Page 69 of The Trick

I feel bad. Here I was, pissed at him for this rushed wedding, but I didn’t even think of vows. Though as I lower the tip of the blade to his hand, I begin to recite his favorite line from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Admittedly, I don’t understand the appeal. What about that specific quote makes him love it so much, but that’s love. It’s loving someone that you may not fully understand, but having enough room in your heart, no matter how cold or small it may be, to indulge their demons and humor their passions. It’s what he has always done for me.

“And he would have passed a pleasant life of it, in despite of the Devil and all his works, if his path had not been crossed by a being that causes more perplexity to mortal man than ghosts, goblins, and the whole race of witches put together, and that was—a woman.”

As I finish reciting the quote, I tip his large palm to the side. “Thank you,” I breathe, watching the blood drip into the small vial attached to my ring.

“For what?”

“For loving my brokenness,” I say, and it feels freeing because that’s what he’s always done. Sure, it started with sinister intentions on both our accounts, but what transpired between us, as unconventional as it is, is really what love should be. Accepting the other for who they are and indulging each other's desires, no matter how depraved.

He brings his uncut hand to my chin, tipping it up so my eyes lock on his.

“You’re not broken. You’re just wired differently and I’m fucking glad you are because there’s no one I rather raise hell with. You hear me?”

I lean into his hold on my face, my eyes fighting back tears.

“Good, because there’s no one I’d rather burn with.” I grin as he releases his hold on me, moving his hands to where my vial needs to be sealed. “But I hope you know that this doesn’t mean you’re off the hook,” I add as he helps close the latch on my ring.

“What do you mean, little hellcat?”

“Just because I’m your wife doesn’t mean our fun ends,” I tease.

“Don’t you worry. You’re mine to stalk, to fuck, to punish, in life and in death. Always. However, right now all I want to do is dance with my wife to our song in our future grave plot.”

Swoon.

Reaching for his phone, he swipes to his music app and my heart skips a beat hearing the instrumentals of our song vibrate against the speaker of his phone.

Sleep Tokens “Blood Sport” fills the air around us as he pulls me into him. My chest pressed against his, my hands driftaround his neck.

“I love this song,” I say.

“I would hope so, it’s our song, silly hellcat.”

“Ha, of course, the blood part, yeah, yeah,” I laugh but the expression on his face is stoic.

“No, because it is us. Everything we are and everything we pretend to be. It’s bloody. Messy. Impossible to contain. Loving you is war. But it’s the only battle that I’d come out a winner even if I lost. Because loving you, even if it ends in blood, is more than I deserve and everything I could have ever wanted. When everyone sees a monster, you see an equal. I know I’m broken. Fuck, I’m shattered, but with you, all my fucked up pieces feel whole, because they’re whole enough for you and that’s all I fucking need. So yeah, loving you is a blood sport and that’s something I’m fucking honored to experience with you.”

“Maddox, I didn’t know you felt that way,” I blurt, still stunned by his words, by all of this. I’m not used to seeing him with his horns retracted, so raw and honest. Seeing him like this, knowing that at any moment my Devil’s flame can ignite and yet, he willingly tapers his flame, allowing me to see a side of him that no one else sees. It’s everything.

“If you don’t know by now that I fucking love you, Blair Crane, you’re crazier than I thought.” He laughs, reaching for my hand and bringing it to his lips. “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been craving those damn cookies I had Glinda bake.”

“Ha, no wedding cake huh?” I tease.

“Baby you hate cake. What kind of stalker would I be if I didn’t know that. I had Glinda bake enough of those damn Pillsbury Halloween cookies you like so much so I could stack them high enough to look like a cake. Figured it would only be fitting since you were trying to eat the ones your mom baked for my mom when they were burying Byron all those years ago,” he chuckles. “Disposing of bodies takes a lot out of a person. It’s important to have a snack and hydrate in between,” he adds with sarcasm.

“Hold up, how did you know I wanted those cookies that night?”

He shakes his head, pulling me in closer to him. “I love how that’s what is the most concerning to you in that whole sentence. Remember little hellcat, there isn’t a phone, a camera, a device, I can’t hack into. Then or now,” he says with pride. “You can never hide from me. I’m your curse.”

“Just like you’re my cover. ’Til death, Boogeyman.”

“That’s right. ’Til death, Final Girl.”

And they lived happily ever after.

Yeah fucking right…

EPILOGUE

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