Something about her gloating statement caught me off guard. “Wait. What makes you think he’s my sweetheart?”
Her laugh was musical, like the tinkling of breaking glass. “I knew from the moment I touched ye that you’d received a Calling. It was delicious, really. Though it negated all the effort I’d gone to in conjuring a vision o’ the crown prince and planting the enspelled sketch in Grace Lockhart’s journal for Mackenna to find. I no longer needed young James’s beautiful face ta lure her to take the journal over the bridge. The power of the Calling did all that for me. You did all that for me.” Her focus shifted back to Jamie as she stalked toward him. “And o’ course Gideon’s eyes were an invaluable tool. I just wish he’d been able to find the journal sooner. ’Twas a truly brilliant hiding place, Veronica. But ’tis no matter now.” She laughed as she waved her hand in a dismissive motion.
My mind tumbled back to all the times I’d caught Gideon lurking in the shadows, and wondered how often the guard—or rather Addie—had been watching us over the past weeks.
The witch moved to Jamie’s side and ran her fingers through the layers of his hair. “Your prince and I get on quite well. A pity we don’t have more time.”
Speaking of time, I knew the long-winded explanations were her way of trying to run out the game clock. I needed to make my move. As I glared at the lazy movement of her hand, a reflection on her finger caught the candlelight. She wore a ring almost identical to the Rings of Aontacht in size and shape but with a flat black stone. Was it a source of power, like Gracie and Cameron’s rings? Or merely a benign piece of jewelry? I’d almost inched to Jamie’s other side when I noticed his eyes following me.
“A pity one so lovely has ta be destroyed.” She ran one long violet fingernail down the strong lines of Jamie’s immobile face.
I ground my teeth together, my blood boiling hotter every time she touched him. “Maybe he doesn’t.”
The words slipped out before I could stop them. I had no plan. No reason for her to change her mind. But there had to be some way, some bargain I could make—in exchange for Jamie’s life. “Have to be destroyed, I mean … We could make a deal.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “I’m the most powerful witch in my line, fer generations! What could one little girl possibly have ta offer me?”
With a calming breath, I tried to place myself in her black soul, to figure out what dark thing the witch might crave—that I could provide in the next thirty minutes. Would she want the ring now that I’d brought it back across the bridge? Probably not. If Doon’s sacred rings were any use to her, other than a host for her parasitic spells, she would’ve exploited them by now. Instead, she’d planted them for Kenna and me to find. But there had to be something else.
I watched as she stared at Jamie hungrily, like she might devour him to the bone. She ignored me, disregarding my presence as if I was no match for her power and therefore no threat. Her arrogance was a weakness that I might be able to use.
Adrenaline rolled through my body as I considered the odds of taking her out the old-fashioned way. She moved to light another candle, and I saw my chance. Clenching my fists, I hurtled toward her back.
With a mumbled word and a flick of her wrist, she propelled me through the air as if I were nothing more than a feather. But I landed like a boulder. My head bounced on the concrete floor and I struggled against the blackness that threatened to swallow me.
Addie’s dark form knelt over me and she shook her head from side to side. The curtain of her loose hair cast her face in unearthly shadow, transforming her into a faceless specter.
Brushing my bangs almost lovingly off my face, she intoned, “You stupid, stupid girl. Did ye think you could best me that easily?”