Page 17 of Daddy's Muse
After observing him at the library, I followed him at a distance, the way I always did. He’d walked slower than usual, dragging his feet just a little, his head low beneath the weight ofwhatever sadness clung to him tonight. I wanted to assure him that his cockroach of a roommate wouldn’t be bothering him tonight, but he would find that out soon enough.
I hadn’t been at the library the entire time.
While Colby was busy with his studies, I had been busy taking care ofhim.
The sound Bryan’s bones made when they met the edge of the stairwell—crisp, final—still echoed in my mind from earlier.
His keys had been warm in my palm, damp from where he’d fallen.
A quick trip to the hardware store, and then I left his original keys near the site of his fall, keeping the duplicates close to my chest. I’d arrived at the library about an hour before Colby ended up leaving.
I waited a few hours for him to fall asleep, then slipped into the dorm building through a side door that was propped open, and cautiously used the duplicate room key to unlock Colby and Bryan’s room.
I carefully checked without fully opening the door to make sure Colby was in bed before silently entering and closing it behind me.
I was so close that I could’ve reached out and tucked a stray curl behind his ear, or brushed the back of my fingers along the line of his jaw.
But I didn’t. I wouldn’t; not tonight—although it was really fucking tempting.
Instead, I knelt. Slowly, reverently. The floor beneath his bed was dusty, but I didn’t mind. I pressed my palm to the wood slats, grounding myself. Reaching into the small pouch at my hip, I withdrew the offering I’d prepared at home.
Birch bark, carved with runes for protection and death-warding, wrapped with red thread soaked in my own blood. Beside it, a sliver of obsidian, black as the night outside.
I whispered the words in Old Norse, low and fluid, letting them drip from my mouth like warm honey. Ancient, holy syllables. I felt the shift in the room—the slight pulling of air, the pressure in my chest—as the runes accepted their charge.
No curse would touch him here. No wandering spirit, no cruel thought. Even his nightmares would hesitate before crossing this threshold.
I placed the offering gently beneath the bed, then rose to my feet.
Colby murmured something in his sleep and turned over, brow faintly furrowed. The blanket slipped down, revealing the curve of his neck and the delicate line of his collarbone.
My hands tightened at my sides.
He doesn’t know you’re here. He mustn’t know.
Not yet.
But the time would come. Soon.
He would see me again—maybe in the library, maybe at the diner he worked at—and he would smile the way he had before—sweet and unaware. My little hare, darting through the woods without knowing that the forest itself loved him.
I turned away at last, stepping back into the shadowed corner of the room. One last glance over my shoulder. One last drink of the sight of him—warm, whole, protected.
I slipped out as quietly as I’d entered, locking the door behind me.
* * *
I checked on Bryan at the hospital, inconspicuously walking past his room to glance quickly through the glass window onthe door. I couldn’t simply ask staff about his condition, so I gathered as much information as I could via observation.
He was on a ventilator. Perfect.
I’d expected a broken bone or two, but he had to have some severe injury to be in his current state. Maybe he had hit his head. Actually—let me rephrase—hopefully, he had hit his head.
Colby would be alone in his dorm for a while, free from his bully.
I took advantage of his roommate’s absence by visiting him every night as he slept.
Each visit was easier than the one before. The shadows in Colby’s room welcomed me like an old friend now, the dorm walls thick with my presence, my protection.
