Chapter 4

The groundskeepers dragged me out of the house and across the wet lawn, towards the ancient oak tree that stood at the edge of the property. Its branches were like skeletal arms reaching for the darkening sky.

This was the tree where the first Blakely made his pact with my predecessor. A place of power. A place of promises.

Now, it was to be a place of punishment.

Ethan followed, his face a mask of cold fury. Maria trailed behind him, clinging to his arm, her expression one of feigned concern.

"Ethan, maybe this is too much," she murmured, just loud enough for me to hear. "She's still your wife."

"She stopped being my wife when she tried to harm our child," he bit out, not looking at her.

He was completely under her spell. He believed her lies, every single one. The most poisonous lie of all was the one she had told him about the night he almost died.

Three years ago, a business rival had poisoned him. I found him near death, collapsed in the swamp. I spent three days and three nights by his side, using my own life force, my Loa essence, to brew ancient Voodoo potions and perform rituals that pulled him back from the brink. The effort drained me, leaving me weak and barren, a secret I had kept to protect him from the knowledge of the dark world that surrounded him.

But Maria had twisted that truth.

She and Brother Rufus concocted a new story. They claimed it was she who had found Ethan. That she had saved him with her "blessed" blood and fervent prayers. A miracle from God.

"Do you remember three years ago, Jocelyn?" Ethan sneered as the men tied my wrists to a low-hanging branch. "When I was poisoned? I thought it was you who saved me. I was a fool."

I stared at him, my heart a cold, dead weight in my chest. "Ethan, that was me. I used my..."

"Lies!" he shouted, his voice cracking. "It was Maria! She found me. She prayed over me. She saved my life! While you did nothing!"

Maria stepped forward, her eyes brimming with false tears. "I didn't want any credit, Ethan. I did it out of love for you. I told you we were just friends then, and I meant it. But my heart knew. God sent me to you."

The lie was so audacious, so complete, it was almost impressive. She had stolen my greatest sacrifice and turned it into her own holy miracle.

I looked at her, and for the first time, I used a sliver of my returning power. I opened my Loa sight, just for a second, and looked past her flesh, into her soul. I saw the rot inside her, the web of deceit she had spun. And I saw something else. I saw the truth of her "blessed" pregnancy. There was no child. It was a lie, a phantom pregnancy induced by drugs and suggestion, a tool to secure her place in the Blakely dynasty.

"You will pay for this," I said, my voice low and steady. I wasn't speaking to Ethan anymore. I was speaking to her. "You invoke powers you don't understand. You claim a holiness you do not possess. Your lie will bring a curse upon this house and upon your own bloodline, for generations to come."

My prophecy only fueled Ethan's rage. "You dare threaten her? You witch!"

He turned to one of the groundskeepers. "Get the strap," he commanded. "The one from the old stables."

A flicker of doubt crossed Ethan's face, a brief moment of hesitation. But Maria clutched his arm tighter. "She's trying to scare us, darling. Don't listen to her evil words."

His jaw tightened. The doubt vanished, replaced by cold resolve.

"Ninety-nine times," he said, his voice devoid of all emotion. "One for every promise I made to her. Let's see how holy she feels after that."

I closed my eyes and let out a laugh, a sound that was half-madness, half-despair. He was going to whip me with the same number of lashes as the vows he had broken. The poetry of his cruelty was not lost on me.

The punishment was about to begin. And with it, my release.