Page 107 of Heart of a Witch
I recalled her murmuring some incantation, but I thought it had been hallucinations brought on by the venom. “You cared even then?”
“Sort of,” she said, biting her bottom lip. “I couldn’t have you die, because our plan against your father had just begun.”
“Well, at least you’re honest.”
“It’s why I was leaving. My mind is broken, Elijah. All these spells have taken a toll on me. I can’t think properly half the time. My nightmares are becoming hard to distinguish against reality, and I can’t burden anyone with that. I wanted my sister and brother to stay here, to build their lives, but I guess now they can’t.”
My chest tightened. “I’m not going to tell anyone.”
She dared a glance. “Why not?”
“Because I believe what you’re saying,” I said, and my mouth went dry. “But I won’t have my father killed.”
“Then what? Have him roam free to hunt me? To continue to kill?”
“No.” Nausea crept through me as an idea formulated. “We send him to an asylum still. He’s murdered people, but we can’t argue a witch’s innocence against an entire kingdom, so this is the only way. I also don’t want him out. He’s hurt my brother—and me—for the last time, but I won’t see him dead. I can’t have that. He’s still a person, and I don’t condone murder. Under any circumstance.”
She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I can’t… He needs to die.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s why I came here. It has to end with me holding his heart in my hand.”
I touched her arm, but she flinched. I looked at her, and she was still as captivating as the first day we met. Every snarky comment, laugh, smile, and talk surfaced, softening me to her. She could have killed me, but she didn’t, and she was dark. She did summon demons and use magic, but I think she thought of herself as evil, and being dark and evil were two very different things. “You’re not a bad person. You don’t need to do this.”
Her eyes lit up. “How can you say that after everything you’ve seen?”
“You loved your sister, you love your family, you saved my brother twice, and you came up here and were honest with me. I’m not happy about any of this or how it happened, but I don’t hate you, and I don’t think you’re a bad person—which is why I know you can walk away from this, to lock him away. You can’t play the role of a god. We don’t get to decide who lives or dies.”
She looked down at her feet. “I’m sorry, Elijah. I want to do this for you, but I can’t walk away from this now. Not after what he’s done. His life will end.”
I shook my head. “I can’t stop you. Like you proved downstairs, you can put your hand on my chest and stop me from moving, but know this: if you murder him, you are becoming just like him. He will havewon.”
Something changed in her eyes.
“I’ll be ending the ball now.”
She stood and looked at me for half a second before she left the room. I watched her leave, my stomach sinking. I hoped she’d do the right thing, by some miracle.
I touched the box in my pocket, with the engagement ring inside it. The evening had ended far differently than I’d expected. I turned back toward the window, listening to the music from downstairs.
Thirty-Two
Victoria
I looked at Damian Shaw as he lay crumpled on his bed, whimpering in the dimply lit room. “This is where I kill you.”
His bloodshot eyes found me. “My son hates me.”
“Sons, plural,” I said to correct him. “Yes, they do, although don’t give me all the credit for it. It was mostly you.”
He pushed himself up from the bed. “You’re evil.”
“Your son doesn’t think so. I told him everything, about my being a witch.”
“Then he’s a fool.”
I paused, my heart skipping a beat. I took a step forward. “You know what? He’s not a fool at all. He’s an amazing man with a good heart, despite growing up in this head-fuck of a household. Now, I admit I’ve done things I’m not proud of, but I don’t go around murdering people like you, so don’t you lie there and call me evil.”
