Page 117 of An Oath at Midnight

Whenever I left her, something bad happened. I should never have left her alone. No matter what, we were always stronger when we were together. Always.

My mind filled with images of Magnolia in that fucking house, bleeding. It was the second time someone had used their knife on her, had cut her. If Mags hadn’t killed him, I would have torn Ryan to pieces. I wished I had.

Magnolia’s family was freaking out and Daisy had literally collapsed when she’d seen Mags lying here. The reality of how close we’d all come to losing her to that piece of shit had hit her hard. Rose and Jazzy had clung to each other, and Iris had called the council and told them where to find Ryan’s body and what he’d done to Magnolia. They couldn’t doubt Willow’s innocence now, the evidence of Ryan’s guilt was right fucking there, sliced into Magnolia’s flesh for fuck’s sake.

I lifted the small jar of balm from the bedside table as I took in Magnolia’s face. My fucking chest ached just looking at her. Her mouth was looking a lot better, thanks to some new and improved heavy-duty balm Else had come up with, but the thought of what almost happened to her…I couldn’t bear it.

I opened the lid and swiped a cotton ball through it, making sure my skin didn’t touch hers, and carefully dabbed it on her lips.

Her lips had changed as well, and not from her wounds. The color was brighter, candy-apple red. Like all poisonous things, they were colorful and enticing. One touch and I’d be dead. God, I felt the poison flowing through her.

I’d searched for information on reapers while I waited for her to wake, and the red lips and the black-tipped fingers came with the job.

The fates had made her for me, and me for her, yet they seemed to be throwing every fucking thing they could think of at us to keep us apart. I wanted to tear down the fucking walls.

“Wake up, Maggie,” I choked out. “I need you. Come on, baby. Please, come back to me.” She didn’t move. Her eyes firmly closed.

Someone knocked on the door, and I dragged myself away to see who it was.

Rose held up two plates of food. “I brought dinner. She awake yet?”

“Not yet.” I took the food from her and put it on the counter.

Her eyes softened. “She will wake, Bram. Her body just needs time to heal.”

“Then what happens? When she wakes, will Death call her away?” I paced across the room and back. “I’ve been reading everything I can on reapers, but there isn’t much.”

“We’ve been looking as well. Reapers have always been elusive; their job is kept secret for obvious reasons. If we knew how they worked, we’d try to avoid them or kill them. It’s not for us to know.” All pretense of calm evaporated, and Rose cursed viciously, shaking with fury. “Why would Death do this? Hasn’t he taken enough from us? He got what he wanted, he forced Zinny to be with him in Limbo, he can’t have Magnolia as well.”

My fingers curled into tight fists, and it was only because Rose was there that I didn’t tear everything in my small living room to pieces. “Mags said if she can figure out how to control it—”

“But how long will that take?” Rose said. “What if she never learns? Me and Iris are hitting the books again today. There has to be something. If there’s a loophole or a way out of this, we’ll find it.”

I nodded my thanks.

“I’m just glad her task is over. Ryan’s dead. She found the killer, at least that’s something.”

Yeah, thank fuck for that. I didn’t want her leaving my side. I wanted her safe in my tree house, with me. She’d been through so fucking much. Magnolia needed time to heal.

“Let me know when she wakes, okay?” Rose said, then headed back to the house.

My phone dinged. Payne. My brothers had been calling, texting, checking on Mags regularly, but Payne was especially feeling it. The way he’d treated her in the past, the fact he’d insisted on me going on that vampire hunt—yeah, he was struggling with the guilt. But not as much as me. The fact that once again, I hadn’t been here for her when she needed me most was fucking killing me.

I strode back to the bedroom.

Magnolia was awake, and staring back at me.

I rushed for her, and she jerked away, her hands flying up.

Fuck. I stopped in my tracks. “It’s okay, I’m not gonna touch you, baby.”

She blinked up at me, once, twice, and a tear streaked down her cheek. Then another. I wanted to pull her into my arms so fucking badly, but all I could do was stand there and watch her cry.

Right then, I was willing to die just to hold her one more fucking time.

“I was hoping it was all just some fucked-up dream,” she said and lifted her hands, looking at her fingers. “But it’s true. It actually happened. How long was I out?”

“Two days. And we’ll work it out,” I said, because there was no other option.