Page 36 of Warlocks Don’t Win (Singsong City #9)

Seriously? How did that make sense? If she raised Winston’s dad and he turned out rotten, how was her raising my Winston not going to follow the same pattern?

Then again, her rotten might be a sane person’s normal.

Also, she’d just verified that she’d killed Winston’s parents.

I somehow maintained my focus on the internal chanting.

“How are you so powerful?” I asked, moving to a crouch, eying her warily. She was fighting against Sage, but I’d weakened it, so it was only a matter of time. “The curse should have killed you sooner, and recovery should be slow.”

“Bindings. Winston has been bound to your house since the moment he put that ring on your finger. He is mine. Flesh, blood, will and soul. His strength is my strength. He doesn’t understand the beauty of his existence, what he’s created, who he’s become.

I gave him purpose and turned him into a savior of our kind. ”

“You murdered his parents.”

“You murdered your mother. Are you really going to judge me?” There was a flash of something in those cold eyes. She didn’t really think I’d killed her. It really hadn’t made very much sense.

I spoke slowly while my skin prickled from her negative energy.

“Under your influence. You’re the one who planted gossip against him, against my mother.

You arranged for him to be here, to find me or her, whoever survived, and he was going to finish the winner off.

Either one of us dead was a tidy solution for you.

That’s why I was paralyzed for weeks, because that was part of your influence.

You infiltrated Sage house using my love for him.

Like you used his love for his parents to further your own agenda.

Is it really witches you care about, or your own skin, position, power? ”

She gave me an actual smile. “You finally see some things.”

“You had someone try to kill me more recently. Who?” The incantation in my head was getting harder. Was I sweating? It was so far away. I’d never tried to raise bones from so far away.

She waved a hand, looking away like it was beneath her to kill someone.

She was doing her best to kill the house.

And me, but yes, let’s pretend you’re above getting your hands dirty.

“Probably the Salem Coven. That’s their typical methods of accepting a new voice.

First they have to test her, make certain she isn’t easy prey.

Tabitha is getting too weak. I should have chosen someone else, but all of my efforts were directed at maintaining my hold over Winston.

He is so strong. His feelings for you were always conflicted.

He should have killed you, but instead he testified against you.

I could use that, and I did, but it would have been better if he’d ended things cleanly between you.

I wasn’t aware until later that he was writing to you.

You inspired him in ways vengeance never could.

I’ll have to manage your death very carefully so that I don’t lose him. ” She meant kill him. Psycho.

Speaking of losing, she swept my legs out from under me, slamming my head against the marble floor. I lost control of the summoning while the world flickered out of focus. The threads were lost, scattered far away. So much for hope.

She took another step into the hall and the house creaked like it was going to collapse on top of her. All of us.

“How did the house curse you?” I asked. I wanted to know that before I died and it seemed like she had all the answers. Now I knew why. She’d been draining the house for years using Winston’s bindings to me, his love, my hatred. Okay, maybe I hadn’t hated him nearly as much as I wanted to.

“He found you in Singsong City. It must have completed the circuit of binding so Sage House could find the originator of the drain and put a stop to it.”

Oh. The kiss had triggered the curse. How magical. And now I really felt bad about fighting Sage House. I’d probably feel worse when she really put effort into killing me. You see, my father was Rasputin, notoriously difficult to kill. Maybe I’d survive long enough to kill her first.

I dove at her, hitting her knees and taking her down, but the next second, she’d thrown me back across the hall. It hit our engagement portrait, bringing it down on top of me as I crashed into the flowers and the table. The crash was impressive, sounded like a piano falling down stairs.

My heart hurt. And glass shards of the vase were all under me. Couldn’t feel my legs. Not a good sign. Maybe if Winston cut the bindings with her, it could cut off her ties to Sage House. Or if he broke the bindings to me.

He’d mentioned that, like it was something he wouldn’t enjoy. It sounded painful. I didn’t want to break the bindings with him.

I looked up at the warlock struggling, but his eyes were unfocused, confused. She was working on him, manipulating his thoughts, his will.

“I love you, Nettle Winston,” I said, ignoring the witch’s hiss. “I’ll love you forever. I’d rather die than break the binding to you. You’re better than stuffed-crust pizza.”

His eyes refocused and then he closed his eyes, focusing as hard as he could on something I couldn’t see.

Well if he didn’t want to watch me die, who could blame him?

My perfect face makeup was long gone. My dress was tatters, and all of me needed a hospital and a spa.

What would be really great would be if I could break the binding between her and Winston.

Then Sage House could defeat her easily.

We wouldn’t be working against our own energy.

“Mom, could you tell dad to break the bindings between the witch and Winston?” I said out loud. Man, I sounded rough.

A slight hint of green was the only thing that signaled she’d heard me.

“Also Tolly, it would be awesome if you got Jessica and Jordan. They’re kind of cute as a couple. Maybe some sorcerer could give them a ride through a portal so they don’t miss the whole thing on a train.” We’d left her in Apple City.

I closed my eyes while my legs twitched. It’d been weird. And wonderful. What more could a girl ask for?