Page 53 of Raising Hell: MMF Edition

Amon’s heavy hand lands on my shoulder and spins me to face him. “Ruby, it would allow us over a thousand years to spend together.”

“At what cost?” I shout, darting my eyes towards Cas in search of backup. “I’d be stealing a third of both your lives! Lifetimes…millenniathat I could never repay!”

Cas steps forward and wraps me in his arms. “This is why I wanted to wait until after the spell to tell you. How many ways can I explain that we want this? What will it take for you to trust that we’re going into this with both eyes open?”

“You’d lose all those years…”

“Years we would have to live with nothing more than the memory of you. Amon and I have discussed this, Ruby. That is no life, not after we’ve found you.”

“But you’d have each other,” I whisper into his chest as he hugs me tighter.

Amon sighs, cocooning both of us in his muscular arms. “Ruby… I love Cas, and Cas loves me… but you’re the glue that holds everything together. If we lost you…”

“Wecan’tlose you,” Cas insists.

“Don’t force us to live this life without you,” Amon pleads, and I tilt my head up to look into his eyes. They’re solid black, the faint red glow pulsing behind them as he stares back at me. “This small amount of time we’ve had together… it’s not enough. It willneverbe enough. Please, baby… please don’t make us let you go.”

There’s that word Amon never uses.

Please.

For what seems like an eternity, we sit there wrapped up in each other, until finally, I draw in a deep breath. “Okay,” I whisper.

Cas squeaks and pulls away, immediately dropping an excited, wet kiss on my lips. “You’ll do it? You’ll stay with us?”

“I hate the sacrifice it takes,” I admit, and his sharp inhale tells me he’s getting ready to argue, so I hurry to continue, “but if you’re both positive it’s what you want, then yes. I’ll do it.”

“You won’t regret this! We will be such…” He leaves another noisy, smacking kiss on my lips before pulling back, grinning like a maniac. “Suchgood boys.”

“I’ve heard that before,” I mutter, completely wry, and Amon barks out a loud laugh. The humor fades quickly, though, as I realize the magnitude of what we’re about to do. “How do we do this?”

“The spell is right here,” Cas says, and we move as one, dropping onto the couch to begin.

My heart thunders as we stand around the rune on the attic floor. It’s been three days since we discovered the spell, and we’ve spent almost every waking hour of those days preparing.After my first fiasco with spellwork, we’re double and triple checking each step.

The rune needed to be adjusted. There were a few scratches in the paint that changed the shape enough to affect the magic. We suspect it’s what caused the original mishap with my summoning spell, and I’m positive I’ve identified the culprit.

When I interrogated Shadow, she only meowed happily, refusing to admit that she was the one who scratched the rune.

Damn cat.

“Are you ready, Ruby?” Amon asks me, the picture of calm on one side while Cas dances between his feet on the other. On the desk, the elixir awaits, cool enough that it no longer emits steaming wisps of smoke. Time ticks away, only minutes remaining until we speak the incantation.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” I ask for what has to be the thousandth time, and Amon silences me with a kiss.

“We’ve been through this. No backing down, not when we’re this close.” He keeps his face near mine as he begs me with his eyes. “Donotmake me give you up.”

My throat works in a rough swallow as I nod, and the relief that washes over him is a potent thing. “Get the potion,” he instructs Cas, who hurries to grab it and place it in the center.

We stand around the outside of the rune, shaky hands entwined in a complete circle. Cas’s hand squeezes mine, and I glance over and soak in his comforting, devil-may-care smile before swinging my head to look at Amon’s more serious, controlled smirk.

“I love you both.”

“We love you, too, Ruby,” Cas says, jiggling my hand as Amon nods. “Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’m going to be.”

We wait until the timer on my phone goes off, and then we speak the words together. “Carmine conturbo vitam vi ligatin aevum.” A glow fills the room, not red like before, but a blinding, serene blue—like staring into the deepest part of the ocean. It brightens, skimming over my skin in a comforting warmth, and they squeeze my hands as we repeat the spell.

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