, realizing I’d lost sight of him. I cursed in frustration, but then felt a sharptug—like a noose around my heart—yanking me towards the right. Having nothing else to go on, I followed the sensation, trusting that I wasn’t being led astray.
As I traveled along, I noticed strange moss covering the walls, faintly glowing with bioluminescence. Emerging from a tight tunnel, I stopped short when I found Ace standing at another fork in the road, head cocked as if he were listening for something. Although I knew I hadn’t made a sound, he suddenly straightened and spun to face me, blue eyes widening as he took me in.
Does this mean I’m really here?
“Tan?” he gasped, and it took everything in me not to run into his arms. “What are you doing here? Did he somehow capture you, too?”
I scowled, even as I stepped closer, unable to resist his pull on me. “Who are you talking about? Veles?”
