Page 49

AMbrOSE

I stare down at my phone with a pit in my stomach. My call has gone to Piper’s voicemail, again. I’ve texted so much, I’ve fully plunged into stalker territory. When she didn’t answer texts, I began calling, which she also ignored.

I’ve barely slept. After Piper left, I went up to my room, laid on my bed, and stared at my ceiling.

Despite how weary I am from the last few days, my brain wouldn’t shut down.

I kept thinking over the mistakes I’ve made and the position that I put Piper in.

The worst part of all is that she’s cursed to be obsessed with me for the rest of our lives.

I roll out of bed, still in my clothes from last night.

There are reminders of Piper taunting me all over the house.

I shower and remember the way she trusted me when she was sick.

Not just to watch over her, but to care for her when she was too weak to stand.

In the kitchen, I stand at the stove, knowing I should eat something, but all I can do is remember Piper in here making potions.

I open the fridge just to slam it shut. Fuck. My stomach is empty, but it churns with the feeling of true loss.

My feet take me to the library before I realize where I’ve wandered.

I stare at the pile of books on the table.

Piper and I spent so many hours researching, laughing, and enjoying each other's company in here. The fireplace has a tidy stack of wood waiting to be set alight with the spark of a match. I always make sure it’s ready for Piper since she loves the warmth and snap of the fire, the hint of wood smoke, and the way it makes the library cozy.

There’s an open book on the table, as if Piper was interrupted when reading, and now I don’t know if she’ll ever be back to finish it. The thought hits me like a blow to the stomach. My heart physically aches in my chest.

I’ve fallen in love with Piper. I can’t even pinpoint when it happened.

It was a creeping vine that grew slowly tangled around my heart and now it’s squeezing until it feels like I can’t breathe.

I can’t function. Sitting in that chair when Piper was sick, watching to make sure she didn’t stop breathing, eating tacos with her while we shared admittedly awful stories about our pasts, seeing her break out of her shell and crawl onto my lap at Heathens, it was every moment we spent together that made me fall.

But how unfair is it for me to tell her that, when I know the way she feels about me is the result of a spell and not real?

It’s not fair to me and it’s definitely not fair to her. She’s trapped because of my fucking curse. How fucking ironic that I’ve been abandoned half my life, but now I know I need to push Piper away for her own wellbeing.

I’m not sure I can, though.

I drag my hand through my hair and dial Piper’s phone again.

I know she’s upset, but knowing she’s cursed to love me, I’m surprised that she could walk away from me.

I should let her have her space to sort through everything that has happened, but there’s a nagging feeling that won’t let me leave her alone.

Her phone goes to voicemail again.

Fuck it.

My magic thrums in my chest, a persistent buzz that won’t go away.

That’s it. I can’t take this anymore. I grab my keys and rush out to the car.

Piper can’t ignore me if I’m standing in front of her.

We need to figure out how we move forward.

Because I can’t sleep without her next to me, and I don’t want a life where she’s not by my side.

If we have to comb every book in my library, or hold Fitz hostage until she tells me how we can free Piper from the false love of my curse, then that’s what we’ll damn well do.

I speed across town in a blur, arriving at Piper’s without barely a memory of any of the streets I passed.

Shit, did I even stop at the stop signs?

My magic twists in my chest, anxiety burning with every breath as I sprint up the steps of her building.

My fist is poised to knock on Piper’s door when Roman sticks his head out of the apartment he and Josephine share.

Josephine, Piper, and Stellan all live in the same building. Like a dorm.

“What are you doing here?” Roman looks up and down the hallway, as if expecting someone to be with me.

“I’m here to talk to Piper.”

“Piper’s home? I thought she was at your place.”

I make a frustrated sound, blowing him off. When I raise my hand to knock again, something stalls me. There’s a muffled sound of banging.

“Do you hear that?” I ask, but I don’t bother waiting for a response before I try the knob. The door is unlocked.

I run into the apartment. The sound of glass shattering, cursing, and furniture toppling have me running to the bedroom. I burst through the door, and the sight that greets me makes my blood run cold. Rage, unlike anything I have ever felt, pulls in my chest along with my magic.

Piper’s broken body is lying on the floor. Looming over her is Tucker, his face disfigured with burns and boils, but it doesn’t hide the malicious grin as he kicks Piper.

My magic bursts out of me like a cyclone of power and tunnels into Tucker’s mind.

Tucker freezes, and then crumbles to the ground.

His body shakes as I send illusion after illusion into his mind.

It’s an assault on all of his senses. Every one of his worst nightmares is playing out in real time just for him.

No one else can see, but I’m breaking him.

In his head, all his bones are broken. He’s helpless and vulnerable, just like he made Piper feel time and time again. I’m forcing him to reckon with his inner psyche and it’s a monster.

“That’s enough.” Roman’s hand claps on my back. “He’s gone.”

Tucker’s body might still be there, but that man’s mind is broken beyond fixing. His eyes are open, his body twitching, and drool slides down his chin. I nearly stumble back, my shoulder colliding with the wall. I’ve just used an excessive amount of magic, but I need to get to Piper.

“Piper,” I pant as I push off the wall and stumble over to her broken body.

“Help me,” I beg as I drop to the floor, not even caring that I’m kneeling on pieces of broken glass.

I scoop Piper up, but I’m too spent from using all that magic.

I can’t even stand. Roman takes her from my arms. I can’t even protest because I’m too weak to do anything to help.

“We’ll take her to Josephine. She can heal her.” Roman hurries through the apartment. I follow, but each step is a challenge. My feet weighed down by my fatigue. I send up a prayer to the Maiden, Mother, and Crone, begging that they’ll listen and save her.

The people who are supposed to love me the most have spent their life running away from me.

I can’t lose Piper because she holds my heart in her hands.

She’s lived under the thumb of her father or her uncle her entire life.

Only now, when she’s broken free, will she be able to have peace.

And this is what happens? How fucking unfair is life?

“Josephine,” Roman bellows as he sets Piper down on their couch. Josephine runs out of the bedroom in an oversized t-shirt with Yoda on the front, her hand pressed to her chest. Her little sister, Penelope, sprints out of her room a few seconds later.

“What happened?” Josephine looks between me and Roman.

Penelope glares at me. “Did you do this?”

“No,” I bark out, my eyes focused on Piper’s beaten body. “Tucker.” I choke out the word, hoping he’s screaming in his mind, trapped in a nightmare for eternity.

“Please help her,” I beg Josephine, who immediately drops to her knees in front of Piper. She places her hands on her head and closes her eyes.

Some of the swelling immediately goes down. The blood that’s dripping from her split lip dries up as the wound closes. Josephine runs her hands down Piper’s arms and over her stomach, frowning as magic continues to pour out of her.

Penelope comes around the table with a bowl of water and a washcloth and begins cleaning blood off Piper’s hands and forearms. They must have been cut by the broken bottles.

“Why is she shaking like that?” I ask. Piper’s body is trembling, her teeth chattering.

“It’s her curse. I’ve healed what I could of the injuries, but her curse is hitting her right now, too. I can’t do anything about that,” Josephine says forlornly.

Fucking curses.

I sink into the chair, my legs no longer able to hold me up. What a fucking day.

“Should we move her back to her bed?” Josephine asks as she lays a blanket over Piper. She’s still bruised. I know from what she’s told me before that Josephine can heal and speed things along, but depending on how badly you’ve been hurt, she might not be able to fix everything as good as new.

“Tucker is over there.”

“What?” Josephine looks at the door that’s still open out into the hall. Piper’s door is wide open too. Thank God, nobody else lives in this apartment building besides our friends.

“He’s not a problem any longer.”

Penelope gapes at me. “Did you kill him? Awesome.”

This kid. Crone’s titties. “No, I didn’t kill him. But he is…incapacitated.”

“For the rest of his life,” Roman adds in. When Josephine turns wide eyes on Roman, he waves her off. “I’ll explain later.”

Stellan chooses that moment to wander inside the apartment, although it’s obvious he’s been listening.

“I’ll take him to the hospital. They can figure out what to do with him.

” He walks out the door before barely setting a foot inside.

A few minutes later, he walks past with Tucker thrown over his shoulder like a bag of cement.

“There are broken bottles all over the floor.” I try to get up, but Roman pushes me back down.

“Just take it easy for a few minutes. I’ll go clean up the mess, and then you can take Piper back home.”

Home. I chew on the word. That place is not her home.

She belongs with me. I’m not about to resort to kidnapping, though.

Roman gets the mess cleaned up–his hands breaking out in a horrible rash from one of the potions that Josephine promptly heals.

By the time he’s done, some of my strength returns.

I gently pick up Piper and carry her back to her apartment.

Once again, I sit vigil at Piper's side. She alternates between shifting restlessly and kicking off the covers, to being so still I worry that she’s stopped breathing.

More than once, I’ve anxiously laid my hand on her chest, fear gnawing at my stomach while I wait for the gentle rise of her breathing to reassure me that she’s still alive.