26. Wolf
After howling the signal for the Amber Witch, I forced my feet out onto the edges of the Yellow Plain. It was painful to gain enough distance from the trees to break free from the Mist so I could be fully present with Emi. Wordlessly, she took in the pain on my face and offered me her hooded cape. She’d worn the red one again, and I found it surprisingly easy to accept on her. Bit by bit, Emi was reclaiming the things her grandmother had ruined.
I draped it around myself, using the excuse to keep my arms wrapped across my middle as if I could hold myself together with my own two hands. As promised, the Diamond Witch strode at Amber’s side, looking like her inverse image, willowy with dark skin and white hair. The Crystal Witch was a step behind, pale and typically-Anterran in appearance. She hung back while the other two drew close.
Although undeniably striking looking, I couldn’t call the Diamond Witch beautiful when her face was strained by so much haughty disdain. “You summoned me, dog?” she said.
“You tricked me,” I replied.
“I did no such thing. I provided a prophecy as it came to me. It’s not my fault you failed to do what you were supposed to.”
Pain stretched my voice thin, showing my irritation. “I did exactly as your prophecy said, witch. It didn’t work.”
“Clearly,” she snarked.
Amber cleared her throat. “If we’re going to skip pleasantries, maybe we could have introductions at least?” She turned to Emi. “You must be Emerald. I’m Amber, this is Diamond, and that’s Crystal back there. It’s lovely to meet you.”
Emi looked from me to Diamond, and back again to Amber. “I hope I can say the same.”
The raven-haired woman smiled resignedly. “Ignore them. They’re always like this.”
Emi eyed me sternly, her gaze lingering on my stiff shoulders. I loved her determination in everything she did, even when that thing was to send me away from her. “I can see how much it hurts you, Wolf. Go back to the trees. Let me talk to them.”
She brushed a lock of hair from my forehead, now damp with sweat from resisting the Mist”s pull. And I loved that too.
No, I loved her. I was utterly and completely in love with a witch.
Of all the times to realize it…
I couldn”t even speak anymore. I clasped her hand to my cheek for a heartbeat and then staggered to the tree line, hunched over like an injured hyena.
Once there, with the body of the wolf again, the pain receded and I could take full breaths, which I needed to think over what just happened. As much as the Mist tugged me into its cool embrace, my heart lurched for the woman with fiery red hair, standing beyond my reach now.
The witches talked for ages, Emi animated, Diamond holding herself prim and tall, and Amber still and listening. When Amber responded to Emi”s questions, the latter listened with all the intensity I had come to expect from her. There were things only another witch could tell her about how their magic worked. She listened just as hard even when she turned her eyes to check on me, pacing at the trees. I guarded against anything coming from the forest, because all that mattered now was keeping Emi safe.
After all, it wasn”t every day a man realized he was in love.
With that realization, though, came the stark truth. Even if Emi felt the same—somehow, some way—it wouldn”t matter. She had her own family. No matter how they’d let her down, she”d go back to them eventually. Whether we broke the curse or not, she had a life to return to.
What did I have? A bedroll to share in the enclave? I couldn’t split time between my adopted family there and Emi at the cottage, never able to give my full attention to either. And I had no idea who I was outside of the curse.
She deserved more, someone whole and good, who didn’t have blood on their hands. This thing between us was addicting for now, but it couldn’t last.
While the witches discussed how to end the curse and heal the forest, I tried to figure out how to live without Emi after this. As sweet as her words had been to me in the past days, she’d never want to spend her life seeing my face every day and remembering what I took from her. Forgiveness was one thing. Signing up for a lifetime of heartache was another.
By the time Emi returned to me, I was no closer to knowing how I would survive after this, curse or not.