Page 79 of The Cursed

"She is to him what you are to me, my love," Gray said, touching his forehead to mine. "We'll get them back when we can."

"We'll have to. We'll need them when the price of you being here comes crashing down on us," I said, hanging my head. Charlotte said he didn't know what his price would be, and I believed her from the way he studied me.

"What are you talking about?" Gray asked.

"The Maiden. The Mother. The Crone," I said, watching as Gray's face paled. He shared a look with Leviathan, his eyes wide when they finally came back to me. "We upset the balance by bringing you here, and our daughter will be the one to make it right."

"Charlotte was the crone," Leviathan said, understanding dawning on him while Gray stared at me.

"And you're the Mother," my husband said, his hand dropping to touch the wound on my stomach.

"Not yet, but I will be," I admitted.

Gray shook his head, his denial rising immediately. "This changes nothing. If you don't want children, we will not have children. It is that simple," he said, standing and pulling me into his arms. He lifted me from the ground, moving to the Tribunal room doors as the coven stepped inside.

Leviathan waved us on, signaling that he would deal with the witches for the time being.

"But the balance," I argued.

"Fuck the balance. I'll watch the world burn before I allow it to force you into something you do not want," he said. Gray's headshake sank inside of me, soothing the frayed edges of my soul. Tonight, I would grieve for the friends I'd lost.

Tomorrow, I'd find a way to move forward.

CHAPTER 46

GRAY

Itook Willow into the bathroom, stripping her out of her clothes. She didn’t move as I tended to her, staring at the wall as if it might hold the answers to her problems. She’d long since stopped crying as I gave Leviathan instructions on how to deal with the Coven members flooding into the Tribunal room, taking her to the privacy of our rooms so that she could break in peace. Moisture gathered at the bottom of her eyes, but she never let those tears fall as I tore her shirt up the middle and stripped it off her.

My fingers went to the pink, new skin on her abdomen just above her belly button. Trembling as I touched the wound, I watched her flinch back from the touch. Her eyes went wild, her body physically recoiling as she snapped out of her trance.

She was in shock, her body working to protect her mind from what she’d experienced. “It’s just me, Witchling,” I said, raising my hands in front of her. I waited for her eyes to settle on mine, for her subtle nod as recognition flared in her stare.

“It's my fault,” she mumbled as I hurried to strip off her pants, pulling them down her legs. Her skin was far too cold to the touch, like ice, compared to the comforting warmth she usually offered. “If I hadn’t spelled that dagger…”

“Don’t you dare,” I snapped, hating how she flinched back from the violence in my tone. “You do not need to carry the weight of the world every time someone fucks you over. Sometimes, people just do shitty things. He tried to sacrifice you and everyone he knew. It ishisfault.”

Willow nodded, stepping into the shower when I gestured for her to come in. I watched through the open door as she stood beneath the cascade, letting the water flow onto her face. Her eyes closed, her lungs heaving at the sudden warmth. She turned, tipping her head back to allow the showerhead to rinse her hair, her body slick and wet even before she wiped the drops from her eyes.

She paused, looking at me suddenly where I stood. “What are you doing?” she asked, her voice painfully soft. “Aren’t you coming in?”

I paused, considering her state and weighing my choices. I could be honest with her, communicate my needs, and give her the choice or simply allow her to grieve in peace. “I can’t,” I said, thinking only of her.

“But you’re covered in blood,” she said, glancing down at my own blood-stained clothing.

“I’ll shower when you’re done,” I said.

“Gray,” she argued, her brow furrowing. Her bottom lip trembled with a flash of vulnerability, her arms wrapping around herself.

I strode forward, stopping only when I lingered just outside the shower door. “I almost lost you,” I said, the confession pulling from my deepest parts. I hadn’t wanted to admit how close Willow was to death when she finally managed to tear that dagger from her stomach, but I’d felt the call of the afterlife coming from her.

I’d seen the reaper waiting in the shadows.

“You didn’t,” she said, the gentleness of her voice striking me in the heart. She’d nearly died, and still, she worried about how it affectedme.

“But I almost did, and if I come in there with you, all I’m going to want is to feel you in my arms. To remind myself that you’re still here, because if you weren’t…” I trailed off. Even knowing I’d follow her to Hell, I understood the Willow I loved would be gone.

She’d never be the same after her death. Never be the same while living through her first day in Hell.

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