Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Rylan!” I moaned. My hands gripped the edge of the desk with each hard thrust from behind until he followed me with a hoarse groan.
“I like the way you say thank you,” I said as he rained kisses down my back.
Afterward, we got cleaned up before anyone discovered us in the potions room.
Our group exchanged gifts in the dining hall, and honestly, I couldn’t have dreamed of a better day.
All of my friends spoiled each other and my daughter.
It was like having the family she never got to experience since my own parents disowned me once I got pregnant with her all those years ago.
Lucas’s parents weren’t any better. They sent her a card with twenty bucks in it, every year until her eighteenth birthday, and that was it.
But that life was over. She had a new family.
“I loved the gift,” he said while lifting my hand to his lips.
A part of me thought Rylan wouldn’t like the photo of us in the wooden frame with stars around the edge. I’d made it for him with magic instead of my hands, but it looked pretty to me.
After opening the gift, he swallowed and asked if I’d help him get more gifts from his room, to which I agreed.
Spoiler alert, we didn’t make it to his room. He pulled me into the nearest empty classroom and fucked my brains out.
“Do we actually need to stop by your room?” I asked as we exited, a big fat smile etched onto my face.
“Yeah, but I needed—” His face froze, and he looked far off. My head turned to see what stopped him but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
“Rylan?” I waved my hand in front of his face, but he was very lost in thought or something. That glazing in his eyes that I noticed happened at least once a day. I hadn’t brought it up, but maybe he should see a doctor about it.
“Explosion in the dining hall,” he mumbled and then blinked.
“What?!”
I didn’t wait for an answer before I ran. I heard the words explosion and dining hall and that was enough for me. Piper was in the dining hall. So were Remy and Imogene, Edith, and so many others.
Just as my foot crossed into the room, a strong hand grabbed my arm, and I fell back. “Star, don’t go in there. Trust me, please. Let me save them,” Rylan pleaded and moved me away from the door.
“Piper is in there!” I yelled.
He’d be crazy to think I wouldn’t risk my life to get her. It took a grunt and a solid elbow to his gut, but I got free so I could run to my baby. If she was in trouble, I would be there.
“Remy! The bubble! NOW!” Rylan shouted from behind and I saw Remy hit something on her smart watch.
“Piper!” I called for my daughter and just as I watched her face pinch up with Edith tucked against her chest, the whole room vibrated.
A boom came from the window. I didn’t think, I moved and crashed into Piper.
As we fell to the ground, I covered her as best as I could from the glass shards while a pink bubble covered the room. Daring a look, I realized most of the shards and stone rubble were stopped by whatever the bubble’s material was, but some made it through.
I heard a few screams as people were hit. Unfortunately, I was one of the unlucky ones. “Ah!” I heard the rip of my sweater, and the stinging of my flesh being split down my back.
Piper cried beneath me, asking if I was okay, when the rumbling around us stopped. Stones hung mid-air and I heard the voice of Headmaster Sprucian.
“We have the situation under control. If you are able to move, please evacuate the dining hall in a calm manner. If you are injured, do not move. Please wait for a staff member to assist you. They are entering the hall now.”
“Mom.” Both Piper and Edith called for me, but I couldn’t open my eyes. The pain in my back… it was too much.
“Temperance! Shit, put her out!” Rylan yelled and someone was screaming nearby. Or was that me? I wasn’t sure.
Then I fell asleep.
***
My eye lids tried opening but it was a slow process. Scared as to what I’d find when I fully woke up, I started wiggling my fingers and toes just to make sure I could.
I could.
“Mom,” Piper said my name, pushing me to finish waking up and face her.
“Hey baby, P.” My voice sounded rough, and my throat felt it. What the hell happened?
Piper’s sweet face was all red and splotchy. She’d been ugly crying. My chest ached seeing her like that. I opened my arms for her, and she knew what to do.
She climbed into the hospital bed and placed her head across my chest. I didn’t feel a wink of pain when she added pressure to me, so I took that as a good sign.
My daughter shook in my arms while I saw a few familiar faces pop into view.
Remy waved and I’m pretty sure there was some redness in her eyes too. Imogene had a wine glass in her hand, perhaps for comfort, and then there was Rylan.
Once Piper relaxed, I asked if Imogene and Remy could take her to my room to get some sleep. It was late, and she looked like she needed it if the bags under eyes were anything to go by.
The nurse came over to bed and explained that glass sliced across my back. It ripped bits of skin and a muscle. But the witch healers poured a potion over my back while I was passed out and it was good as new. Well… besides the scar, but I’d take a scar over ripped muscles any day.
I’d have to stay in the hospital wing overnight but should be able to leave in the morning.
Rylan listened to the nurse while she talked about soreness when I raised my right arm, and to take things easy.
There was a long stretch of silence after she left. Rylan ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.
“Why didn’t you trust me? You should have stayed back. You wouldn’t have gotten hurt if you listened.” His fingers trailed down his face and he groaned.
“I had to get to Piper.”
“I would have protected her.”
“It’s not your job to protect her. I’m her mother. I love her, and I would do anything for her. Including risk my life.”
Apparently, that wasn’t the right thing to say in Rylan’s brain.
“I love you, and her. It’s my job to protect you both. Dammit, Temperance. I need you to trust me. Especially when I fucking see it and tell you to trust me,” he shouted and watched as I arched a brow before shouting right back.
“What the fuck does that mean?”
He watched me and his jaw tensed, but no words came out.
“You want me to trust you, then don’t keep secrets from me. Pretty sure that’s Trust: 101.”
His jaw muscle ticked as if he really didn’t want to tell me. Then, with a resigned huff, he said, “Fine. I’ve been able to see bits of the future since magic hit my body.”