Page 35 of Total Eclipse of the Moon
"I had everything under control, thank you."
His eyebrows shot upward. "Did you? Looked to me like you had no magic and were about to get killed." He held out his hand. "Give me your hand."
"Why?"
"Please. Trust me for a second."
He marveled at how much his hand dwarfed hers. "Madeline, I swear to you on my eternal soul I will protect you. I will die trying to protect you so that we can get this curse lifted." He felt a small tremor run through her.
"This is a bad idea. The two of us…" She glanced skyward and pulled her hand from his. "I don’t think I can reverse your curse. It was ancient magic way beyond my knowledge. Me casting it was pure luck. Or maybe misfortune."
"You’re the only one who might have a clue how to lift it. I think you can."
"You and me staying here together? Even tonight…" She raised the glass and took a big sip. "You want me to keep drinking?"
Chapter Eleven
Shane tookthe glass from her. "I don’t want you drunk. I want answers. Why did you do it if you didn’t want to?"
Madeline’s heart beat hard. She couldn’t do this. Not tonight. Emotion, heavy and fierce, threatened to overwhelm her, but not for what sat between them, although that added fire to her edginess. She scooted her chair a few inches from the table and somehow managed to stand.
He stared, which somehow kept her frozen.
"What did the queen have over you that was powerful enough to coerce you into it?"
God, this man. He believed her when she said she didn’t do it by choice. His expression said he didn’t judge her for being a witch. The words to say why she’d done it wouldn’t come. Images in her head overpowered everything else—pictures of those who’d died despite doing everything asked of her. That hadn’t saved them.
She gripped the small toy car she’d pulled out of her pocket tight in one hand.
A soul deep yearning to no longer be alone, to no longer carry this burden by herself kicked in. A longing she usually kept locked away.
She had to leave. She needed to see her son’s spirit tonight. This was her single chance of the year, the anniversary of his death. She tried to call his spirit at other times, but he never responded. Only on this one night did he come.
She'd discovered it by accident when exactly one year after his death she'd been mourning him, trying to reach out to him. And he came to her.
His laughter was the only highlight of her miserable existence. It was why she worked so hard all year to stay alive.
"I need to understand what’s going on." Shane’s blue eyes, bright and accepting, trapped her. She liked him, trusted him. Which was dangerous. Anyone other than Cora who she’d gotten close to like this and let into her world ended up dead. She refused to be the reason he died.
The grief for her son bubbled up.
Nope. Not breaking down in front of him.
Must leave now.
She walked for the front door, grabbing her mini backpack on the way.
"Madeline. Stop!" Shane called out.
She had one hand on the front door when he tackled her against the wall. She held back from blasting him with magic because…damn it, she didn’t want to harm him. He’d never given her reason to think he’d intentionally hurt her, and that’s why being around him caused so much pain. So much guilt.
She shook her head back and forth, struggling to put all the grief saturating her mind back into its box. Tears leaked. This was humiliating. "I can’t do this. Not tonight. I have to go. There’s not much time left."
"What's going on? Do you do something to make sure the curse stays in effect? This is the anniversary."
He grabbed her fisted hand and opened it to view the small, charred toy. The fire that killed her son had blackened its paint and melted away the rubber leaving only steel wheels. It barely resembled the red Chevy it’d once been.
"What’s this?" He touched the car with his forefinger.
