Page 12 of Blood of Night (The Thorne Hill)

“What kind of fire is it?”

“The blue fire, from the Underworld.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I huff. “Did I just claim another throne?”

ChapterSeven

Laughter is a completely inappropriate response to everything that’s going on, yet it’s the only way my brain can keep from imploding. I bring my hand to my mouth to stifle my laughter, and Eliza steps back, looking at me like I’ve completely lost it.

Maybe I have.

“You know, this would be one way to get Osiris to come to me.”

Eliza blinks once. Twice. Three times. “Okay, I was waiting for the part where you told me you were joking but that hasn’t happened yet.”

“I’m not. Maybe I should summon all the hellfire from the Underworld and, I don’t know, burn something down with it.”

“Does it work that way?”

“Probably not.” I close my eyes and try to find some sort of inner peace so the fire fades away. Juliet’s cries echo through the large house and Eliza and I go inside, shutting the door behind us and leaving Binx, Pandora, and Scarlet outside to patrol and make sure Eamon is actually off my property. I’ve tailored the wardings to protect me and me alone. For years, I lived by myself with my familiars and set up the complicated lines of magic to keep anyone who wishes to harm me from crossing.

But it’s not just me anymore. I’m sure I can work out how to include my own daughter, but including Eliza and Lucas? I’m not sure. It’s something I can figure out—when I have the time. For now, I turn toward the door and spread my arms out, whispering a simple incantation to protect the house.

“Don’t burn anything tonight,” Eliza starts, following behind me as we go back upstairs to attend to Juliet. “The smell of smoke is hard to get out of drywall and you just got this house restored.”

“I’m not burning my own house,” I tell her, looking over my shoulder. “Maybe an abandoned building or something with a moat around it so I don’t accidentally start a forest fire or something.”

“Good luck finding an abandoned castle with a moat around it that actually is filled with water then. And you do know fires can blow over water.”

“Right. I’ll have to create a magical dome first.”

“I really don’t know if you’re joking or not.”

“I don’t either.”

Freya has shifted back into her regular cat-form and is perched at the end of the swing, sitting in the empty space Juliet’s little legs don’t yet reach. One of her paws is outstretched and gently resting on Juliet’s chest, and I want to immediately take a picture, though I know I can’t post it anywhere. I’d get a billion comments telling me how it’s not safe to let a cat snuggle a newborn, and I can’t exactly explain that Freya isn’t a cat at all but instead a familiar who I suspect is going to bond with Juliet and become hers.

Maybe that was the reason she came to me after her first witch died. It’s not usual to have three familiars, and it’s even more unusual to have a familiar bond with another witch after their first witch died. Both Freya and Pandora’s witches were murdered, and I just happened to be the next witch they came across. Neither had taken on the form of a cat at the time but changed to fit in with Binx.

“Where’s my phone?” I ask and suddenly feel like everything is surreal. The last time I had my phone, Lucas and I were sitting on the couch watching TV. I’d fallen asleep with his arms around me, holding Juliet in place as I slept. We were waiting for her to get sleepy before going upstairs and attempting to sleep ourselves, but I clearly lost that battle.

Was that only yesterday?

“I’ll get it,” Eliza says and speeds out of the room.

Everything was perfect yesterday. We had gone out for dinner with Abby and her family. I got a little dressed up and Lucas kept looking at me like he couldn’t wait to get home and devour me throughout our meal.

Did he even eat yesterday?

We had sex in the afternoon, and he bit me, but he didn’t want to take too much of my own blood since I’m breastfeeding. Do Horsemen get hungry? What if Osiris commands them to go out in the day?

I squeeze my eyes closed when the lights above me start to flicker, and Eliza comes back with my phone as well as Lucas’s.

“Your phone is dead.”

“Figures as much.” Inhaling, I get hit with emotion when I take Lucas’s phone. I tap the screen and fight back tears when I see that he set his lock screen to a photo Tabatha took of Lucas and me the day Juliet was born. We’re in bed and I look ragged, but the way Lucas is looking at his daughter almost does me in.

“He’ll want to see this,” I say, voice thin, and snap a few photos. Juliet has quieted down for the moment, comforted by Freya. “We should make sure to document as much of her as we can.”

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