Page 33 of An Oath at Midnight

He tensed.

“Your hair.” I reached up, and he held still as I brushed it back on one side, then the other. “You shaved it.”

“It’s how our warriors wear it,” he said roughly.

Like his bothers. “And you’re a warrior now?”

“Yes.”

There was new ink on the side of his head, eight lines, something else the warriors in his village had. “And these?” I said as I ran my fingers over them. “Can you tell me what they are?”

“A warrior’s markers,” he said but didn’t elaborate.

It was all he could or would tell me, which was nothing at all.

I dropped my hand. “It suits you.”

His gaze searched mine. “Yeah?”

I nodded, then turned away and strode out to the living room, my heart in my throat. It was only hair, but something inside told me that it was a lot more than that, not just one more secret between us.

“So you’re looking for a murderer,” he said, following and picking up the conversation about my task where we’d left off.

“Looks that way.” Now I just had to figure out where the hell to start.

* * *

I’d showered and changed, and Bram and I were making a late breakfast. He was wearing his usual black jeans, boots, and worn tee, the fabric straining around his biceps in a way it never used to. He’d tied the wide strip of his black hair back, and I kept sneaking glances his way. He looked so different. He was still my Bram, but also…not—though then that went deeper than just his appearance.

The front door opened and closed, and I couldn’t see them, but I heard Iris and Rose talking as they walked in. We were having a family meeting this morning to discuss what we were going to do about Willow, and though it was terrible timing, I needed to tell them I’d visited the mother last night, and my suspicions about my task before they started looking into it. The mother would see it as interference. A witch couldn’t get help from her coven when her task had been set, and knowing my sisters, they’d already formed a plan.

“I can’t believe she’s calling her favor in now,” Rose was saying. “The timing couldn’t be worse.”

Iris made a sound of agreement. “Have you heard from her at all since you and Ronan went to her cottage?”

“No, and I’d kind of hoped she’d forgotten about our bargain.”

“What will you do?” Iris asked.

Rose let out a frustrated breath. “What I won’t be doing is asking her. It’s too dangerous.”

“Our baby sister is twenty-one years old. She doesn’t need us to protect her from everything, not anymore. Is she still struggling with some things? Yes, but don’t write her off. When Bram started vanishing, it crushed her, but she’s been getting better, controlling her anger, she’s grown so much stronger, become a lot more independent. And she’s been training her ass off with Ash.”

Well, fuck. Thanks a lot, Iris. I felt Bram’s eyes on me, and I couldn’t bring myself to look at him.

“I thought you were just hanging out with Ash, learning a few moves?” he said softly, so he didn’t blow our cover.

I don’t know why I hadn’t told him the extent of my training. Maybe it was me being petty. He was keeping something from me, so I was from him.

“What do you think Agatheena will do if you break your bargain?” Iris asked Rose before I could answer him.

I lowered my butter knife, and Bram tensed beside me at the mention of that witch’s name.

“It’s fine. I’ll just take her what she wants,” Rose said.

“But she asked for Magnolia, not you.”

Rose cursed. “She asked me for the favor, no one else was mentioned.”