Chapter 24
MADDOX
Ihave never felt greater relief in my life than when Callie at last announced “there it is!”
We’d finally checked in at the convention center hotel a half hour ago, where I learned that Callie had requested one of the outermost units. The hotel had a grand central tower, but also sprawled out into the surrounding forest with arms of unassuming one-story row houses.
And of course, we were at the very last one. The hike there had felt like an eternity. A steep uphill climb, under a covered walkway illuminated by floating orbs of soft pink light.
The clerk had offered to have us whisked here on some kind of contraption that was basically a levitating golf cart, but Callie had brightly replied we preferred the walk.
He then offered to have the bellhop transport the bags there, but Callie jumped in to say I simply insisted on carrying them myself.
I couldn’t believe the extent to which every muscle in my body was screaming.
With the intensity of my workouts, I never would have guessed what a challenge carrying luggage could be.
She’d had me lugging these things for two hours now, and I swear it somehow felt like they’d been getting heavier the whole time.
As I at last dragged the bags over the threshold, the modest nature of the room surprised me.
The one room.
With only one bed.
Had Callie… actually planned for us to share this intimate space together?
My heart was already racing from the exertion of the last two hours, but somehow it quickened further as hope surged through me.
Back at home, each night she ascended the stairs, and I sank into the basement.
We couldn’t spend our nights further apart and still be under the same roof.
But here, in this cozy space, to be so near her again, out in the dark and quiet of the woods, with only one bed to share…
“You’re not honestly imagining you’re going to be sleeping in that bed with me, are you?” Callie snapped.
“No, no, of course not,” I hastily replied as I returned to painfully dragging the luggage into the closet.
Callie waved her hand, and suddenly the luggage was so light that the force of my dragging was a massive overcorrection. The abrupt shift sent me tumbling over, and I sprawled flat on my face at her feet.
Of course. “You’ve been magically increasing the weight all this time?” I felt stupid for not figuring it out earlier.
“Mmm hmm,” she hummed with pleasure.
I pulled myself up onto my knees. “I understand. I deserve worse.”
“And you’ll get it.” She walked to the sliding glass door, which magically opened itself as she approached. I followed her out into a private enclosed yard, surprisingly large and hemmed in by tall wooden fencing that blocked the view from the neighboring unit. “You’ll be sleeping out here.”
I looked around, taking in the space. A stone patio held some hard wooden chairs.
Beyond that, the ground transitioned into forest underbrush, covered in tough flowering plants that were beautiful to look at, but would obviously be miserable to lie on for any length of time.
Already, mosquitoes were descending on the exposed skin of my arms, and I felt something crawling up my leg.
Not to mention, it had started to drizzle. I held out my hand, feeling the drops hitting my palm with increasing force.
“The forecast calls for this to become a downpour.” She grinned widely. “They say it’ll go all night!”
This was clearly going to be even more miserable than my evenings listening to vermin skitter around me down in the frozen basement.
Fair enough. “I understand,” I said, nodding my acceptance as I looked down at myself.
“I’ve been so sweaty all night, I already feel like I’m underwater. The rain will be fine.”
But instead of the satisfaction I expected to see on her face, her lips pursed as she stepped away. “You’ve become quite compliant lately.”
I hesitated for a moment, wanting to share what I was really feeling but worried it was too much. I took a deep breath and decided to risk it. “Honestly… I’m still processing the fact that you’re a princess.”
She crossed her arms. “What? I’m not a princess.”
“Your mother is the queen of this!” I exclaimed in awe.
“Our coven is a democracy, and witches don’t have queens. She’s the High Priestess. It’s completely different,” Callie scoffed.
“Okay, but the way I saw everyone react to you tonight… you’re treated like a princess,” I said, my voice rising with enthusiasm.
“That’s only because so many other covens are here. Now that Nightshade Cove is the biggest thing going, they’re all thirsty to get in on it.”
“I was looking at the signs. There were plenty of witches from Nightshade Cove businesses that were excited to see you. You clearly mean something to this community. I can’t believe how clueless I was about this.”
“And think how easily you could have cleared that up, if you’d ever come with me to visit,” she said, her tone brittle.
She was right. I could have avoided all my current misery, loss, and struggle simply by agreeing to visit my mother-in-law.
I had missed out on so much by being such a piece of shit. To have understood any of this during the marriage…
“And being teleported! The power of that! It was awesome!” I blurted.
She looked skeptical. “Even with the nausea?”
“The nausea was bad, but yes, even with that! I can’t believe you had that power all this time, but to live in my world with me, you were just driving everywhere. That must have been so frustrating to have to drive yourself to the grocery store or—”
“Oh gods,” she hissed. “You would never use teleportation magic for errands in your own town.”
“Why not?”
“Would you ever go to the grocery store by flying there on a Boeing 747?” she asked, rolling her eyes.
“Well, no…”
“Exactly,” she pronounced with finality.
I couldn’t say I understood that at all, but I was massively impressed all the same. “That’s so cool!”
Callie ignored me and knelt to brush her hands across a purple flower with needle-like leaves. As she touched it, suddenly it illuminated with bands of sparkling blue light, running along the stem and leaves before quickly fading.
Magical plants!
I stepped gingerly toward her. “Callie, I’m so sorry I wasn’t listening when you told me where you came from.
I wish we could have been talking about this our whole marriage.
You’re such an incredible person, and you come from this incredible world.
I can’t believe how much I overlooked all of that.
I can’t believe how much I overlooked you. ”
She turned to me. The moonlight was dim, and I was almost certainly deluding myself, but I felt like I saw something in her eyes that I hadn’t seen in a long time. A softness. A vulnerability.
I cleared my throat. “I was thinking about these video games I used to play as a kid—”
Well, that fucked it up immediately. Her face wrinkled in disgust.
“Maddox, I could barely listen to you talk about video games when I was happy in the marriage.” The contempt was scalding.
Fuck. Fuck. “I promise this isn’t really about video games. This is about you.”
She took a few steps away, returning her attention to admiring the plants. “Fine, let’s hear it.”
“I used to play these video games where you go on this magical quest, and the whole point of the game was to save the princess. And seeing you here tonight, I kept thinking how I fell into that for real. I won the princess—or the daughter of the High Priestess.”
“You may find this shocking, but you’re not winning any points with me by acting like my value comes from who my mother is,” she sneered.
“I’m sorry, I’m fucking this all up. It is about you.
It’s about seeing how you grew up, with all of this coming at you…
it makes it even more incredible that you’re the person you are.
With the way the other witches treat you, it would have been so easy for you to become stuck-up and entitled, but you’re the furthest thing from it.
You’ve always been so warm and down to earth with everyone, despite the fact that you were born into all of this. ”
The sneer faded from her face.
Steel entered my voice. “Somehow, against all odds, I got the ultimate hero fantasy, for real. But I didn’t rise to that at all.
I was given an opportunity to be the champion of an extraordinary woman, and I was too stupid and selfish to see it.
When I should have been your hero, when I should have been protecting you, I was your villain instead. ”
“You’ll get no argument from me,” she said bitterly, meeting my eyes once more.
I held her gaze. “I failed to be a man, as completely as any man has ever failed. I’m so sorry I wasn’t worthy of you.”
I realized suddenly we were much closer to each other than we had been a moment ago. The drizzle had become a warm, light rain. I was close enough to touch her. I yearned to wrap her in my arms and hold her tight.
But I couldn’t do that anymore.
How desperately I wished I hadn’t fucked all this up. I’ve never wanted anything more than to be able to sweep her off her feet, carry her to that bed, and bring her to heights of pleasure beyond anything she’d ever felt before.
She swallowed, looking up at me. Reflected moonlight sparkled in her eyes. “Maddox…”
“Yes?” I whispered.
“You fucking reek.”
I flinched.
“Go take a damn shower.” At that, she gave me her back and stalked off into the yard.
My head dropped as sadness cascaded over me. She wasn’t wrong. I had worked up such a heavy sweat I could smell myself.
I was overcome by a rush of memories from the early days of our marriage, when my getting sweaty had been her number one turn-on. In the beginning, she was never more excited than when I was fresh off a workout.
And now, because of what I’ve done, the exact thing that used to turn her on so much had become repulsive to her.
I silently slunk back into the room. There was nothing else to say.
I had married the powerful daughter of the High Priestess of Nightshade Cove.
Someone who gave her warmth freely to everyone she met.
Someone who had bravery and integrity, who didn’t hesitate to set aside her power and status for love.
I had been chosen by someone who was both royalty and an outstanding person, yet I’d treated her as if she were lucky to have me!
When she was a woman who surpassed me in every possible way. When she could have been here, a part of something as incredible as this community.
She had given me all of herself, I had given her nothing, and the shame and disgrace of that was going to crush me for the rest of my life.