Page 94 of The Witch and The Cowboy
“No,” I whispered to myself, then my voice became a command. “Stop!”
I raced toward Josephine, and her bright eyes met mine. She laughed, but it sounded more like the screech of metal against metal.
“Stop?” she mocked, “you think asking nicely will do the trick?”
“I know you don’t want to do this.” I paused, only a few feet from her. Only a few feet from Freya. “You don’t want to kill her.”
Josephine frowned. “I’m not killing her. I’m keeping her.”
“Not how you planned to,” I argued.
“Plans change,” she snapped.
I held my hands up. “They don’t have to. I have a proposition for you, but you have to stop.”
Josephine hesitated, and I feared she wouldn’t listen to me after all. Then, the magic in the air stilled.
“Okay, hunter,” she purred. “Let’s hear it.”
“Fight me,” I challenged.
Josephine cackled.
“Dual me,” I continued, “and if I win, your whole army backs down. This is over. If you win, Freya’s allies will bow down, and I’ll be out of the picture. My sister will remain intact, but Freya will too. With you.”
She crossed her arms and sighed.
“Really? That was all you came up with–”
“Think about it,” I interjected. “Without me or her coven to back her, or even her familiar, Freya will be yours. She’ll have no one else to turn to.”
Arion’s powerful hooves pounded the ground in denial, but Josephine didn’t notice. She was too high on power and too enthralled with the idea of destroying me.
“You don’t really need Cadence, do you?” I pushed. “Not when you have her by your side.”
She searched the crowd for my sister with ravenous eyes. When she found Cadence—staring Josephine down with all the bravery of a warrior—her expression pained. I was asking her to give up on the thing she killed her dearest friend for, but that was also why I had a shot of convincing her. Sparing Freya was her chance of redemption. It was her chance to do something right.
Even if her version of right involved killing me.
Josephine swiveled her gaze back to mine. Her moods shifted every second, as if her body couldn’t manage its emotions on top of all the magic rushing through it.
“How do you know she’ll come back to me?” she asked fervently, “that getting you out of the picture will change her mind?”
I swallowed. “Because we’re in love.”
Gasps flooded the crowd, which I hadn’t even realized had stopped battling. They stared at us in confusion. I cleared my throat and hid my shaking hands behind my back. I couldn’t give her any reason to doubt my lies.
Are they really lies? my mind taunted. You’re about to die for her.
I shut out the thoughts. I didn’t have time for a crisis of heart.
“Losing her mom and me in such a short time?” I said and clutched my hand to my chest. “It’ll destroy her, but you will be there for her. Seeing how much you love her will prove to her what a sacrifice it was for you to cause her all this pain. And losing me, well, she’ll finally understand your grief and why your mission is so important. She’ll forgive you, and you won’t have to conquer the High Witch alone. You won’t have to be alone.”
Slowly, the story I weaved settled in. Josephine’s hand clutched her chest, and her jaw set in determination. She opened her mouth to agree to my terms, but another voice chimed in.
“The rules shall bind both of you in blood,” Gloria said. “You and the hunter will fight alone. No interferences.”
My heart skipped a beat. I didn’t actually want to give Freya over to Josephine.
