His lips press into a thin line. “Right, but still, tell me. Do you feel okay? Even if you are strong now. Pain is still very real for you.”
I nod. “Yeah, I’m fine. You protected me from most of it.” We stand together and I look down at my hands, arms, and legs. I’m fine, there’s not even a scratch on me which is nice because I’d just gotten dressed. Jaak, though… I suck in a sharp breath and reach out to touch him.
His back and shoulders are bloody. Glass is embedded in his body, and blood gushes from the cuts on his arms and legs.
I grab his hand and he looks at me. “What happened? No, no, no.”
“The blast was…magical.” Jaak lifts up his hand and looks at it. There’s a shard of glass stuck in the back of his hand, right between his fingers. He pulls it free with a wince and drops the bloody glass to the floor. “I should have suspected something like this.”
That’s all he says before he turns to the mostly still intact dresser and starts rummaging for clothing.
I watch him with an open mouth for a moment before I rush to his side. “What do you mean you should have expected this? And what are you doing? We have to tend to your wounds.”
“We must find the head mage. They know we’re here and there isn’t much time to stop them. Not if they’ve resorted to this.”
“What’s this? I don’t even know what happened? How are you hurt? Why aren’t you healing?” My last question comes out broken and confused. It’s true, he isn’t. Some of the shards fall to the floor as Jaak moves, but the wounds remain. “I don’t understand. Why are you hurt and I’m not?”
“I shielded you,” he tells me, pulling on a pair of pants. “This kind of explosion was arcane. My wounds will not heal as they would normally, not when the attack was designed for my kind. For you. I suspect our home was the only target of their magic.” He glances at me and I see worry and pain in his eyes as he looks me over. I’m not hurt but Jaak is looking at me like I am as he speaks, “It would have injured you just as much if you had been in its path and that I cannot abide.” I watch Jaak pull out a button up but it’s going to be a bloody mess if he puts it on with the way his wounds are bleeding.
“Stop,” I tell him and still his hands. “You-you can’t just get dressed like it’s business as usual. You’re hurt. We have to clean the wounds and get the glass out or it won’t heal properly.” Jaak opens his mouth and I know the demon is going to protest so I put a finger to his lips. “Don’t argue with me. You’re hurt and it’s my duty as your wife to worry. You will sit and let me clean your wounds, do you understand?”
I feel Jaak’s lips turn up against my finger before I see his smile. I smile back at him, I can’t help it. Not because of the brainwashing I’ve endured that stops me from frowning but because Jaak’s smile means the world to me.
“Very well,” he says, letting me take his hand and lead him out of the bedroom. I would take him into the bathroom to work on his wounds but the windows there are also destroyed. We have to go somewhere else. I leave the bedroom and the light atthe end of the hallway above the stairs flickers on. I head that way. I know when the house is giving directions by now.
“We’re going downstairs, okay?” I put one of his arms over my shoulder and help him walk. I don’t like how heavy he feels or how much I can see the effort it takes for Jaak to keep going. What did this to him?
I’m going to make whoever set that explosion off pay. I’m going to rip them limb from limb until I hear them beg for mercy, and even then I won’t stop. It will never be enough. No amount of begging will erase what has been done to my beloved.
We descend the stairs and I look up at Jaak. “Don’t you dare risk yourself to keep me safe. Never again. If something big and magical comes for us, it hits us both.”
He snorts. “That I cannot do. I will not sacrifice my heart for my body. You are what is most precious to me in this world and I would ensure a thousand punishments to see you safe.”
I sigh as we reach the bottom of the stairs and repress the urge to shake him. “Jaak, I mean it. It’s not-”
There’s a sound of a door opening and closing. The front door, to be precise. Both Jaak and I freeze and I don’t hesitate to put myself in front of him. I can already feel the pull that happened in the toy store rising up in me. I hear someone walking and they’re in the entryway now. They’ll be in sight in just a few seconds once they cross the hallway. The memories that are mine and Jaak’s mix and mingle in front of me. Whatever fool just walked into our home is going to meet an untimely end.
“Meadow, no, get behind me.” Jaak tries to pull me back but I brush him off with reflexes faster than I could have ever imagined. He grasps nothing but air and I look over my shoulder to shake my head no.
“Meadow,yes.I’m protecting you now. I’m the Bride of the Hell Maw, remember?” I turn back to face the archway. Thesteps are just on the outside of it. One more second now and they’ll be at my mercy.
I raise my fists and feel the knowing that guided me before taking over. “Who dares enter my home? Show yourself now!”
No sooner have the words left my mouth does the intruder round the corner and come into the room. I can hardly believe my eyes. I drop my fists and rub my eyes to make sure I’m not seeing things.
“Charlie?”
Chapter Thirty
“Holy shit. You were really ready to beat my ass, huh?”
I don’t say anything. I run across the room and throw myself at Charlie. “What are you doing here? I thought you were dead in a ditch somewhere! Is everyone okay?”
“A ditch? Really? You sound like my mom.”
He’s right, I do sound like his mom.
“Yeah, and now that I'm thinking about it she has a point. Who knows where you go.”
