Page 31 of Venomous Lies (Greywood Conservatory for the Arcane #2)

Kazimir

SATURDAY

“ F reedom?” I laughed darkly at her attempt to sway me to her side. “How can you give me something you don’t even have yourself?”

Hazel and amber eyes stared up at me, scared but resolute. I’d been determined once, optimistic even, but in this particular fae deal, I had been outplayed.

“You don’t even know what I’m talking about,” I scoffed. “You have no idea what’s even going on, yet you try to offer me freedom? How naive.”

“Then tell me! Tell me what’s going on.”

I was studying her, trying to decide what I was going to do, when Thatcher began cursing in the darkness outside of my reach.

That necromancer was the bane of my existence. I dreamed of his demise so often it had become a game. How many ways could I torture him, break him before I finally let him die?

Would I let him die?

That seemed so boring… And I’d spent too much time im agining all the ways I wanted him to suffer to have it end so soon.

“Kaz.” I looked down at this witch who talked to me so casually, so boldly, and despite myself, I felt drawn to her.

She was haunting.

Her voice was a warning and promise all wrapped up into one.

Every moment with her made a whisper of something slither past a barrier I didn’t even know was there. The very essence of this witch was wrapping around my heart and digging into me.

I hated it.

Just another thing that was happening to me instead of it being my choice.

Part of me wanted to trust her, but I knew there was no out when it came to Thatcher. He had played me and played me well. I couldn’t kill him or even hurt him. It was in the fine print of our deal.

Thatcher had stopped moving now, but I could feel him readying something. This witch was important to him, and he’d do anything to keep her in his grasp.

That much I knew.

“I’m not asking you to trust me. That would be stupid,” she said, looking up at me imploringly with wide eyes. “But I’ll make a deal.”

Another deal.

One deal had gotten me here. Could another one really get me out?

“What do you want?” I found myself asking before I could really register that I was speaking.

“Kill Thatcher and let me go,” she whispered softly, leaning into me as if we were lovers.

“A direct violation of my current bargain, witch. You’ll have to be smarter than that.” I leaned down and scraped my teeth along her shoulders, savoring her whimper and the way her body shivered against me.

She didn’t back down, though, so I had to give her credit for that.

“You can’t kill or hurt him?”

“Correct,” I answered, amused and curious to see what she was trying to come up with.

“Protect my friends and my mates.” She licked her lips. “Find them out there and help them. Leave me with Thatcher. If he isn’t there to give you orders, you aren’t disobeying anything. He hasn’t ordered you to keep me here or to stop me, right?”

“And what do I get? What exactly can you offer me ?”

“What do you want?” she breathed, trembling as I smiled against her skin.

“You’re important to them, Isla Hallowes, important enough to orchestrate all this, but I know something they don’t and I won’t miss out.”

“What—?” She was cut off by a shocked gasp as I moved back and pulled out my knife. “Please don’t?—”

Still stumbling over furniture in his haste to reach us, Thatcher started yelling at me not to kill her after she began to beg, and his rising panic made his nasally voice even more grating. Pulling her further into the room, I kept my knife between us.

Isla paled even more, but I couldn’t sense any fear in her as she stared up at me, waiting for what I was going to do next.

“Why would I kill you, Isla? I’m going to thrive on every single nightmare you’re living through, and I want you to know it. ”

I cut the palm of my hand then instructed her to hold out hers.

She hesitated only for the briefest of moments before she obeyed. Cutting her palm, I then clasped it in mine. As she gasped in pain, eyes wide with shock, I slanted my lips over hers, catching her fear with a dark laugh.

She whimpered against my lips.

It was perfect.

One of the first emotions I’d felt in ages slithered through my veins.

Pain.

I coaxed her into kissing me back, groaning at the taste of her as our magick threaded together.

While she was distracted, I used my free hand to snag the two syringes I had gotten from the lab. They contained something similar to one I had injected her with a few days ago.

It didn't hurt to have extras, that’s what Thatcher had said. Too bad he hadn’t been smart enough to ask for them back. Now, it was my turn to play him and everyone else. I was leaving this hell.

Popping the cover off of one, I slipped the needle into her side and pressed the plunger as I bit down on her lip to distract her.

Breaking the kiss, I pulled back in time to watch the realization hit her.

“You—”

“Sometimes, witch, you have to make your own future.” I grinned as I dropped the used needle and grabbed the remaining one. Without hesitation, I injected myself.

We would be bound together forever.

Or at least her forever.

It would be hell for her, but I’d be damned if I cared .

I’d be free.

ISLA

Shadows danced in my veins as he injected himself then carelessly tossed the needle aside.

“What have you done?”

“You asked what I wanted, and I’ve now taken it. We’re now bound together, Isla Hallowes, so I will go help your little friends like you asked and leave you here to the necromancer’s tender attention.”

“Kaz, my friends—” she began, but I just chuckled.

“I’ll know who they are, Isla. Don’t worry, I’ll help them. But I’ll be here after. Don’t think you’ll be getting rid of me that fast. Good luck with him.”

In a swirl of shadows and darkness, he was gone, leaving me alone with a very mad necromancer.

“What have you done?!” he roared as the lights came back on in the destroyed study.

“I would think that is obvious, President,” I replied, using my sarcasm to mask the stinging and burning that was threatening my self-control. “Fae deals are powerful things.”

“He was mine!”

“So possessive of your beasts,” I taunted despite Cassius’ growing concern.

“You’re more trouble than you're worth. I should kill you right now.”

“You could try,” I bluffed, my chin tilted haughtily. “But I don’t think you have it in you.”

‘He’s literally a necromancer, beastie. ’

‘So are you. Help me!’

‘Do you have a plan as to how exactly I’m supposed to do that?’

‘Nope.’

‘Perfect.’

Magick slammed into me, throwing me back against the wall. My vision went dark again, panic rising as my head started ringing.

Shit.

“You’ve got a big mouth for a witch with no skills or powers to protect yourself!” he yelled.

Thankfully, the darkness faded, but I could feel warm, wet blood pouring down my face. I staggered to my feet, dodging his grasping hands and jumping over broken furniture to try to get to the door.

But I wasn’t fast enough.

The door slammed shut on my hand hard enough I swore I heard bones break.

I screamed in pain and rage, trying to get my hand free as he put his whole weight against the door.

“Not so strong now, are you?”

I sensed movement on the other side of the door, a presence that felt… familiar.

It was the same thing that had called to me through the darkness, but sadly I had gotten turned around and ended up here.

Safety and warmth wrapped around me like a cocoon even as Thatcher ground himself against me.

“Maybe I’ll have some fun with you before I bring you to them. Seems like you have enough of a bite left in you to make it interesting.”

“I think not,” I responded calmly, my lips curled in a small smile despite the pain. “I have other plans. ”

That’s when the presence leapt at the door, breaking it off the hinges. Thatcher screamed as I cradled my hand close to my chest.

My brain struggled to figure out what I was looking at. The supernatural that was attacking Thatcher wasn’t one I had ever seen before.

At least six feet tall, it towered over him.

The creature had some kind of spider-like body and a wolf-like face.

As I scooted around to get some distance, I could see one side of his face was heavily dotted with smaller blinking eyes.

He was watching the necromancer he had pinned to the ground with his brown and grey legs.

The wolf-spider supernatural snarled at the whimpering man on the ground. When he did that, it showed off the spider fangs on either side of his muzzle, making him even more terrifying.

I scrunched my nose at the smell of piss that suddenly permeated the air.

“Get off of me!” Thatcher screamed, but the creature paid him no mind.

Instead, the wolf-spider looked around the room until his gaze landed on me. Dark red eyes stared at me, full of uncertainty and longing.

It was him .

This was the creature that I had felt through the darkness, so foreign yet safe.

What is going on?

“What—?” I stopped when his ears folded flat against his head.

“This thing can’t talk,” Thatcher called out. “Now, save me!”

“Why would I save you?” I snapped, not breaking my stare with the spider. I swallowed hard then slowly stood up. “Will you let me leave?”

One ear swiveled a bit, but I didn’t get any other response.

But he didn’t move either. At least that was something.

‘Isla… We need to leave.’

‘I know, but there’s something about him ? —’

‘We can figure it out later. You need help, and I don’t trust that Kazimir or the deal you made. You idiot,’ he added with exasperation.

“Find me after,” I told him as I stumbled to the open doorway. “And do one thing for me?”

His head tilted slightly, waiting for me to say more.

“Make him suffer.”

I swore I could see the creature smile before I ran out of the room and into the twilight beyond.

Screams and begging followed me, and I swore I heard an odd, rough laugh rumbling over Thatcher’s voice.

Luckily, the darkness had faded into some kind of lighter gray, which I hoped meant whatever magick had been used was wearing out.

What was that creature? What is happening here? And where the fuck are my mates and my friends?

“Isla?!”

When I whirled around, I found Demir holding Wells against the stone wall of the building at knife point.

Wells’ face was bruised and swollen, his lip busted and bleeding. My brother pressed his knife closer to my friend’s throat, making him hiss as a fresh trail of blood appeared on his neck.

“Demir? Wells?” I stumbled over my words. “What are you doing to Wells?! Let him go.”

“Bats—”

“Let. Him. Go. Now .”