Louis’ eyes got round as he stared at me. “You two eloped today?”
I groaned and shook my head as I sunk down into my chair. I was getting tired of these two already. Maybe I should have called my mother in. She would have offered more insight than these two. “No. The marriage was binding the moment my father signed the contract. They told us that it was a future arrangement. I looked at the paperwork and saw the agreement for myself.”
Louis nodded like it all made sense. “And she’s okay with that?”
Adelle snorted. “She doesn’t even know.” She hooked a thumb in my direction. “He refuses to tell her.”
“I’m waiting for the right time.”
Louis rolled his eyes. “Sure. Because ifIwere secretly married to someone I was dragging into a supernatural war, I’d definitely wait until after she danced with a vampire and nearly got eaten in a swamp.”
“Enough.”
The room quieted once more.
Louis blew out a breath. “I hate to say it, but we are going to need to go back out there. During a full moon, with backup. That way our magic is at its strongest.”
Adelle nodded solemnly. “I hate to agree with this idiot, but he’s right. We are going to need to go out there and feel the magic.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “What about Maple’s magic? Did she reveal it to you out there?”
I shook my head. “No, nothing.”
Louis pinched his lips together as he planted his fists on his hips. “I hate to say it, but there’s something strange about her.”
Adelle scoffed. “Pot, meet kettle.”
He flipped her off, and my patience snapped. “Get out. Both of you.”
Adelle nodded and slipped out without a word. Louis hesitated, staring me down for a full minute like he was deciding whether or not to push me further. Then he too left, and I was finally alone. But with the silence came my screaming thoughts.
I hated myself for it, but I wondered what Maple was doing. I wondered if she was feeling better and what Maggie brought her for dinner. I wondered if she was using her magic or waiting for the right moment. I wondered what her magic even was. I was sure it was just as bright and unique as she was.
I leaned forward and dropped my head into my hands, elbows on the desk that had once belonged to my father. Theweight of the mantle—the crown, the coven, the contract—was crushing me. And the one thing I hadn’t planned for? The one I wasn’t supposed to care about?
Was the only thing I wanted to check on.
Instead of goingto see Maple like I truly wanted, I went to find my mother. She was usually alone in her rooms, but tonight, I found the object of my desires seated across the woman who raised me. They were in her boho-style living area surrounded by massive pillows, thin gauzy drapes, and curling incense.
Maple’s curls were still damp from a recent bath, and she was wrapped in one of my mother’s silk robes, far too large for her frame. Her feet were bare. A half-eaten bowl of red beans and rice sat on the small table beside her.
Something cracked open in my chest.
They didn’t see me at first. My mother’s head was bowed over something—one of her dolls, perhaps—and Maple was speaking softly, voice low but animated. She laughed, and the sound curled through the air like magic of its own.
I should have left.
But I stepped inside.
My mother looked up first. Her eyes were calm and peaceful. I wondered how she did it, especially since her husband was still floating, woven in magic on the other side of the compound. Guilt rushed through me at the thought. We should have buried him already. We should have done a proper send-off, but everything else had been weighing too heavily on me.
“Rune,” she said, as if she’d known I’d come. “We were just talking about you.”
Maple turned, her eyes widened for a moment before her expression softened. “Hey.”
That one word—hey—settled something in me and unsettled everything else.
My mother patted the cushion beside her. “Sit. You look like you’ve been pacing the edges of your soul all night.”
I hesitated… then lowered myself to the pillow.
