Page 48 of Bewitched By the Voodoo King (The Bewitching Hour #7)

Our bellies were full of beignets, and the sound of smooth jazz wrapped around us as we left the French Quarter.

Rune’s twin sisters waited for us in their little magic shop and then filled up bags with things for my family to take home with them.

Enchanted fabrics, voodoo dolls, crystals, and candles.

The tension that had been thick enough to cut the night before was lighter.

No curses or magic were mentioned, and for the first time in my life, I was thankful for that. I didn’t want to feel dread when I was around them. I wanted forgiveness to take hold and stay, and the only way that could be done was by moving forward, not looking back.

There was now a different kind of hurricane blazing through me that hadn’t been there before.

Want.

With every brush of Rune’s fingers against mine, there was a coiling heat only getting hotter and hotter in my belly.

I didn’t bother with looking at him because I knew if I did, I would be an inferno.

I couldn’t afford it, not right now, not with my family so close.

I had to wait, and I hated that more than anything else.

It was hard enough to keep my thoughts innocent, but all I could think about was the steady ache between my thighs at what we’d done the night before.

As we hopped off the trolley near the coven house, I watched my family’s faces. Their stiffened shoulders and tight smiles were now relaxed and genuine.

My grandparents didn’t seem at ease, and I didn’t exactly blame them.

It would take a lot for them to feel normal again, especially around me, I figured.

They had stolen so much from me, even if they’d convinced themselves it was to save me.

No amount of apologies would change the fact that I had grown up half-alive because of their choices.

It was unfortunate that they wouldn’t get to know me now, not really.

But they had chosen fear over faith, and I had to live with the pieces.

So would they.

Rune pressed a kiss to the back of my hand as he looked at my family. I was so thankful for him. He’d made a lot of this healing and forgiveness possible. I wouldn’t have been able to do this day without him. He took the tension away. He made everything lighter.

“So what’s the plan?” Rune asked my papa.

Papa rubbed the back of his neck. “We didn’t plan on staying but a night. Our flight leaves in a few hours.” He looked over at his parents with a weary expression. “I don’t know what they have planned, though.”

My grandmother stepped forward, her arms overflowing with bags. “We would like to know if we could stay for a little bit. We haven’t had a coven in a long time, and I don’t think it would be wise to go back to the West Coast just yet.”

Rune’s gaze was stormy, but his words were the opposite. “You are welcome in my coven, but we have rules.”

My grandfather wrapped his arm around my grandmother’s shoulders. “Curses aren’t in our cards. We lost entirely too much when we took your magic from you.”

Grandmother’s face fell. “We lost you, and we want nothing more than to get some time back, if we can.”

I blinked back the moisture in my eyes. It was another step toward forgiveness and a better future. I didn’t trust myself to speak, so instead I nodded.

My parents hugged me goodbye and promised to call more often. I didn’t know how much I believed them, and I told myself that I wouldn’t hold my breath, but at least it was something.

An Uber pulled up and took my parents away, all while we watched them go. Rune pulled me to the side and hunched down to my eye level.

“There’s still time for you to go,” he whispered.

I frowned, and my stomach lurched. Did he not want me? “What?”

“If you want to go, I will release you from the contract. The last thing I want is for you to feel trapped. You fulfilled your end of the contract, but all I want is for you to be happy. If that means you going back with your parents, I don’t blame you.”

All the moisture in my eyes that I had been holding back came flooding forward.

I threw my arms around his neck and shook my head.

“Rune, I don’t want to leave you. They aren’t going back to my home.

They’re going back to theirs.” I peppered kisses against his jaw.

“Who would have thought I would have been bewitched by the Voodoo King?” A small giggle escaped me.

He pulled away from my face and grinned. “I guess we need to tell the rest of the coven then.”

All I could do was press my lips to his.