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“You’re leaving,” I tell him. “Go home. I never want to see or hear of you again.”
He sneers. “You don’t tell me what to do, bitch.”
“This time I do,” I say. “Because I’m not letting you leave quite unscathed. Charlie’s made a good start, but you can probably afford a healer who’ll fix your leg good as new. Be a lot harder to find an Earth-witch to fix what I’m going to do to you. For all you never thought much of my magic, Earth-witches are rare. And you’ll have to find one stronger’n me to reverse my spell. Good luck with that.”
He snarls. “Les! Les, where are you boy?”
“Prolly still knocked out cold,” I observe, going up on my toes to see my fallen ex-brother, but the courtyard’s in chaos now. House Eythin may have crawled off to hide in their holes, but lots of people have run in the other direction. “Don’t think he’s coming to save you. And by the time he finds you, he won’t care about what happens to you anyway.”
Da spits at me. He’s far enough away, clutching my blackened, half-broken Stonefist for support, that the spittle falls short, barely half the distance between us. I’m glad since the Liusaidh isn’t here to wipe it off and I’m not touching anything that comes out of Da’s mouth.
“You’re nothing, bitch,” Da sneers. “No matter how much gold the fae boy throws at you for spreading your legs, you’ll always be nothing. You’ll never take my boys from me, ‘cause they see what you are.”
“Then you’ve been beaten by nothing,” I tell him, letting a cold smile break over my face.
I take a step forward—still out of spitting distance—and begin to chant.
Da curses and tries to crawl away, but I follow him step by step. Never stopping the chant until I’ve said it three times. By the third repetition, Da’s given up trying to crawl and is just lying on his back, staring up at me with wide, wet eyes.
“Don’t, don’t, Teddy, don’t,” he whimpers.
I lean over him and put my clawed, black hand on his chest. “Beggin’ never stopped you.”
I pour the spell into him, a white fire like the dragon that burns every trace of his bloodline out of his veins.
His head drops back. He gargles on blood. A little more leaks out of his eyes.
With one claw, I turn his head to the side so he doesn’t choke to death on his own blood. Then I place that claw on his throat, the pointed tip dimpling his skin.
“I don’t want you dead,” I whisper to him, surprised to find it’s true. “I just want a world that’s safe from you.”
He coughs and gasps, “No, no.”
“If I could tear out your magic, I would.” Wish I’d found that spell in the Acta. Guess I’ll have to keep looking. “Instead, I’m just going to make sure you never come after me or anyone I care about again. You’ll want revenge, but no one’s going to avenge you because you don’t have any family anymore. You could pay someone, I reckon, but your money’s going to be tied up, ‘cause you don’t got any family left to care for you, so you’ll have to pay someone to do it. And you’re gonna need a lot of care, Mr. Nowak.”
I tap my claw once against his Adam’s apple. Then I reach inside him with my magic and crush his C5 vertebra.
There’s a reason other magi fear Earth-witches.
Leaving him gasping, sobbing weakly, I stand and turn.
Charlie, Gabe, and Darwin are standing behind me.
I swallow hard, my breath hitching. “Your dad okay?” I ask Darwin.
He nods. “The Darkswerds are protecting him until he wakes.”
“I’m glad.” My hands start shaking and I clasp them together in front of me.
“Teddy—” Gabe reaches for my elbow but I flinch back.
“You saw what I just did.”
“I saw you fight back, bean,” Charlie says. “I saw you make the world safer. Brighter. Better. And I’ve never been prouder to call you my girl than I am in this moment.”
He strides forward and gathers me into his chest.
The tears break free and I cry into his neck. Gabe and Darwin huddle around us, stroking my arms and back, gripping my hands, murmuring reassurances.
