Read Speak (Witches & Warlocks Book 1) Online
Authors: R. M. Webb
Lucy’s arsenic and cream voice stops his descent. “I have just one question.” Lucy steps forward, trailing one cold finger across the back of my neck. I shiver and wrap my arms around my middle. “What did you stand to gain by pretending to love this girl?”
Luke’s voice is rough when he answers. “I never said I was pretending.”
My heart leaps in my chest. “So you didn’t stand to gain anything but the girl?” Lucy pressed the tip of her blood-red fingernail into my chin, tilting my face to hers.
“You know what I stood to gain.”
“Oh, I think I know, but I’m not sure everyone else recognizes what we’re looking at here.” She lowers her face until her eyes are level with mine. They’re such a light blue they’re almost silver and I fight a shiver as I stare into them. “Please,” says Lucy, turning her face to the audience, “what is it you stand to gain by winning the girl?”
“Power. I stand to gain power.”
A wicked smile twists Lucy’s lips and she returns her gaze to me. “Oh, yes. Power just
rolls
off her, doesn’t it?” She stands and returns to her post behind me. “Thank you, Mr. Abernathy.”
Used. That’s all I am. Nothing about me, my wants and desires, my thoughts and ideas, nothing about what actually makes me
me
is worth anything to anyone. It’s all about what I can bring to them. This power. My magic. The rest of the summit passes in a blur of me doing my damndest to keep from losing myself to my anger. ‘Cause I kinda feel like I could get all kinds of bitter and hateful. And when that happens, I tend to lose control of my power and I’m not in the mood to have my magic flare up and kill anyone else, thank you very much.
Apparently the woman and the old man left standing that night at the theater were a vampire and a shifter. Go figure. They’re both called on to speak and totally corroborate Noah’s story. Turns out, only witches can see remnants, and therefore, somehow, the shifter and the vampire couldn’t see whether my magic was dark or light. They describe the whirling winds and the exploding lights, but it looks like I’m still in the clear. The only person who could have outed me was Noah and he’s already put his neck on the line by lying about what he saw. There’s no doubt in my mind that’s what happened. When he looked at me and told Daya that he only saw me use white magic, there was too much … something … in his eyes. Intensity? Who knows, but whatever it was, he was sending me a message.
So, I guess, at this point, the question is what now? There isn’t anyone else they can question about that night. No one who could step forward and out me as being able to use both white and black magic. So, now what? We all go home and call it a night? Except I’m a loose cannon, capable of killing a huge group of people if I get too upset and I have no home to go to because I’ll be fine if I never see Becca again.
Hell, you know what? I’ll be happy to go back to being invisible. Zoe Tate, the girl who can’t speak.
And of course, now, my senses go ahead and light themselves on fire and I see what looks like thousands of eyes gleaming in front of me. Staring at me. Of course there’s the buzzing lights, someone having a conversation outside in the hallway. I catch the corner of the room with my peripheral vision and it smells like the hotel is battling mold.
It’s all too much. I can’t handle this. I’ve killed people. I’m a killer. Nothing I know about anything is true. I can’t trust anyone, myself included. My stomach lurches, I think I’m going to vomit. I’m scared. Oh, so scared. And I’m alone. I’m going to have to do this all by myself and I don’t think I can trust myself to do it right. My hands and my lips are tingling and I can’t catch my breath.
Just as the world starts to spin and collapse in on itself, just as my vision fades, and shrinks, just before I pass out and make a big scene up here on this stage in front of all these people, the air beside me shimmers and my tiger appears. She rests her great head in my lap and wraps her tail around her and rests it on her front paws. Her blue eyes hit mine and yank me back from the brink of unconsciousness.
The oh so quiet audience isn’t so quiet anymore. There are murmurs and the sounds of people shifting in their chairs. Daya walks around and stands in front of me, watches me scratch between the tiger’s ears. “Is that yours?” Her voice is filled with awe and doubt.
Shit. More accidental magic. “Ya.” I meet Daya’s eyes for a fraction of a second but don’t have the strength to maintain eye contact. I just want to curl up in a tight little ball, stick my fingers in my ears, and hum until they all go away. “I’m sorry, I got nervous. I didn’t mean to summon her.”
Daya looks back at Albert and Lucy and then turns out to face the audience. “Tigers belong to white witches.” Many heads are nodding. “We have all the proof we need.”
“But white magic doesn’t kill!” Someone, I can’t see who, shouts from the audience.
Daya lifts her eyebrows and the audience goes ridiculously quiet. Apparently, speaking out of turn at a summit is highly frowned upon. “No,” Daya draws out the word, “but black magic doesn’t summon tigers.” She glances behind me again, towards Albert and Lucy. “I suggest,” she continues, maintaining eye contact with the two behind me, “that we keep Zoe at Windsor Manor, teach her, guide her, understand her. As Mr. Abernathy suggests, I suspect she’s quite powerful. It’d be a shame to kill her and waste a chance to learn more about her magic.”
Lucy and Albert leave their posts behind me and stand beside Daya. Lucy turns and unleashes her wicked smile in my direction. “I’d love a chance to learn more about Zoe’s magic.” Her words are harmless, but her demeanor is sinister and I personally would love it if I never had to look at Lucy again. “I will support your plan.”
The women turn to Albert. He takes a deep breath and his gaze roams my face, drops to the tiger and I don’t like what I see. I see judgement and doubt. “I have my reservations,” he says, and clenches his jaw tight. “How can we be sure she won’t lose control?”
“We can’t.” Daya’s rough voice scratches out across the room. “But we can keep a close watch and dole out judgement swiftly if she becomes dangerous.” Lucy beams at me, her too white teeth glistening while Albert considers.
With a tight breath, he closes his eyes and tightens his lips into a thin line. “Who will stand for her? Guide her?” he asks, turning to face the audience.
Noah stands without pause. “I stand for her. I will guide her. I take responsibility.”
All three of the leaders on the stage with me nod their approval. “And who seconds?” Lucy’s calm voice rings out across the silent ballroom. The ballroom continues to remain silent. No one else will speak for me. Why would they? I am nothing. Useless. A broken toy with sharp edges, too dangerous to leave out because it’s likely someone will get hurt.
Albert looks … pleased? Is that the word? Satisfied? And here I’d thought that he was the one on my side. Lucy and Daya exchange a look of mild disappointment. With a light shrug of her shoulders, Daya shakes her head. “Ok, then. If no one will second, then we’ll have to decide on judgement.” She takes a deep breath and I think my heart stops, so afraid of what she might say next.
“Wait!” A gravelly voice echoes throughout the ballroom and another rustle of movement ripples through those gathered as they spin in their seats. My heart might have stopped just a moment ago but now it’s beating hard enough for me to hear. I know that voice. That voice that’s so deep and strong, rough and beast like. I know what it sounds like when my ear is pressed to its owner’s chest. I know what it sounds like when it’s taunting me over video games. I know what it sounds like when the owner is talking with his mouth full.
It’s Luke. The guy I almost love, the guy I trusted for the last several weeks, the guy who only started hanging out with me because of the power I could bring him.
“I second.” Luke unfolds himself from his chair, a lone man standing in front of a sea of upturned faces. “Give her to Noah, as long as he promises to care for her as if his life depends on it.” Luke faces Noah’s general direction. “Because it does.”
And apparently, that decides it. I’m ushered off the stage, rough hands grasping my arms and moving almost too quickly for me to keep up. I’m not sure why they’re being so forceful with me. Am I still captive?
The tiger roars and paces and bares her teeth before fading away, her tail swishing as she watches me. There’s a surge of conversation as those gathered finally speak. Luke’s calling my name over and over and over and he’s so frantic, I want to get to him but the guards are pulling me in the wrong direction. I fight and I thrash, trying to find him, trying to see him but the more I fight, the tighter the hands on my arms get and the harder they drag me away.
“Luke!” In my moment of need, all I want is him. Maybe it’s because he’s calling for me, maybe because I have a spell on me to make me feel that way, maybe it’s because I’m out of control, being forcibly removed from the room before I can speak to him, whatever the reason, I want his arms around me, I want to feel safe buried against his powerful chest.
Just as we get to the door, he bursts through the throngs of people. “Wait goddamn it!” And for some reason the guards obey. We draw to a stop and turn and face Luke but they don’t let go of my arms.
I want him to race up to me and wrap me up and tell me it’s going to be ok. Promise me that he’ll find a way to take care of me. He doesn’t do that. He stands a few feet away from me, his arms crossed over his chest. “I’m sorry,” is all he says. I guess I should have known better. I’ve been alone in this the whole time anyway.
I have nothing to say, or too many things to say, so I just say nothing at all. Noah plows through the crowd and comes to stand beside me. I don’t know what it is about him, but his proximity does make me feel better. Maybe I’m not so alone after all.
Luke closes his eyes and shakes his head. When he opens them, they glow faintly red and I make a tiny little choking sound before I gain control of myself. “You take care of her,” Luke says to Noah, his eyes slowly returning to normal. “Understand?”
“She’ll be better cared for than she has in all her life.” Noah places a hand on the small of my back and I kinda just want to melt into him. The kindness in his voice, the strength I feel in his touch, it’s everything I need right now. He turns to the men who are bruising my arms. “We have a car waiting outside. I’ll take her from here.”
I totally don’t expect the guards to listen, but they do. My arms throb, reminding me exactly where they had their hands on me. I rub them and kind of sag into Noah who spares Luke one last look before escorting me out of the ballroom and then out of the hotel. Our car is waiting by the door and we manage to get in without any trouble despite the looks we’re getting from all the gathered witches, vampires, and shifters.
As soon as the doors close and we’re hidden behind the darkly tinted windows, I rest my head on Noah’s shoulders and let out a shuddering sigh. I’m not ready to speak and he seems to get that. Or maybe he just has nothing to say. I’m not sure.
He does wrap an arm around me and that feels good.
So this is what it’s come to. I’m Zoe Tate, and I’m a witch. When I speak bad things happen. Maybe good things, too, but I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. I’m apparently very powerful and useful, but not worth enough for anyone to care about. At least not the people I’ve let myself care about. I snuggle deeper into Noah’s shoulder as we turn a corner and Windsor Manor looms in front of us, visible through the front window. He pulls me even closer, runs a hand through my hair and kisses the top of my head.
“I’ve got you, Zoe. I know exactly what you are and exactly how to help. Trust me and everything’s going to be ok.”
I pull out of his arms so I can look him in the eyes and I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but I completely believe him.
********
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Books by R. M. Webb
Witches and Warlocks series:
Whisper – coming soon!
Immortal Memories series:
Reclaimed – coming soon!
Also in the Immortal Memories Universe:
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