Page 13 of Bewitched By the Voodoo King (The Bewitching Hour #7)

“She kissed him,” I hissed at Adelle, trying not to let my voice carry over the music—but I knew it did.

She didn’t even flinch. Just kept sipping her stupid frozen hurricane like this wasn’t a full-blown crisis unraveling right in front of us. I wanted to knock it out of her hand. Instead, I tightened my grip around my father’s cane, knuckles going white.

“It’s good for her,” she said, dragging the words out like I was the irrational one.

“A vampire, Adelle,” I growled. “She kissed a vampire .”

Adelle smirked and stirred her drink. “I heard the sex is mind-blowing.”

I leaned closer, eyes sharp. “Then you go experience it.”

She rolled her eyes with the dramatic flair of someone who’d been doing it since childhood. “She needs this. Okay? She’s spent her whole life on the outside. Don’t you get it? She wasn’t seen before. This is the first time she’s being noticed for just being herself.”

I ground my teeth. My magic thrummed uneasily under my skin, aching to rise. I didn’t even want to think about what would happen if I gave in to it in a place like this. The Quarter would burn.

“A virgin?” I muttered, more to myself than her. But Adelle arched a brow.

“Maybe,” she said. “Maybe not. That’s not the point. The point is—she doesn’t belong to you, Rune. Marriage contract or not, she’s still a person.”

My jaw locked. “We are married. ”

Now that got her attention. She sat up straight, her drink sloshing slightly. “What? Since when? I thought it was just arranged to happen.”

I didn’t have a chance to argue. Because right then, the vampire—Elias—vanished into the crowd like smoke. One second he was there, the next he was gone, leaving Maple blinking after him, dazed and far too vulnerable in the middle of the dance floor.

Before my sister could throw another dig at me, I was moving. My legs ate up the space between us in seconds.

She didn’t see me coming.

One moment she was swaying on unsteady feet, her lips parted in confusion—still drunk on the hurricane, on adrenaline, and the vanished vampire.

The next, she was in my arms.

She looked up at me, dazed and blinking slowly. “You’re so tall,” she murmured, as her gaze bounced around my face.

“Rune?” she whispered, fingers curling in the front of my shirt like she wasn’t sure I was real.

“Let’s go,” I said, voice low and tight. “We’ll talk when you’re sober.”

She threaded her fingers through mine, and the smile she shot me was devastating. “You have the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen.”

“Thank you,” I replied as I maneuvered us to my sister, who was watching with a raised brow and the straw of her hurricane hanging out of her mouth.

“She’s a menace,” I muttered under my breath as I adjusted my hold on Maple, who had now rested her cheek against my chest like it was her personal pillow.

“I can hear you,” she slurred, not moving an inch.

“I know,” I said, because honestly? I kind of hoped she could.

“How much has she had to drink?” I asked my sister as Maple glued herself to me.

Adelle chewed on her lip before she answered.

“Well, we had a few drinks at a few other bars, but we weren’t feeling the vibe, and then we came here…

” She held up the empty hurricane that was beside hers on the bar, making a face.

“Uh, I guess she drank all of this before she went to dance. I thought she would be fine. I mean, I am.”

Deadpanned, I stared at Adelle. “You weigh twice as she does and have the liver of a seasoned warlock.”

She shrugged, entirely unbothered. “I didn’t know she was a lightweight!”

Maple giggled against my chest, her breath warm through my shirt. “I’m not a light… ship. I’m sturdy.”

Adelle snorted into her drink, while I let out a slow breath through my nose, trying very hard not to laugh.

“Rune?” Maple whispered, tipping her head up to look at me, eyes glassy but painfully sincere as she ran a light hand over my bicep. “You’re very… sculpted.”

“I am not,” I muttered, holding her upright as she wobbled.

Maple giggled and said something I didn’t quite understand. Adelle grinned at the both of us. I held my hand out to my sister to help her off the stool. She ignored it and hopped down on her own. “You’re going to have to tell her sometime.”

“Tell me… what?” Maple swayed on her feet before they gave out under her. I caught her easily. She swatted at my chest. “I told you… sculpted.”

I shot Adelle a glare.

Adelle just laughed, absolutely no remorse on her face. “Oh, come on. You can’t be mad at her—she’s a drunken marshmallow. Look at her.”

“I am looking,” I said through clenched teeth as Maple clung to me like she thought gravity had declared war on her. “And I’m also carrying her out of a bar after she made out with a vampire.”

“She kissed him,” Adelle corrected, holding up a finger. “There’s a difference. And honestly? You should be grateful it wasn’t more.”

Maple pressed her cheek back against my chest and whispered, “You’re warm. I like that about you.” Then, after a pause, she added dreamily, “And your angry voice is kinda hot.”

Adelle practically doubled over. “Oh my ancestors , Rune. You’re doomed.”

“I would kill for some pancakes…” Maple mumbled as I carried her out of the bar.

Maple sighed and burrowed further into my chest, the scent of her hair—something sweet, like vanilla and a touch of spice—curling around me and settling in a part of me I’d kept locked down for years. Something sharp and unfamiliar tugged at my chest, and I hated that I knew exactly what it was.

She hadn’t deserved my distance. She hadn’t deserved the cold edge I kept between us like a blade.

But I’d put it there for a reason.

Not only did I not know her, but I also had so much to lose. My entire coven was my life now… I couldn’t afford a distraction.