Page 98 of Enspelled

I recall the pain filling her eyes when her aunt admitted what she’d done.

Briar had thought I’d betrayed her. That would have been one of her last memories if she’d died.

A rumble emerges from my throat. Mel has to die.Painfully.

“Keane?” Bodie asks.

“I’m good,” I tell him. But I’m not. Not even close.

Minutes tick by as Sera focuses her healing spells on Briar, and as the room grows dimmer and dimmer, soon Bodie drifts away to switch on the overhead light.

I don’t move from beside Briar’s bedside as Sera stands on her other.

Not for hours.

Because I’m watching her so closely, the flutter of her lashes nearly stops my heart.

I lean toward her, ignoring Sera snapping at me to give Briar space. “Briar?”

Sera’s magic fades away, and I can only assume it’s because she’s finished with her spells. Or she’s exhausted. I don’t lift my focus from Briar’s fluttering lashes to check. “Briar?”

Briar whimpers, her body stirring beneath the sheets.

“Is she in pain?” I demand. “Why does she sound like—?”

Briar’s eyes snap open, clashing with mine.

There’s no pain stirring in the blue depths. I don’t know what she’s thinking because I’m not reading surprise, happiness… anything at all.

She gazes up at me, eyes blank.

“Briar? How do you feel?” I ask.

Silence.

Maybe she’s in shock.

I stretch a hand to brush aside a strand of hair from her cheek.

She recoils. “Don’ttouchme.”

My hand jolts to a sudden stop, inches away from her soft cheek. I try out a smile as I tamp down the fear creeping through me at her response. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want—”

“I don’t care what you want.” She shrinks further away, to Sera’s side of the bed, grabbing the sheet and tugging it up to her neck as she does. “You—” her voice breaks, and her eyes fill with tears.

The tears aren’t because of what her aunt did. But because of me. Recognizing they’re my fault makes me desperate, and I don’t know why. “Briar, I didn’t know she was your aunt. I thought—”

Her sob cuts through my words, and she turns away.

Sera is suddenly there, drawing Briar into a hug.

The stare Sera aims my way promises death, and this time something tells me Briar would not be stepping between any spell she flung my way. “Get out.”

My eyes narrow. “I’m not going anywhere.”

I plant my feet and stare her down, determined to stay here forever, regardless of what the witch does.

Until Briar’s sobs intensify and a whimper of pain creeps in.

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