Page 72 of A Summoned Husband

I couldn’t escape her. Not even in my old room in my Gran’s house.

Lean back! Throw yourself from the bed! Jump out the fucking window if you have to, Eden!

Gran!

She moved closer. “You’re the key, Eden.”

My throat was so tight.

She leaned down, her bright eyes boring into mine. “I made sure of it.”

Each blink I took was too slow. Tears broke free from my lids and trailed down my face as I watched her.

“If Maledictia could only see us now.” She leaned in, her nose dragging up the side of my face as she inhaled me. “If she could smell the sweetness of your fear, so thick in the air I can almost taste it. How she would love the taste.”

I had no idea who Maledictia was. I had no idea who this woman before me was either.

Another tear rolled down my cheek.

“We were peas in a pod, my sister and I. We had such plans.”

Move, Ede!

My body swayed slightly, gravitating toward her. My heart lurched in my throat as she breathed on my face, her eyes so close I couldn’t look into them, I had to move mine back and forth to stare into their depths. Her pupils were stretched lines that cut through the middle.

“Maledictia and Vindictia against the cosmos.” Her breathless sigh was one full of malice and heartbreak. “Until Asmodeus… not that he remembers. Him remembering would be a problem for me. For us.”

The mention of the demon whose key was embedded in my chest squeezed my heart in a painful grip and tightened the knot that sat in my belly.

“He stole from me,” she hissed, her eyes suddenly hard. “You’d think my goal would be to steal from him in turn, but that isn’t really enough. No… it’s too simple.” She bent her finger under my chin, its pointed nail pressed into the tender flesh.

I winced as it broke through my skin.

“My plans are more vicious.” She pressed a finger against the key in my chest. “And how they will last… though I can’t promise you will.”

The pain that throbbed in my chin heated me. It thawed the parts of me that kept me from doing anything. Air rushed into my lungs, making them ache as my mouth fell open and I did something stupid.

“Gran!” I screamed.

Vindictia’s lips pursed. “That is not the name you’re supposed to call.” She rubbed her palm against the key in my chest before she curled her fingers and pushed her nails into my flesh. “Call for your husband.”

The door burst open and Gran appeared in the doorway. Her bonnet was slightly askew as she hung on the doorknob and her eyes widened. She took in the room, her chest heaving. Abuela collided with her back and they both staggered in.

“Jesus,” Gran whispered.

“Dios mio,” Abuela muttered.

I wondered as I stared at them if they were frozen too. If the being before me I knew was a witch had done something to us to keep us from fighting against her.

My thoughts were shattered as Gran ran in. Her hands wrapped in the hair of the witch and she pulled. “Get your ass off my baby!”

Abuela’s feet jumped to life as she grabbed a book from the desk by the door and charged in.

Breath filled me as my body relaxed. My limbs were once again my own as Vindictia was pulled from my bed onto the floor. Her laughter was chilling as Gran tugged her and Abuela swung the book.

A burst of orange enclosed her as the book came down. It was a force that kept the book from landing. A gust of magic knocked Abuela back, her feet flying over her head as she hit the floor. Gran fell too as I was tossed from my bed. My neck snapped back, my head colliding with the window. The taste of blood filled my mouth as I tried to blink away stars. Pain lanced through me as my back banged against the sill of the opened window and my legs gave out.

The room around me blurred and swayed.