A Lying Witch Book Four

anyone. Doing so would activate it in full. But, hey, I didn’t need to fear that anymore. McCain was out there, and I was rapidly running out of time. I pushed to my feet, locking a hand on the chair for support. Though, to be honest, I didn’t need it. My anger was enough to cut through the nausea and waves of pain that kept crashing against me like a swell from a storm. “My family are cursed. The McLane women have always been cursed. It was some time hundreds of years ago, back in Scotland. One of my forebears, Mary McLane, was a seer. She was…” I trailed off, “in love with Max McCain,” I said uncomfortably, shuddering at the memory of how Mary had felt for him. That vision had been so sharp that I’d been able to feel every single time her heart had beat for him. The wash of sweat that had slipped over her brow at the prospect that he wouldn’t give up his magic, at the prospect that he was twisting further and further away from her.

I shook the memory from my mind and clenched my teeth harder. “He was some kind of sorcerer king. And she was helping him, I think. But his powers became too much for him, started to cost him everything, and she….” I had to clench my teeth now as I fought to push the words out. “She lied, tried to stop him. In return, he cursed her and the rest of my family. I don’t really understand why, but he was waiting for a seer, somebody like me. Somebody he could control to bring his twisted future to life.” I stumbled over my words, recounting the tale with such clumsiness, it was a surprise any of them understood.

Bridgette looked pale, even paler than her massive blood loss would account for. As for Sarah, I’d never seen her looking grimmer.

I swallowed and continued, “The curse apparently stops us McLane seers from lying. If we do,” I looked down at my hands and gave a dour chuckle, “we pay the price. When I first met Max, he told me turning from my powers – or worse, using them to see the future and then lying about them – would cost me everything. Would cost me my life,” I said through a false, fake smile as I kept staring at my hands. “It was all an act. I didn’t know yet that he was being controlled by McCain. McCain was using him to ensure I kept following my powers, kept calling on them so they would cost me my future.”

I watched Bridgette share a look with Sarah. Both of them were frowning.

I chuckled. “The more I think about it, the more I realize there never was a curse. It was always Max.” I cast my mind back to the incident with the pixie. Could I be sure that pixie had come after me of its own accord? For all I knew, the shadow could have called it. And heck, after my first vision in the bathtub, I’d come down the stairs to find Max on the phone to someone, and I’d never figured out who that person was.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized it could have been Fagan. McCain could have been setting me up for another fall.

I let out another hardened chuckle as I continued to stare at my hands.

“Hold on, that doesn’t make any sense,” Sarah interrupted.

I looked up at her, a pronounced frown spreading across my face. “What are you talking about?”

“If McCain was pressuring you into using your powers so he could ultimately control you, why would he care about you lying?” Sarah Anne said. She frowned at me.

I opened my mouth to reply, but couldn’t think of a thing to say.

Bridgette was still pushed up on her elbows. “Sarah, get to the point.”

“If McCain was only interested in you developing your powers so he could ultimately control you, then it wouldn’t matter if you tried to lie – you wouldn’t be able to.”

I looked between both of them in turn and shook my head. “You don’t get it. The incident with Mary, my forebear, it twisted McCain. He hated her. Every time I mention it, it sets him off.”

“It’s gotta be something more,” Sarah said. “Why would he specifically write that clause into your contract if it was just because he was pissed off at this Mary?”

I opened my mouth, ready to defend myself, but I stopped. “What do you mean?” I asked quietly in such a careful voice it was almost as if I were scared they’d snap at me. But that wasn’t the particular fear that squirmed through my gut. No, it was that I’d missed something. Missed something key.

“How much do we really know about your powers?” Bridgette asked as she remained there, propped on her elbows. “I mean, you said yourself that every time you use them, especially if you use them frequently, they control your actions. Do you know if that’s it?” Bridgette asked.

A kick of true fear sailed through my stomach. “What do you mean?” I said in a shaking voice.

“I mean, are you sure that’s the extent of your powers?”

“What?”

“It’s not unusual for witches to have more than one set of powers, especially the truly powerful ones,” Sarah explained. “What we’re asking is are you sure seeing the future is your only ability?”

I stood there with my hands still locked on the back of the chair, my body rocking back and forth. It wasn’t because my injuries were finally getting to me. Nope, it was what they were suggesting. Max had mentioned before that I might have other abilities that hadn’t come to fruition yet. And McCain had mentioned it, too. In fact, that was the crux of why he’d had to wait