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"What the fuck have you done, Vivienne?" he asks, his voice barely a whisper, thick with an ancient, terrifying dread. "What the fuck did you just bring into my house?"

Fifteen

LACHLAN

“Your house?” she asks, and to my surprise, her voice is full of fire and fury.

Not trepidation, like I assumed. Not fear, not at all.

A bitter pill to swallow. Soon she’ll know she’s not meant to be collegial with me at all⁠—

“Are you fucking kidding right now?” she blurts out, interrupting my train of thought. “You’re joking, right? Like I meant to do, fuck, any of that? Meant to melt someone—” She shudders, then dry heaves, and compassion and relief and terror war within me.

I cross the distance between us in seconds, pulling her back to my chest. “It’s alright. Shush now, we’ll figure it out.” The book pulses between us like a heartbeat, and the fact she’s my mate is the only thing keeping me from losing it completely.

She needs me now, no matter what that thing did to her.

“Is that the Midnight House magic?” Her voice cracks on the question.

“No.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know, lass, but it saved ye, and though it was truly gruesome, Sanguine will have to think twice before they come at you again.” I pull back and make myself grin down at her. Her brown eyes are full of tears, and terror, but the stubborn set to her mouth has returned. “I’m sorry I lost my temper. And it’s your house. You’re right.”

She dashes away a tear with her fist, then steps away, setting the black book down on the table with the others.

We both watch it warily for a moment, but nothing happens.

“Do ye feel different?” I ask her. “Inside?”

“It feels like it’s… in there.” She taps her chest. “Smug.”

“Smug?” I repeat. “That’s not the word I would have thought. Evil? Yeah, maybe. But smug?”

“I don’t know, I touched you and nothing happened, maybe it’s just self-defense magic.” She worries her lower lip with her pretty white teeth, and I shrug.

“I have never seen a thing like that, and I have seen a lot of things throughout the years. But you’re right. It didn’t hurt me, and you’re just as beautiful as ever.”

A small grin tugs up her lips at my compliment, and I can’t help but smile right back.

Which is fucking stupid, because I cannot be encouraging myself.

Unless this magic she absorbed can fully keep her alive, and that’s not how magic works, it takes— there’s no future for us. The odds of her making it out of the rituals alive and through the assassination attempts that are sure to come are low.

“The magic might give you an edge,” I finally hedge, because maybe it will.

Or maybe I’m just stupid enough to fucking hope it will.

“You think?” She sniffs, and I hate that she’s upset. I want to hold her and tell her she’ll be fine.

Kiss her better.

Bite her, my bear growls.

“We’ll ask Doc when he shows up later.” Now, at least, there’s a real reason for him to be here.

She gives a little nod, but I can tell she’s still worried, rubbing at her chest where… that magic could have taken up residence.