Chapter 58
see her just standing there, looking down on n us, and I fight the urge to throw up. How can she just stand there so calmly?
“Welcome, welcome to my humble home,” she calls out to us, wearing a smile on her face,
I want to turn around and run. This isn’t right. She shouldn’t be talking to us, inviting us in like we are old friends. She doesn’t look the least bit concerned that we’re here.
“We should go, I want to tell Ethan, but before I call out to him, drag him away from here if I have to, he has already turned to his men.
“Attack!” Ethan calls out. “Subdue the witch!”
For a moment, Evelyn’s face falters, but the smiling face is back so fast I can even convince myself that I imagined it. And then she snaps her fingers and the trees themselves in the swamp respond to her. I feel the vines wrap around my legs like a snake and force myself to take a deep breath.
1 look around and see that everyone else is similarly ensured.
The vines creep further up my body, reaching for my throat. They wrap tightly around me, and I can feel the air leaving me. My lungs ache as I struggle for a single breath and the vines only press tighter still
“Oh,” Evelyn exclaims almost a moment later, almost like an after thought. “That was very unkind of me.”
She snaps her fingers again and the vines retract. And air floods back into my body.
“Please,” she says again, her voice nothing but gracious. “Please come into my home. I’m sure you’ve come all this way because you have something you want me to hear. I would be delighted to hear you out.
And then she turns away from us and starts to head into the house
I exchange a look with Ethan and he nods. We outnumber her, but she has us outmatched. The only reason we are still alive is because she is allowing us to live. Maya’s fear of her, her hesitation to enter into Evelyn’s dornain makes complete sense.
We love no choice but to play by her rules
Ethan makes a gesture to his wolves, and they back away from the house. Ethan says to Eli, “You stay out too, in case we need reinforcement”
Eli hesitates but eventually agrees.
“Oh,” Evelyn calls over her shoulder. “Please do include Maya in your count. I really wouldn’t want her to feel uninvited into my home.”
I glance at Maya to see her scowling at Evelyn. Did they know each other? Or is this just another one of Evelyn’s tricks Treating Maya as cordially as she treats us, maybe she’s trying to make us question our loyalties towards each other!
I shake my head. Now isn’t the time to get distracted, especially after she just showed us what she can do
Ethan starts towards the house, and gestures for us to follow. I don’t hesitate, this is the way that I can save my child. I start off towards the house, following closely in Ethan’s footsteps with Maya trailing behind me.
We pass through the door into a sitting room, and Evelyn gestures at the seats. She even has a tea trolley all set up, though no one touches it and she doesn’t offer
she says smoothly. “What has given me the honor of having the Alpha King visit me in my h humble abode? How may I be of service!”
Extan marks at her in answer
you did.
“Stop playing games, witch” Edhan snarls. “You know what we want, and you know why we’re here. You know what you d Evelyn frigns innocence. “Oh my,” she says. “What on earth love I done now?”
you have placed upon my child.”
“End the cune,” Edan snarls at her, biting Jus words out. “Remove the bloodline curse that you ha For a motornt. I am sure that she’s not going to stop. That she will try and drag this fame out for as long as she possibly can, but then she estules deeply and seems to have released.
“Fine,” she says after a pause, waving her hand to make the tra trolley vanish. “I recall the curse I laid spe was merely an incidental casualty in all of this She is a secondary viction, since she carries the primary one–your Heir.”
upon your heir, King Ethan, Princess Ariella
“Lift the curse,” Elhan says again, enunciating each word clearly
Evelyn regards him raily.
Chapter 58
“And how do you plan on paying me for my services?” she asks with an arched eyebrow. “When dealing with witches, nothing is ever for free. I’m
pretty sure Maya is charging you for her services as well.”
For a split second. I feel rage coming off Ethan like an avalanche, but it is so quick that I’m not even sure if it was real. Or maybe it was j
rage
Maya also shifts uncomfortably, her eyes never leaving the older witch.
“So what will it be. Alpha King“” Evelyn asks tauntingly, “what is worth the life and safety of your family’s future, hmm?”
just my own
“There is a rare gem in my palace vault, and some eclipse stones. I know that they are all priceless item coveted by your kind.” Ethan says tensely. “Additionally I will add fifty thousand gold.”
Evelyn smiles but doesn’t answer, she just sips her tea.
“I can also give you the moon springs in the Northern Mountains.
My eyes widen at the mention of the hotsprings. Surely Evelyn knows their worth.
Evelyn sets down her cup and lights a cigarette.
“Frankly, Ethan, I am disappointed,” she chuckles, “I thought you’d come up with something a little more creative than money and land,”
“I simply thought you
u would like to get out of the swamp, Ethan replies cooly
“This” she gestures to her surroundings, “This is a choice. I have everything I could ever need in these bogs and this cabin. I have power and dominion over everything that enters here, as I’m sure you are now aware
“Then what do you want?” I ask, my temper rising. Her attitude and arrogance sparks something in me. Evelyn sneers at me. There is a hatred there beneath the smile, though why she would bear hatred to me makes no sense.
“What I want is what would tear Ethan’s precious go to give
Evelyn waves her hand and the tea rises from the pot, warping and then freezing into a perfect ice sculpture of Marcus.
“I want you to grant my son a royal pardon, announce to your people that you made a mistake and Marcus was wrongfully charged. I then want the king to publicly apologize to my son and reinstate him as Alpha of the Midnight Moon pack.”
If I was holding something right now, it would have shattered,
“You can’t be serious!” I exclaim
“Deathly serious.” Evelyn smirks
“You realize the ridiculousness of your request!” Ethan fumes, “to think that I would reinstate an Alpha that has proven repeatedly that he cannot be trusted.”
son is important to me just as I’m sure your child is important to you. Her eyes linger on my belly. I feel the need to cover it.
Ethan’s jaw clenches. “And say I am to do this you would lift the curse?”
“The part that affects your child’s wildness, yes, she lets out a plume of smoke, “however not the part that kills the mother in childbirth; I feel that you still have to suffer in some ways for hurting my son.”
Ethan’s eyes shine bright gold. I feel his rage wash over me as if it is mine. He’s going to deny her-
I stand up quickly before Ethan can react or say anything.
accept the deal?” I declare firmly