“They are not yours to take.” When she turns, her fire drops as well, and in its place is another beautiful woman.
“What are you?” The words leave my mouth before I can even stop them.
“You do not know? Is your world really lost?” the one who stopped the other asks.
Patrick growls and shakes his head. Then I feel him shifting, so I pull my hand away. All four ladies turn to him, none of them on fire any longer. They each stand there with beautiful violet hair and skin that’s delicate and smooth, the scaliness of before now gone, and in their place the most breathtaking women I have ever seen. If they weren’t moving, you would swear they are porcelain dolls.
We watch as Patrick shifts. It takes a while, but when he’s back, he stands beside us very much naked.
“Our world isn’t lost,” Patrick says, then his warm eyes turn to face me. “She will save it.”
The one with the injured shoulder sneers at Patrick’s words.
“She is nothing but a witch. Her powers are useless here.”
“What is your name?” I ask, and she rolls her eyes.
“Cinitta, but I only grant you my name because I know I will kill you.”
“Cinitta…” I let it roll off my tongue. “I’ve read about you,” I tell her. Her eyes go wide as I search my mind for that story. I know it, and her name was in the book. “Your mother was a fire witch, and your father a fairy. It’s why you are able to change appearances.” I recall the words in my mind. “She had four children… all girls. And because those species shouldn’t have been mixed, because the fairies were all killed, your mother took you all to the Viper Forest and made a deal with the Viper King.”
Cinitta stares at me, a mixture of shock and what looks to be sadness in her eyes.
“You dare speak of her.” She comes toward me, her knife still in her hand. I flick my eyes to it, then back to her. Her long hair floats behind her like a waterfall as she moves faster until she is almost in front of me. Lifting the knife and taking aim, I remove my hand from my sister’s and block her, hitting the arm that holds the knife. I push against her chest until she falls backward. It all happens so fast that when she stands and comes back at me a second time, she manages to cut my arm, just slightly, before my sister delivers a kick straight to her chest, knocking her to the ground on her ass.
“We didn’t come here to harm you,” I tell her again.
Patrick lifts my hand and inspects the cut.
“It’s not deep.”
“Sister.”
Cinitta stands, her eyes furious as she looks at us.
“Sister.”
Cinitta finally turns to look at her sisters.
“Let them be.”
I can see the fire starting to gather around her now that the cut in her shoulder has healed.
“She drew blood from me.”
“Let them be.” The other sister touches her through her fire.
Cinitta turns back to us. “I should kill you, rip your head from your body for daring to speak of my mother.” She takes a breath. “You don’t let mention of her fall from your lips again.”
They all turn in unison and we watch as they start to walk off.
Cinitta looks over her shoulder, staring right into my eyes before she speaks. “We will be watching, and when the opportunity strikes, there will be no prophecy anymore.”
No one speaks until they are well out of sight.
Chapter Thirteen
We don’t wait around after the four women leave. Patrick manages to dress in what we packed for him, before we are on our way again.
“I haven’t seen anything like that before,” Tatiana whispers as we walk. The forest is also unlike anything we have seen before. From the outside, it seems dark, dangerous, and once on the inside, its beauty will deceive you in ways that will kill you.
I wonder if the Viper has made it that way.
“What do we know of him, really?” I ask, looking between Patrick and my sister.
They exchange a glance before shrugging.
“Only what we are told as children. That this is the place you go to die, and no one has ever ventured in here and lived. Well, no one I have ever heard about,” Patrick says.
“They were fire witches,” Tatiana says, still musing about the four women.
“And fairies,” Patrick finishes.
“How can that be?” Tatiana asks.
“I guess it will be the same when you and John have kids. Part wolf… part witch,” Patrick says, which makes my sister stop and her eyes turn hard.
“I am not having kids. Bringing kids into this world is selfish and stupid,” she spits.
“John is destined to have kids,” Patrick says, completely indifferent, not noticing that we have stopped as he keeps walking.