Page 29 of Liar Witch

I don’t like where this is going.

The first needle of pain slices directly into my spine, and my whole body arches.

“Hold her down,” Elsie orders, and Reva moves to comply. “Nilsa, you have to stay still.”

“It fucking hurts!” I yell, but with the bark in my mouth it sounds more like ‘euckinurts.’

“If the needles come out because you’ve moved, I’ll have to insert them all over again.”

I spit the bark out. “Needles?”

What in Moonlight’s name does she think she’s going to do with those?

“Don’t tell me the big bad assassin is scared of a few pinpricks?” Elsie shoves the bark into my mouth again. “Each one is copper, tipped with hematite. Together, they’ll help me channel my magic directly into your body. Your skin creates a physical and psychic barrier. I need to break it to fix the damage you’ve done.”

Without warning, the next needle is stabbed into me.

I have the obscure thought that I’m going to look like a hedgehog when she’s finished with me before my body bucks once again and Reva forces the bark back between my teeth.

A growl sounds, followed swiftly by the squeaking of the door opening then slamming shut. The roar of a leviathan fills the air a second later.

“Looks like your loverboy is in deep,” Reva comments. “Fae, get over here. She’s stronger than she looks.”

I don’t even hear Kier move. Another, colder pair of hands presses my bare shoulders to the mat, careful to avoid the places where my flesh is still tender and raw from the whipping I received as a guest of the Eagle.

Kier’s so strong that I can’t move as the next wave of pain assaults me.

Without the outlet of being able to flail, a pathetic howl rips free, and once again, Reva is forced to hold the furry bark between my teeth to stop me from spitting it out.

“What’s on those needles?” Reva grunts.

“Mugwort, hellebore and rue, with ginger for potency.”

Kier’s hands leave my back. “Poison.”

The accusation in his voice is unmistakable.

“Not to a witch. Not in doses as small as these. I know what I’m doing.”

There’s a tense moment where I think Kier might start something, but his icy hands eventually move back to my skin. His thumb strokes the spot just below my shoulder blade in a comforting gesture.

“If I don’t do this now, she may never be able to use magic the way she could before.”

Fear settles in my gut at those words and I resolve to take whatever it is Elsie puts me through in silence.

I lose count of how many poison-tipped needles she shoves into my skin. They pepper my back, thighs and arms in licks of fire until I’m so dizzy that I want to throw up. I bite harder on the bark in my mouth, my disgust at its furry texture overridden by the desperate hope that it might help soothe the pain. The coolness of Kier’s touch gives me something to focus on.

Then the dry heat of Solar magic starts to fill the room.

The licks of pain, which were growing manageable, burst into lances of brutality. It feels like Elsie’s magic is forcing its way through those needles and into my very soul. Scorching out the scars left by Moonlight, then soothing it with gentle heat.

“Mother Sunlight, lend me the power of restoration.”

Her prayers are soft, gentle, and lulling to listen to, and my eyelids droop closed as exhaustion nags at me.

When I wake, I feel like I’ve been run over by a troll, but the hand I use to wipe the sleep from my eyes is completely scar free. A glance at the rest of my arms shows that they’re the same.

I can even feel my connection to the Goddess. So pure and comforting that I want to sigh in relief.