home some time ago,” the witch murmured. She leaned across the small aisle and took Imp’s fingers in hers. The act seemed to calm her and she continued on with her story. “I demand total devotion from my doctors. From those who mean something to me.” She nodded toward the strange creature across from her. “Like Imp. You would never betray me, would you, my lovely?”
“Never,” Imp said. “I love you above all else.”
“Yes. You do. But Gunnar…he began slipping around with a kitchen maid. A kitchen maid!” She shook her head and gave a sharp laugh that still held, even after all the time that had passed, total disbelief. “I noticed he was slacking in his work and neglecting everything. Especially me. I had him followed and when his duplicity was discovered, I dealt with both him and his little whore.”
“Dawn,” Rune whispered.
“Had he been merely satisfying his physical desires, I would have overlooked it. I had women sent to him regularly. But he fell in love.”
Damascus jerked away from Imp and began gnashing her teeth and beating her own legs with her fists.
Rune decided right then and there she would never, ever hit herself again.
Damascus wasn’t just a cruel, evil soul eater. She was insane.
“People have been plotting to end me for centuries,” Damascus continued eventually, as though her little fit had never occurred. “You were the biggest—and best—hope at success.” She peered at Rune. “But they underestimated you, didn’t they? You think for yourself.” She opened her arms. “You want nothing more than a mother. And here I am.”
Rune clenched her fists. She was face to face with the most vicious villain the worlds had ever known.
She had a job to do.
But she had to bide her time. Damascus was in control.
So she said nothing.
Blood ties. Roots. A beginning—even if it was a fucked-up, obnoxious beginning built on lies, cunning, and betrayal. Even if it was a beginning created by people who had not thought of her as an actual person.
It was all she had, and she would have to take it. At least she knew, and knowing was better than the nothing she’d had before.
Deep, deep in the depths of her mind, a tiny part of her wanted to be the witch’s daughter. Wanted to be loved by any mother, no matter how horrible she was.
The witch had saved her from the crawlers.
She could have left her to suffer a fate much worse than death, but she hadn’t.
No one else had come to help. Not Brasque Dray, or Gunnar, or the fucking Mother Skyll. No one.
Just the witch.
“I would rather be your mother than your enemy.” Damascus stared at her from eyes as clear and blue as Rune’s. “It’s your choice.”
But it wasn’t.
Rune let the cup fall to the floor of the carriage, her mind churning with thoughts she couldn’t sort.
Damascus squeezed her arm. “I don’t want to destroy you. I want you to rule with me. I want you to thrive. I want to fill you with power.” Her voice was soft, sincere. “Most of all I want to give you a family. Let me take you home.”
Home.
Home.
“Okay,” Rune murmured, finally.
She’d be the witch’s daughter.
But just for a little while.
Right then, she had no other choice.
Chapter Thirty-Five
They stood before the castle, and Damascus made a sweeping gesture. “Welcome to my home, Rune.” Then she shook her head. “Welcome to our home.”
The castle looked like something out of a fairytale. A very dark, grim fairytale.
Mist swirled around it, lighter gray than the cool morning. She shivered and rubbed her arms through the long, thick cloak Damascus had given her before they stepped from the carriage.
Before she’d been taken by the crawlers it had been so hot she could barely breathe through it, but right then the day was frosty cold. It was like she’d been held by the crawlers for an entire season. “How long did the crawlers hold me?”
“Three nights, I believe,” Damascus replied. She looked at the creature standing quietly at her side. “Isn’t that right, Imp?”
“Yes, my witch.”
Satisfied, the witch continued. “Word came to me that you’d disappeared and…” She smiled. “I was the one lucky enough to find you.”
Lucky. Right.
More likely the witch had sent the crawlers to grab her in the first place.
“Yeah,” Rune said.
Damascus grinned and took Rune’s arm. “Come inside and get warm.”
“Are there crawlers in all the shimmers?” She had to force herself not to jerk away from the witch’s strong grip.