Page 72 of How to Woo the Undead

“I honestly think it’s for best that you don’t,” Agatha sighed. “Greggory says grove witches draw power from their trees. The closer to the tree you are, the more powerful you may be, but that power is Sabine’s. Because that’shertree. Not yours.”

“Hmm,” Hyacinth hummed, nodding along like she was thinking hard on something. He watched her, throwing food into his mouth to clear off the plate, hoping she’d clue him into the puzzle. But, when she sighed and shook her head, he knew she wasn’t ready to share with the class. Her gaze dropped to him and her lips instantly curled into a warm smile. It made his heart flutter. “You wouldn’t happen to be part tree, would you?”

“Notcurrently,” Austin swallowed hard. “Was…was that sarcasm?”

Her eyes widened with delight. “Was it? Was I sarcastic just then?”

“I think you were.”

Hyacinth pumped her arms up and down in the air with a victorious hiss, “Yes!”

Agatha chortled. “You two are so delightfully strange. Alright, up with both of you. I was to drag you both upstairs and get you to bed for some more rest. Up-up-up!”

Austin licked his lips clean, letting Agatha float away with the dishes. When he glanced at Hyacinth, she was watching Agatha’s retreating form for a faraway, puzzled expression.She’s working on something up there.Hyacinth caught him staring and flipped right back to her usual perkiness. “Agatha would ask if you are ready?”

“Am I ready for the stairs? No,” he laughed, but climbed to his hands and knees regardless. “But yes, I am functioning.”

“Agreed,” she groaned.

Once he was back up on his feet, he offered her his arm. The pair climbed, one foot after the other, slow but steady, back to their room. Austin thankfully didn’t hear or see Sabine at all that time. But it was only a matter of time. They needed to exorcise her, and fast.

Chapter Thirty-Six:

Hyacinth

Hyacinthstaredatthemirror, unable to look away. She didn’t remember getting out of bed, but she currently stood in a fresh nightgown, hands wrapped around the frame of the mirror, eyes locked on the woman lingering on the other side. Sabine stood, dripping wet with crimson painting her mouth. Teeth filed down to sharp points, a shark’s smile curling broader on the dead woman’s face. Her eyes were deep set, nearly hollow as if she’d tried to claw them out already.

“The cleric,” Hyacinth finally asked, watching Sabine’s mouth screw up. “What happened? Why did you kill him?”

“He wouldn’t go away,” Sabine snarled, shoulders hunched. “He began to ask questions.”

“So, you killed him. You killed all of them. Why?” Hyacinth’s voice cracked in the middle helpless to tear away from the evil reflection.

“Because they’re all nutrients. They’re all food! Food for my grove, for my magic! You wouldn’t understand, you thief. You vermin, crawling around in my body. Allowing them to desiccate it and violate it with their crude spells!”She lurched forward at the glass only to slam her face against its surface. Sabine roared out in pain, and Hyacinth also felt it. Her forehead ached and she winced involuntarily. Sabine shrieked, “You are nothing but a thief!”

“I didn’t stealanything!” Hyacinth snapped, rattling the mirror.

“You! Stole! My! Body!”Sabine thrashed on her end of the mirror. The room glowed in red; the moon completely painted in blood as it trickled in through the nearby window. “I will rip you from my corpse. I will rend that pathetic creature in your bed into pieces. I will shred and tear and destroy everything in this pathetic manor, then, once I am free of this prison, I will feast on all of those in King’s Fall as penance. Starting with that meddling Lord Commander. And once I’ve slurped up his massive heart, I’ll hang his lovers from my branches and let their life force replenish my tree.”

Hyacinth finally stumbled back from the mirror. Her hands flailed out at her sides, but she fell regardless. The sudden thwack to her backside did nothing but jar her out of the trance. Peddling her feet backward, Hyacinth raced to get away from Sabine as she stepped out of the mirror. All broken and jagged edges. Thecrack-crack-crackof her bones as bowed legs stumbled forward. Her hands stretched out to her, hair falling in front of the haunted woman’s face. Sabine crawled after Hyacinth.

Panting for air, tears welling in her eyes, Hyacinth dragged herself back…back…back from the mirror till her back hit a firm surface. When she foolishly glanced over her shoulder, she found Austin in the way. He laid across the floor, splayed open and picked for parts like a vulture ripped him open. Hyacinth screamed. Hands reaching through her hair, fingers curled around her face and dragged her back toward the mirror. She fought, pulling at the digits digging into her skin. Blood dribbled onto her face. Hyacinth shrieked louder, thrashing left and right. “No! No! NO!”

“Hyacinth?”

Her forehead smacked against the bathroom mirror and Hyacinth gasped, rearing back. She stood in the washroom, wide eyed, and dripping wet. Everything from her hair to her nightgown was drenched. Not in sweat, she realized, as shespotted the bath-tub she’d filled up to the edge. Bubbles sloshed over the side like something recently wrestled in it. She could see the trail of water from where she climbed out of the basin. Hyacinth finally glanced forward.Blink, blink. The mirror was cracked.

Austin reached around her, worry etched into his face. He plucked two glass shards out of her forehead. “My flower…”

“She’s trying to take my body back,” Hyacinth murmured. Lightning cut through the darkness in the bathroom, the window to the outside illuminated in sharp white. Then it softened to a slate gray as rain pelted the side of the house.How?“It doesn’t make any sense.”

She wasn’t even sure when she woke up. The last thing she remembered was climbing the stairs, then settling into bed. She laid there, petting snuffles ontop of Austin’s chest, and then…nothing. Everything went blank. Somehow she went from deep sleep to forehead cracked against the mirror.

“Let me help,” he murmured, not answering her internal question.How?!Instead, Austin turned her around, peeling the drenched fabric back up her body. It slapped against the sink as he dropped it in the bowl. Hyacinth shivered, every inch of her terribly cold. She shuffled forward, stuffing herself into his embrace. Austin was dabbing her hair dry with a towel while she practically buried herself in his soft belly. Soaking up any warmth his body could produce; she tried to calm down her thundering heart.

“What’s different? Why couldn’t she possess me back at the temple?” She muttered to herself as Austin pulled away. Only enough to catch her wandering gaze, he smiled apologetically.He’s so tender, so kind. He’s so patient.Hyacinth cocked a brow, searching his face for more answers. “What?”

“Well, maybe there was something interrupting her? I know when Lord Rosemont is trying to animate something, if he gets interrupted or if there’s a barrier, something blocking him out, he can’t do it. So…maybe you’re blocking her?”