Page 28 of Bewitched By the Voodoo King (The Bewitching Hour #7)

I could hear the music playing through the walls of my room as I got ready with Adelle and her twin sisters.

They were already dressed and just needed help with their hair.

Calisto’s hair was short and curly around her face, while Seraphine’s hair was long around her shoulders.

Adelle had her hair styled in braids around her head, and I was still fighting with my curls— at least my makeup was finished.

“I don’t know how you manage this every day,” I muttered, pulling another stubborn curl into place with one hand while holding my wand brush in the other.

Calisto smirked as she adjusted one of Seraphine’s enchanted hairpins—tiny golden bats that fluttered like they were alive. “It’s magic, darling, and inherited patience. You could try it out.”

“I don’t think my magic works like that,” I stammered, unsure of what to say.

Seraphine rolled her eyes. “Is it death magic? We thought that was the only affinity that couldn’t do what we do until we caught Rune’s shadows helping him take out his locs one day.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but Adelle stepped behind me and gently took over, interrupting what I was going to say. “Here, let me. You’re going to make yourself frazzled.”

“Too late,” I murmured, but let her work.

Adelle’s fingers were gentle as they moved with confidence through my hair. She twisted and pinned my curls into something vaguely elegant. Something I wouldn’t have been able to manage on my own.

“You’d be surprised what your magic can do when you stop trying to control the outcome,” she said softly, her eyes meeting mine in the mirror.

My throat tightened, and all I could manage was a nod as I stared at myself in the mirror.

My reflection didn’t look like me. The woman staring back had glitter on her cheekbones, a black lace mask perched to one side of her face, and a dress that shimmered with every move I made. I looked... exquisite, but now that we were talking magic, I certainly didn’t feel it.

Seraphine watched me over my shoulder. “I think you should try it! If you have death magic, I would love to see your shadows.”

A knock on the door saved me from answering and giving away all of my secrets. Adelle let go of my hair and appreciated her work with a soft smile on her face as one of the twins answered the door.

I sucked in a breath.

Rune commanded the room as he walked in.

I hadn’t seen him all week—not really—and the space between us had only grown heavier with every silent hour. But now, standing in the doorway in a suit that looked tailored from midnight itself, he didn’t look like a man burdened by war and leadership.

He looked like something made of smoke and velvet and power.

His dark mask was the perfect contrast to his bright eyes as he stared me down from across the bedroom.

“Maple,” he said, low and reverent.

I swallowed hard, suddenly unsure of my footing.

“I—hi,” I managed.

Real smooth.

The corner of his mouth lifted just slightly. “You look…”

He didn’t finish the sentence.

He just walked toward me, slowly, like the room wasn’t full of his sisters watching with bated breath.

His eyes didn’t leave mine even as the twins snickered.

“I missed you,” he said softly.

The words knocked the breath right out of me.

“I know we said we would meet each other at the ball,” he started. “And that you would arrive with my sisters, but that isn’t the scene I want to paint tonight. I want you on my arm. I want everyone in this coven—in this city—to know you’re mine. ”

Behind us, one of his sisters made a sound that was definitely a squeal, and the other hissed, “Shut up, don’t ruin it!”

Rune barely blinked. His attention stayed on me. “Are you ready to go?”

I nodded my head, completely unable to put a full sentence together. When we made it out into the hallway, with his sisters on our heels, he closed the door right in their faces. I watched as their mouths hung to the ground before the door separated us.

Rune offered his arm, and I slid mine through his, still not trusting my voice.

We started down the hall, and every step echoed like a heartbeat.

“You okay?” he asked, his tone quieter now that it was just us. “Was that too much back there?”

“I think I blacked out a little,” I admitted. “You’ve stunned me speechless.”

The corners of his lips twitched, and I practically held my breath to see one of his breathtaking smiles. “And I didn’t even have to kiss you.”

My eyes rounded again. “Were you planning to? Did I ruin it?”

Everything faded away as the smile I’d been waiting for stretched across his face and practically blinded me. “Never.”

The moment Rune opened the grand arched doors, my breath caught in my throat.

The courtyard I’d passed through days ago—humid, overgrown, half-shadowed by hanging moss—was unrecognizable.

Tonight, it glowed.

Dozens of floating lanterns hovered in the air like fireflies caught in some slow-motion waltz, casting golden light over everything they touched.

The ancient oaks surrounding the perimeter had been draped in gauzy silks that shimmered like starlight.

Between their thick trunks, long tables wrapped in vines and candles curved like rivers, lined with lush florals in deep purples and crimson.

Music swelled from somewhere unseen—haunting and beautiful, threaded with magic that made my skin tingle.

And in the center of it all, a glass dance floor hovered just above the surface of the reflecting pool. I pressed my hand to my lips and sighed in absolute wonder. I didn’t know what I’d expected out of a Halloween masquerade, but this wasn’t it.

Rune placed his hand at the small of my back and led me to the dance floor.

I could practically feel all of the eyes in the room on me as he guided me up the enchanted steps and to the raised platform with the other coven members.

Heat from his touch practically seared me through my gown.

I could hardly think with his hand so low on my back, I don’t know how I managed to make it up on the dance floor without stumbling.

When he swooped me around on the raised platform, I thought I was going to pass out.

Not only was he gorgeous, but he could dance? This was all entirely too much. Rune leaned in and his breath coated my ear as he spoke, “Don’t get used to all the slow dancing, my family likes to cut loose.”

I leaned away from him so he could see my face as I grinned. “I can’t wait to see this.”

And cut loose they did. The music quickly picked up to a wild beat, and before I knew it, there were tons of people all over the dance floor.

It wasn’t just a few couples here and there.

It was everyone. I’d never seen so many bodies mashed together, laughing and having a good time.

It was a magic in and of itself. There was twerking and ass shaking all over the room, and everyone was laughing.

There wasn’t the background dread of what was to come.

All that mattered was what was happening tonight. All that mattered was living.

When Adelle and her twin sisters took to the dance floor, anticipation zinged through me. I knew it was about to get even wilder, until Adelle’s eyes found mine. I shook my head from where I stood off to the side with Rune, thinking it would be enough to deter her.

Oh boy, was I wrong.

“Oh no,” I muttered under my breath.

Rune chuckled beside me. “You’re in trouble now.”

“I’m not dancing?—”

“You absolutely are,” Adelle announced, grabbing my wrist with glitter-covered fingers. “It’s a sin to let a dress like that sit still.”

Before I could argue, she was pulling me into the fray. Music pulsed up through my heels and into my spine. The beat was filthy, fast, and impossible to resist. As the crowd swallowed us, I stopped trying to fight it so hard.

Adelle spun me around and then slapped my ass for good measure. I pretended to be scandalized and let out a loud gasp, but she just barked out a laugh.

But then I saw him… Rune was standing off to the side, watching me with a predator's gaze, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

Adelle leaned in and practically shouted in my ear. “He looks like he wants to drag you out of here.”

“Good,” I replied boldly.

She threw her head back and laughed as she spun me right back into his arms. His fingers gripped my hips as if he’d been waiting.

The next song dropped with a beat so dirty it was practically obscene. Rune moved with a smooth, predatory grace, hands never leaving my hips. He pressed against me, guiding my movements as we rolled together in time with the rhythm.

“You’re trying to kill me,” I gasped.

“Not yet,” he whispered, lips brushing my ear. “But I’m close.”

I arched into him instinctively, heat flaring low in my belly. My body responded before my brain could keep up. I wanted more. I wanted everything.

His hands tightened.

“We need to get out of here,” he said, voice rough now. He wove his fingers through mine and dragged me through the throngs of people grinding and dancing around us.

Exhilaration filled my chest as freedom beat through my veins. Finally.

Until Babette stepped into our path. She wore a slinky red number that hung off her body in a more obscene way than the music pulsing through the speakers.

The sounds around us seemed to fade as she smirked.

She brushed her hair over her shoulder as her eyes bounced between us and our hands clasped together.

“Isn’t this cute?” She sneered.

Rune let out a sigh. “What can I do for you, Babette?”

The corner of her lip lifted as she ignored him and honed in her focus on me. “How does it feel?”

I knew what was coming, but I answered anyway. “What?”

“Having my sloppy seconds?”

It was like everything slammed into slow motion with her words. All of the dancing seemed to stop as people watched the exchange curiously, and I could have sworn the DJ intentionally turned the music down.

Nosy bastards.

This was the last thing I wanted to do. All I wanted to do was get lost in Rune and stir up those feelings he’d ignited within me like before. But now we were having to deal with this…

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “This isn’t the time nor the place.”

She leaned in as her eyes sparkled. “How does it feel to know that he actually wanted me and chose me? But you are here because of an agreement. He only wants you because of what you can give him.”

All of the blood seemed to drain from my face. How did she know this was arranged?

Her feline-like smile only continued to stretch across her face. “He let me in his office,” she rolled her eyes as if this was a no-brainer. “I saw the marriage contract on his desk. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.”

“Babette,” Rune’s voice cut through the static of my brain, and I blinked. “That’s enough.”

“Is it? Don’t you think the coven would love to know why Ms. Maple is here? Everyone has wondered since the beginning why on earth you would want an outsider.”

Rune squared his shoulders, and relief hummed through me.

“Maple is here because I want her here. Maple is here because she is an asset to our coven. No, I didn’t send for her, but I see now that the ancestors knew what they were doing when they called her here.

She is here to help our coven and to stop what’s happening with the wolves, but there’s so much more to her than that.

She’s funny, smart, and hardheaded. She’s exactly what this coven, and I have been missing.

” He stepped in close so the rest of the coven couldn’t hear what he said next. “

Her mouth gaped open like a fish as he wrapped his fingers around mine and shouldered us past her. His mother waited on the other side with a triumphant gleam in her eyes.