Elyssa could feel her whole body shaking from a combination of fear and anger as she stared into Aine’s eyes. She clutched the black book tightly within her arms as she took a step back, keeping a careful eye on her for any sign of an attack. Not that she’d have any way to stop Aine, but at the very least she could try or cause enough noise to give warning to the others.
“What do you want?” Elyssa asked, her voice trembling with emotion.
“Now, now. The pieces aren’t set yet so there’s no need for alarm,” Aine spoke as she pushed the hood back from her face.
“I just wanted to make sure you were keeping my gift safe,” she continued, “and that you weren’t going to do anything...shall we say foolish.”
“...What do you mean, ‘the pieces aren’t set’?” Elyssa asked. She could feel her heart dropping as she repeated the words, knowing that whatever it meant it wouldn’t bode well for the others and herself.
“Are you asking because you’re scared?” Aine smiled as she ran her fingers through her hair, her blue eyes shimmering in the moonlight. Elyssa didn’t answer, but did take an extra step back. Aine shook her head in response as she let out a deep sigh.
“In a few weeks it will be Midsummer’s Eve, or as you might know it, the summer solstice. It use to be customary for me to accept a sacrifice on this eve, although over the years I grew bored and...let’s just say it’s been awhile. Recently I decided it might be nice to start up again since it seems I’ve been forgotten.”
“...And you decided to start again by using me and my friends.” Elyssa finished Aine’s flow of thoughts for her, and Aine grinned in response.
“Precisely. Of course I have to make a show of it and without that book...let’s just say it wouldn’t be much of the show I’m looking for.”
“...And if I refuse to use it?”
“You’ll all be dead anyway. I was just attempting to give you a chance. But if you don’t want that chance, that’s fine...”
“Or you just want me to use the book for the other reasons,” Elyssa interjected, getting Aine’s attention.
“And what reasons would those be?”
“I know about the cost of the spells, Aine. I’m not going to be your little guinea pig, or whatever it is you thought you’d accomplish by getting me to use the book.”
For a moment, Aine’s back stiffened and she remained silent as if caught off guard. That second of hesitation happened so quickly that she almost missed it, but it gave Elyssa an idea of Aine’s larger plan. It wasn’t to kill her, but to get her to cast a spell. The question was why.
“Then I guess you and the others will be dead.”
“Why do you want me to use the book so badly?”
Aine leaned back against the wall, and casually conjured up a ball of red energy within her hands. She manipulated it with ease, changing it from what looked like electricity dancing along her fingertips, and then back into a ball which she tossed from hand to hand. For as tiny as it was, Elyssa could feel the immense power that it radiated.
She had never felt anything like it before, and it was so far beyond her own capabilities that it would take ages to reach that point, assuming she even could. Aine was right. If it was her goal to kill everyone then there was nothing Elyssa could do without something extra. It was hopeless if she didn’t use the book, and if she did she’d be playing right into Aine’s hands. This wasn’t even considering the whole ordeal with Dantes and helping him if something had happened.
YOU ARE READING
The Bewitching - Midsummer Aine - Book 2
FantasyWinter has come and gone. Elyssa, a witch, spends her nights thinking of the mysterious man doomed to become a demon. As they cross paths once again, she learns many things in his life have changed. The new demon is even more dangerous than the last...
