Totally Married (A Riddler's Edge Cozy Mystery #10) by Albright A.A

Author:Albright, A.A.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-12-25T00:00:00+00:00

16. The Snow Woman

As Finvarra’s image disappeared, I looked all around me, but couldn’t see a thing, until suddenly a nearby mound of snow began to move.

Melissa immediately sent a freezing spell its way, and yet the mound kept moving until it was upright.

The mound shook itself out, shaking off all of the snow. But underneath, it was still white – powder-whitened hair, make-up whitened face, snow-white clothes, bag, compound bow, arrows and quiver, all painted white.

But I’d known that stance for quite a while now, and the argumentative glint in the eyes was unmistakable.

‘Hello, Hilda,’ I said.

‘Oh, hello, Aisling,’ she replied. ‘Did you see my flowers? I did a good job, didn’t I?’

‘I … what?’ I looked at her in shock. ‘Hilda, we’ve all been tracking you for hours. People think you’ve planted a bomb at my wedding.’

Her eyes widened, and then she said, ‘Hm. Well, yes, I suppose that makes sense, doesn’t it? I’ve certainly not made things easy. I suppose you’ve all been using your magic to try and find me, haven’t you? Your witchy woo-woo and whatnot.’

‘Yes!’ I cried. ‘Yes, we have.’

Hilda smirked. ‘And I suppose you’ve been wondering why it’s not working.’

‘Yes!’ I cried again. ‘Yes, we have.’

Melissa nudged me and whispered, ‘I can’t freeze her, either. Or read her mind. And I definitely don’t think I’d be able to compel her, no matter how hard I tried. There’s something blocking me.’ She nodded at Hilda. ‘You’re an impressive woman, Miss Spring.’

‘Amn’t I?’ said Hilda. ‘A real high point in a town filled with lows, that’s me.’

My nose began to twitch. ‘You smell funny. Pungent.’

‘Ah.’ She grinned. ‘That’ll be why none of your jiggery pokery works on me.’ She shook a finger at Melissa. ‘I’ve created a special powder that repels all magic. And no, I won’t give you the recipe.’

I couldn’t help but give her an impressed nod. Whatever she’d covered herself with, it clearly worked. ‘Well done. There’s just one little problem with that.’ I extended a hand and said, ‘Uisce.’ Water sprayed all over her, washing off every single smear of the pungent powder. While Hilda gasped and spluttered, I placed my hands on her, sending warmth all through her and drying her out.

‘Now.’ I stood back, satisfied. ‘We can cut to the chase, finally. Hilda, why do you want to destroy my wedding?’

‘I don’t! Why would you think that?’

‘Why would I think that?’ I stared at her. ‘Why would I think that? Well, for a start, you seem to think Dylan’s got me in his thrall, and that this town is filled with witches and whatever else. You tried to stop all of us tracking you with that powder. And, oh yes, the most important thing of all – you were researching how to make a bomb!’

‘Oh. That.’ Hilda ran a gloved hand along her compound bow. ‘Well, that wasn’t so I could blow you up. That was so I could find out if a man I had my eye on was trying to blow you up.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.