Page 31 of An Oath at Midnight

“Maggie? Magnolia?” Her breathing was slow and even. She’d passed out again.

Fuck, I’d called her back a couple more times on the way home, but when she hadn’t answered, I was positive she was asleep, tucked up safe in bed.

I made sure I got all of the blood off her and quickly shut off the water. Wrapping her in a towel, I carried her into the bedroom and laid her on my bed to carefully dry her off. I rolled her to her side to make sure I hadn’t missed any injuries. A few more scrapes, but nothing deep, nothing that needed stitches or for me to get Else.

The black thorny vine markings on her skin swirled low on her stomach, around her belly button, and there was a mirror image in the middle of her lower back. They looked like tattoos, only these, I knew, would move and grow. The vine from her stomach and one on her back would reach out until both vines touched. If she hadn’t passed the task the mother had given to her by the time that happened, she’d fail.

I stared at those markings and tried to fucking breathe. We knew this was coming, that the mother would call on her, but we thought we had another six months. I thought I had six months.

When Mags’s turn came, I was supposed to be there with her, to protect her from the demons that infested the forest. I planned to be there with her every step of the way. Instead, she’d gone alone. She’d been alone and vulnerable.

The only explanation I could come up with for all the demon blood on her skin was that Mags had covered herself in it to disguise her scent. She’d killed a demon.

Magnolia had met with the mother. She’d fought at least one fucking demon, then she’d walked back, all by herself.

She could’ve been killed.

I could have lost her.

Breathing heavily, I tore my eyes from her, then rushed to grab the basket filled with her healing supplies, the one she kept here for me, and pulled out Else’s balm. I carefully applied it to every scratch, scrape, and bruise on her smooth, pale skin. When I was done, I grabbed one of my shirts and carefully pulled it over her head, working her arms through the sleeves.

I wanted to keep her as she was, I wanted to hold her close to me, her bare skin against mine, so I could feel her alive and breathing and warm. But she wouldn’t be cool with that. Mags wasn’t shy about her body, at least not in front of her sisters, some spells required the witch to be naked. I made myself scarce during those times. Yes, I’d accidentally walked in on her during a spell once or twice, but best friends didn’t sleep together naked.

It didn’t matter that she was so much more than that to me.

I quickly yanked off my wet jeans, pulled on some dry shorts, and got under the covers with her, carefully pulling her into my arms.

“Bram?” she said suddenly, startling awake.

There was no missing the fear in her voice. “I’m here.” She was so used to me being gone, so used to doing it all on her own now, when that was never how it was meant to be.

She sighed, relaxing against me, and fell back to sleep—or losing consciousness, I wasn’t sure which.

After the mother bit a witch, her potent venom pumping through their veins, it took them out for at least a day, and staying conscious was damn near impossible. “How the fuck did you get out of that forest?” I said against her damp hair, talking to myself, not expecting her to respond.

“My potion,” she muttered. “Th-the one I’ve been working on.”

I dragged in a ragged breath, every muscle in my body locking tight. “The one that causes hallucinations?”

She nodded against me. “I c-covered myself in it.”

So anything that came close to her while she was unconscious got a dose, which meant, she would have as well. Fuck. Fuck. “What if one of them had attacked you while they were still out of it?”

“They didn’t,” she said.

What else could either of us say? She’d done all she could to protect herself, because her familiar hadn’t been there to do it for her.

This wasn’t how it was fucking supposed to be.

I pressed my nose to her hair and breathed deep, the monster in me needing reassurance, needing her in my fucking lungs. I was born to walk beside her, to protect her, to make sure she was always safe. And I’d failed.

I’d failed her.

I’d been failing her for the last couple of years.

I pressed my mouth to the top of her head again. No more. “I’m not going anywhere, Mags. I promise, I’m staying right here.”

She didn’t answer, not this time.