Chapter 27

TWENTY-SEVEN

Tara

The six witches my mother has with her lift their hands toward us, their faces filled with amusement. I know who they are, and they're her very best soldiers. Women who have been doing Battle Magic since they were young children. Women I'd personally seen pop animals without a thought, sending their insides splattering on anyone too near.

Even now, their laughter rings in my ears.

"Move! Fast!" I shout. "Get behind the trees!"

As we all start running and diving in different directions, I hear their spells crash into nearby trees and rocks. They explode, filling the air with dust and debris, but we don't stop to watch. We keep moving. I wish I could try to use Battle Magic on the witches, but I had a clear shot before, and a target that wasn't expecting it. Neither of those things are true now.

The witches don't falter, chasing after us. They don't run, but they don't need to. All they need to do is get a clear shot. Then, it'll be over. The men shift as they move, changing from men to animals in an instant. But to my surprise, the instant they do, they circle round the witches, coming at them from behind. Too fast for the women to follow in human form.

I'm still moving fast, trying to take cover, but I also try to keep sight of my men. Garrick knocks a woman to the ground. She screams, a terrible sound, and then the scream gurgles into silence. Arlys, Rinan, and Drogo are battling with their own witches, having to be careful as other witches close in on them from behind. But they seem aware. Arlys actually leaps out of the way when a spell comes his way, and it hits another witch, making her scream in pain.

The rocky mountainside erupts in a symphony of shouts and growls. Claws flash in the air, spells collide, and bodies fly through the air. I stand there in shock for a moment, watching the chaos unfold, unsure what to do. I'm not an animal. If I get close enough, my reflexes aren't good enough to escape the way my men can.

Except, I still want to help.

A powerful spell hits Arlys square in the chest, sending him flying backwards into a tree trunk with a loud thud. He falls to the ground with a whimper. I want to run to him, but my mother is suddenly in front of me, sending a spell my way.

I duck the attack, breathing hard, staring at my mother, knowing I have to give her my full attention. I know just how dangerous she can be against an enemy. And I'm an enemy now.

"You're really going to do this?" I ask her, panting.

She glares. "You did this to yourself, by being a failure."

Behind her, there's motion. Drogo bites a witch's wrist. Hard. My eyes widen as she screams in pain, blood dripping down her arm.

"You filthy dog!" she shouts, her words hoarse.

Recovering quickly, Arlys is on her before she can say another word. But there are four more witches to contend with. I hear my mother speak the word "hole," and I leap out of the way just as a hole opens up in the ground where I'd been standing.

"Ice." Daggers of ice shoot in my direction. I drop to the ground and roll away from them. Then I crouch, alert.

Missing their target, they jam into a tree, sticking through it. The look deadly and sharp, which confuses me. They don't seem to just want to kill us. They're trying to torture us first. To play with us.

Otherwise, they'd be using the most dangerous kinds of Battle Magic.

"Look at how you can't help your precious men, Tara. You have no skills at all," my mother calls out, laughing. She follows her taunt with a single word. "Wind."

Powerful wind comes gushing at me, whipping my hair around my head for half a second before it grows in power, sending me flying back. I tumble head over foot, continuing for so long that I think I'll never stop, before I finally do. Panting, I lift my gaze to my mother, feeling sore and confused, but knowing my mother's too dangerous to keep my eyes off of her.

I find her slowly walking toward me. She's casual, like this is just another day in the castle. But there's just something in her expression. Something I've seen too many times before but never understood. She's enjoying this.

A thousand moments come to mind. Moments throughout my childhood when she'd hurt me. I'd thought she'd only hurt me as some desperate measure to teach me, to teach her idiot daughter, but I don't think it was ever about teaching me. I think it was about her sick pleasure from causing me pain.

Is that why she's such a good Battle Mage? Because she likes hurting others? The thoughts change something inside of me. They change the way I view my mom. And it feels like something just clicks in my soul.

"You like hurting me!" I shout at her.

She freezes, then smiles. "Of course I do."

"You're not some big, bad Battle Witch, you're a sadistic piece of shit that likes to hurt people. That's all you are, a coward who likes to cause people pain. Not a warrior. Not a worthy leader of your people."

She cocks her head, anger in her eyes. "Fall."

As my body starts flying back, over the edge of the cliff, I grab onto the branch of a tree and hold on for dear life. Her powers pull, tug at me, but I know if I let go, I'm dead. My fingers start slipping. My arms burn. Glancing down, I see nothing but clouds. Nothing to catch my fall. I want to scream for my men, but they can't help me. They have their own battles to survive.

And then the pulling stops.

Using my grip on the branch, I swing myself back onto the edge of the cliff, then inch away from it, watching my mother's angry expression. She's stronger than me. More powerful than me. When she gets bored of this little game, she'll end it.

"Do our people know? Do they know what a monster you are?"

For the first time, I think of my people and the way they reacted to her orders. To her punishments. They were rarely happy to be part of it. Instead, they'd flinch. They'd look away. Even the ones that were happy to see her always had an edge of nervousness. Were they always just scared of my mother too?

"I may be a monster, but I'm also a hero. A hero to the fucking witches! The woman to finally take down the shifters. Now, burn!" my mother yells.

I jump to one side as fire shoots out at me. It grazes my shoulder, and I fight the urge to scream as it burns into my flesh. Instead, I scramble away from the edge of the cliff, barely avoiding getting burned again as she sends more fire at me.

But I can't keep this up forever. My mother's spells are powerful, and she is relentless. She's a warrior, even if she's a shitty person.

I hear noise. My men's whimpering. Sounds of pain. They're outnumbered against powerful Battle Witches. I have to do something. I have to have faith.

Circling slowly around, my mother matches my movements, even though she looks amused rather than nervous. I keep going until I get her where I want her, and then I stop, staring at the cocky look on her face.

Lifting a hand, I point it at my mom. "You were a terrible mother. I deserved better than you."

She throws her head back and laughs. "Look at you. What are you going to do, grow a flower? Twist some metal? You really think you can defeat me with your magic ?" She emphasizes the word "magic" and laughs again. Like the idea of me doing magic is ridiculous.

But I can do magic. I am a good witch. I am… good.

Every insult she's ever thrown my way comes to mind. Every beating. Every time she embarrassed me in front of the coven. Every time she did worse in private.

I glance at her necklace. "Tighten," I whisper, feeling the word vibrate with power.

My mother's eyes grow wide with terror. The chain tightens around her neck until blood begins to run from it. A lot of blood. It slides down her flesh and soaks her clothes. She claws at her neck, her expression one of horror, as she stumbles back wildly. But it does no good.

"Slice," I whisper, feeling the metal already lodged deeply in her neck.

A vacant look passes over her face, and her head begins to slide off her body as she falls off the edge of the cliff, her hair and clothes billowing in the wind as she disappears from sight. I rush to the cliff and look over, seeing nothing but the clouds and the air.

"I guess you were wrong. I could defeat you with my magic," I say into the silence.