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Bo

“What do you mean, they’re gone?” Mor stares at me from where she sits on the edge of her bed.

When she woke up, I told her the good news immediately.

But I guess I didn’t think through exactly what I should say.

“I mean, gone. They packed up and hit the road.” I rest my hands on Mor’s shoulders, holding her eyes so she can see the truth in mine.

Hoping she reads the relief and hope and honesty in my aura.

And I am confident they’re gone for good.

I went with Sev to make sure of it.

He disappeared into his house after I swore my end of the bargain and returned holding a small clay jar, filled with a glimmering substance.

“Compulsion,” was all he explained it to be.

More powerful than anything Ame could manage.

A forever kind.

Then I rode along in his sportscar to the bed and breakfast where Mor told me the Shelly parents were staying.

The selkie owner watched with wide eyes as we passed through the foyer, but she didn’t stop us.

Helena was the one to open the door, expression somehow both curious and cold.

“Is this the one?” Sev threw the question over his shoulder.

“Who are you?” she’d asked the same time I nodded confirmation.

Instead of answering, the monster shoved a handful of whatever spelled substance the jar contained in her face, and she gasped, dragging it into her nose.

Her mouth. Her lungs.

Sev pushed past her, toward where Alister lay on the bed, still asleep.

Mor’s father got the same treatment, sputtering in surprise at the rude awakening.

Then the couple relaxed, gazes vacant, bodies swaying as if buffeted by a strong wind.

“You will obey me.” Sev crooned.

“I will obey you,” they responded in chorus.

Fear trickled down my spine.

Has he had this all along?

Why hasn’t he put the entire town under his compulsion?

“Forget your children. Forget Folk Haven. Return to your former home.”

“Yes.” Their heads bobbed, and my gut turned with trepidation.

Their slack looks remained as they packed up zombie-style, drug their suitcases outside, and drove away.

The monster stood at my side, his focus on the taillights.

“You could do that to anyone you want.” My voice came hollow, knowing that my vow to him meant it was impossible for me to warn anyone.

Sev turned toward me then, and I flinched back at the blood dripping from his eyes and staining his teeth as he gave me a gruesome grin.

“God objects have limits.” He tilted the jar to show me there was only a tablespoon of the substance left.

“And they have a cost.” He waved toward his face.

“I’m going to be shitting blood for weeks after this.”

“They won’t ever come back,” I assure Mor.

“How do you know that?”

“Trust me.”

Mor will have to because I have no ability to explain the bargain I made.

No wish to either.

But I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

My witch is too smart for me to maneuver around.

“You did something. Not a threat though. If Jack ripping my father’s hand off didn’t drive them off …” Her gaze narrows in thought.

“You spelled them in some way.”

“Mor—”

“Not another witch. You’d need wealth you don’t have even if you could find one strong enough to override their protections.”

“The how doesn’t matter,” I insist. “All that matters is that they’re gone.”

“Not threats,” she mutters to herself as if I didn’t speak.

“Not witches. Not money. But power. It took power to make them leave.” Her eyes widen.

“Sev.”

Shit .

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Did you get help from Sev?” Her green eyes spark with fury.

“He has powers. God objects—I’m sure of it.”

I keep my mouth shut because there’s nothing else I can do.

I’m bound to silence.

But Mor doesn’t need my words.

“I’m right, aren’t I? He used some kind of powerful object to enchant them. To drive off my parents in exchange for … what?” She looks not quite at me, but more around me.

Reading my emotional aura.

“Gods, Bo, what did he demand from you? Is he forcing you to do something?”

“I was never forced,” I hurry to assure her.

“Trust me, I can’t say a bad thing about him.”

Once the words trip off my lips, I fight a cringe.

They are too revealing.

Too literal. Even if I wanted to curse Sev’s name through all the dimensions, I couldn’t.

I am bound to him now more than before.

Not only must I keep the secrets of the past, but I am another tool in his arsenal.

Another object in his collection.

Still, I would make the deal again without hesitation.

Anything to keep the elder Shellys out of the home Mor has built here for herself and her siblings.

“Bo.” Mor’s voice is low, ragged.

I pull her into my chest, holding her lush body tight against me.

“Search my aura if you need to. Whatever choices I made, I am at peace with them. I’m happy. With you. And I know that you and your siblings are safe. That is all that matters.”

“It’s not.” Her fingers dig into the muscles of my back.

“You matter too, Bo.”

My chest expands with the warmth of affection.

Of belonging. “Show me then,” I murmur, voice deepening with need.

“Show me how much I matter to you.”

Mor huffs, and then she digs her feet in and pushes me backward until my shoulders connect with the wall.

Pinned, I loosen my arms so she can press up on her toes and claim my mouth in a searing kiss.

“This isn’t over,” she warns, the words hot against my lips.

“Leave it,” I murmur back.

“I’m happy. We’re happy.”

Cradling her head with my palms, I tilt her chin at the exact right angle.

Our tongues clash, breaths melding, and I’ve never known this level of joy.

Mine. All mine.

We spend the day together in the library, and she doesn’t say another word about her parents other than to assure her siblings that Helena and Alistair are gone for good.

I’m grateful she’s let it go, and I spend the evening using every bit of energy in my body to worship my witch.

When I fall into a deep sleep, I don’t notice the touch of magic that holds me there.

Only a small instinct, too quiet at the moment for me to discern, warns me that my witch has slipped away.