Chapter 30
“Get up.”
Omen’s voice rings through the dark room. I grunt in response only because the bastard won’t leave me alone if I don’t answer him.
He looms over my bed, the flame in his hand illuminating his face. “Enough moping. Time to go get your witch. Isn’t that what you told me?”
“Different scenario. Different results.”
He shakes his head, then glances over his shoulder.
Probably at Clara. I wouldn’t put it past him to invite her in to convince me to go after Mari.
Not that either of them understands. I’ve barely told them anything about her.
Karma probably ratted me out. Or Providence.
They both seem to have their own issues to deal with, though.
“She your soulbound?” he snaps.
“Doesn’t matter.”
He huffs and I swear he rolls his eyes. “Of course it does.”
“No, it doesn’t. She asked to go home. I took her home. End of story.”
“Sounds exactly like what I went through.” He drops into a chair that wasn’t there a second before.
“It’s not. Go away.”
His nose wrinkles, and I flip on my side, facing away from him. I clutch a pillow to my chest, wishing it still held Mari’s scent. It faded long ago. Or maybe yesterday. I’ve lost track of time, to be honest.
“When was the last time you ate? Or bathed?” He mutters something about dirty-ass motherfuckers, but I stopped listening. At least I’m trying to. “Did you clarify what home meant?”
“She spent one night down here. Can’t claim it as home.
” Apparently I’m not done listening to him.
Maybe I want him to swoop in and tell me what a shithead I’ve been.
Maybe I want him to tell me to go get her.
Maybe I want him to say she’ll welcome me with open arms—that she loves me.
Except that’s not reality and I won’t fall for fantasies.
“How do you know if you didn’t ask?”
“Because I know her.”
“All the more reason to—”
I explode out of bed, pillows and blankets flying everywhere. The ceiling cracks open and rain pours down on us, soaking me to the bone. I don’t fucking care. If he does, he can get the fuck out.
“She’s not here, Omen. She’ll never be here. She doesn’t belong in Hell. So, stop meddling in my business.”
I gasp for breath, my shoulders heaving and my hands trembling. Movement behind him has me glancing up, and my heart stops. Clara purses her lips as Mari pushes past her, her purple hair streaming behind her in her haste to get away.
“Fuck,” I snarl, then launch over the bed.
Omen tips backward in his chair and crashes to the ground.
Clara steps to the side as I fling myself out of my bedroom and down the hall.
Her laughter at Omen’s antics fades as I search for Mari.
She couldn’t have gone far. Unless she’s mastered portals or whatever shit witches use to walk through worlds.
A glowing sigil on the inside of the front door catches my eye, and I race toward it.
Slowly it fades from gold to silver, and I fling myself at the hard wood.
My body disappears and I groan as I’m sucked through a keyhole.
At least, that’s what it feels like. I’m compressed and rearranged, then put back together as I tumble into her world.
I’m met with a bucketful of hot water, and I sputter as my knees hit the hardwood floor. I swipe a hand down my face, wishing I had a shirt to wipe away the wetness. Being only in boxers was great while I was wallowing, but not so much for dramatic apologies.
“Well, at least you’ll be clean now,” she snarls. “Would you like some soap before you fuck off back to Hell?”
“Mari, I—”
“I don’t want to hear it, bat-boy.”
I open my mouth, then snap it shut. “I’m not a fucking vampire, Mari.”
“Let’s see, you have wings, you dissolve into shadows, you suck the soul out of unsuspecting people, and you don’t give a damn who you hurt.” She ticks each point off on her fingers. “If it quacks like a duck…”
“I’m not a duck either.”
“Fuck the ducks,” she cries. “That’s not the fucking point, Dimitri. Just…get out. I only went because I needed to return Clara’s book. I didn’t realize it would drop me at your place. Go back to your…private time or whatever the hell you were doing.”
“I was wallowing, thank you very much. Because someone drove me away when shit got hard. Instead of leaning on me like she should have.”
I struggle to my bare feet, then slip on the wet floor. I manage to catch myself, but just barely. A giggle escapes her and my head snaps up. She glares at me all while her lips twitch, giving her away.
“I didn’t drive you away. I asked you to take me home. I didn’t say leave me there without a word.”
“I gave you a word. I gave you plenty of words. I sat next to your bed and told you it’d be okay. I offered to go searching for her. Hell, I even made your gross coffee that’s way too fucking strong. Then when you wouldn’t respond, I called Percy. What the fuck else was I supposed to do?”
“Stay,” she cries. “You were supposed to stay and take care of me. Not foist me off on someone else.” She pulls in a deep breath and closes her eyes. “I get it. I’m not mad.”
I snort, rubbing my palms on my boxers and wishing I had a towel. “Nope, not mad at all. Totally chill.”
“No, I’m really not. I understand why you left. I even understand why you didn’t come back. I’m not your—”
I stab a finger in her direction. “If you call yourself a problem, I swear to fuck, I will put you—”
“In my place?” She raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms.
I step out of the circle and prowl closer.
She tenses, and her nails dig into her skin.
It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve set my eyes on her.
It’s like waking up for the first time after a long nap.
Like diving into a cold lake on a hot day.
Like feeling the sun on my face after years in the dark.
She tips her chin up, reminding me we’re in the middle of…
something. A fight? A tiff? A battle? Whatever it is, it’s invigorating.
My lips brush the shell of her ear as I lean close and whisper, “I’ll put you over my knee.”
“You can’t…this isn’t…I’m not…” Her palms slap into my bare chest and she shoves me back. “This isn’t a joke, Dimitri.”
“Oh, I wasn’t joking, spitfire. Now yell at me.
Tell me how much you hate me so I can grovel at your feet.
I’ll confess how devoid of color my life has been.
How I’ve wallowed for weeks, unable to leave my bed for more than a few minutes.
How you were never far from my mind. You infiltrated every waking moment and most of my dreams—nightmares really, since they were all of losing you. ”
Her bottom lip trembles. “She left me.”
A tear trickles down her cheek, and I sigh. “Oh, witch. No.”
She collapses into my arms, and I cradle her against me.
I don’t bother with useless words she won’t hear anyway.
No matter how many times I tell her she didn’t fail her sister, she won’t believe me.
I’m not the one who can help. Only her sister will be able to reassure her.
She doesn’t even have the note to cling to.
When her cries subside to the occasional sniff, I bury my nose in her hair and inhale deeply, committing her scent to memory. Not that I need to. It’s already embedded in my psyche. Still, this might be the last time I get to hold her. I’ll take whatever I can get.
She makes a noise in the back of her throat. “You left me, too. I failed my sister, and you just confirmed I wasn’t good enough to stick around for. I just…I’m sorry I yelled at you. It’s not your fault. I get why you went back.”
I cup her cheeks and force her head up. “None of this is your fault. Your sister is an adult. She makes her own decisions. Okay?” I wait until she nods, then rest my forehead on hers.
“I didn’t mean to leave you. I just didn’t know how to help.
And I didn’t know what the joining spell did to you or how the curse impacted you. ”
She pulls away and deep grooves appear between her eyes. “Joining spell?”
I drop my hands and put space between us—fist-swinging space. “My sister helped your sister do a joining spell. It, uh, linked us in a way? Coupled with the curse, it’s why…”
“Why you showed up. A curse and a spell. That’s…
” She stares at my chest, and I scramble for words—something to convince her this is more than just magic.
Except I can’t. Magic brought us together and magic binds our souls.
I’d like to think if I had met her randomly, I’d still be drawn to her, but I have no proof.
I run my hand through my hair, sending static rippling through the short strands. Magic thrums in my veins, matching my need—my anxiety.
“Do not make it rain in here,” she snaps, then sniffs.
“Did Karma break the curse then? Did my sister dissolve the spell? Or are we just going to continue having these awkward encounters where you don’t really want to be here and I don’t know how to let you go?
” She presses her lips together as if she’s said too much.
“She reversed the curse as soon as she stepped back into Hell. While I was dealing with Ludo.”
“And the spell?”
“I don’t know,” I breathe. “Wouldn’t be so bad.”
She snorts, shaking her head. “Sure it wouldn’t.”
“Hate me that much, huh?”
She lets out a frustrated cry. “Hate you? How can I hate you when you were driven as much as I was by this bullshit? By other people meddling in our lives? No, I don’t hate you.
I hate how they fucked with us. I hate how nothing makes sense anymore.
I hate how none of it was real—that magic wove our lives together until we don’t know what’s our own decisions and what was a trick. ”
“It wasn’t a spell or a curse driving me when I found you while you looked for your sister.
” I step closer. “It wasn’t magic when I brought you to the dragon realm.
” I move again, and she matches me step for step until her back hits the wall.
“It wasn’t anything other than desire when I fucked you.
” My hands land on either side of her head, and I lean closer.
“You want real? This. Magic can’t conjure feelings.
It can’t force me to fall for you. Magic may have been the thread, but it didn’t tie us together. We did. Us and only us, spitfire.”
She bites her bottom lip, dragging my gaze down. Indecision and hope fight for dominance in her eyes. It’s killing me to wait for her to take a chance on us. To figure out what’s real and what’s not.
“Why me?” she finally whispers, genuine confusion in her tone.
I let out a chuckle, then rest my forehead on hers.
“You match my chaos. You’re resilient, loyal—no, don’t do that.
You are, otherwise you wouldn’t have been so hurt when you thought you’d failed your sister.
You find wonder in things I’ve long since gotten used to.
You’re all fire and attitude, and I swear it gets me hard every fucking time you yell at me. Your turn.”
She jolts back, her head thumping on the wall. “What?”
“You think I don’t need a little reassurance? After you told me to take you home? After you shut me out?” I could go on, but she’s already gritting her teeth. “That hard to come up with something?”
“No, but I have a feeling as soon as I tell you, your ego will get so big it’ll make the house explode.”
“Oh, little witch has jokes, does she?”
She presses her lips together, fighting a smile.
“I think you’re funny. And even if it was the spell, I like how protective you are.
Even when you’re pissed off, you’re still genuine.
You can tell you still care. They don’t see that, do they?
” She studies my face, and I shrug. “I don’t know…
I can’t turn off the part of my brain saying you’ll walk away again.
That eventually you’ll get bored of a mediocre witch when someone more interesting comes along.
You have entire dimensions to find someone else. ”
“I’d walk through worlds for you. Only you.”
Tears fill her eyes, and she launches herself at me. I stumble back as I wrap my arms around her. Things might not be magically better, there’s still shit to work through, but right here—right now, it feels like we’ll get there. As long as we’re together, we’ll figure it out.