Page 49 of Witch of My Heart

“Is it bad if I say lighter, but surreal?” I asked.

“Not at all,” Blithe shook his head.

“Then light but sorta surreal. Like all that bad shit is literally my fucking life,” I nodded. “I knew that, but now I don’t know the word for really knowing it.”

“Realizing it’s not going to change?” Duke offered.

“Accepting it, because we can’t change the past,” Blithe said and let out a long slow breath.

“What do people do after that?” I asked.

“Whatever they want,” Duke said.

“Just because she brought all those horrors into your life doesn’t mean you have to stop living. Healing is an ongoing process, but you get to live. You survived.”

“Could a shade hurt our future kids?” I asked, leaning back in the dining room chair and closing my eyes.

“Not that one,” Blithe said, squeezing my knee again. “That one was just afraid. In general, they don’t hurt people. Sometimes they get big enough to toss a tantrum but it’s rare they get to be that big.”

“Do they still happen to your parents?” I asked and almost hated myself for bringing up their family trauma.

“Not in a long time,” Duke said. “They might pop back up again at some point, but it’s not an everyday thing.”

“And you guys are going to stay in Heartville with me?” I asked.

“We are,” Blithe nodded. “You can’t get rid of us now.”

“What about your stuff?” I asked. “After the war, when the dust settled, I wanted everything of mine back I could get. I don’t want you to feel ---”

“Hey,” Blithe said, stopping me before I spiraled over stuff that was probably safe and sound.

“I’ll go back and get it, or we’ll make our siblings bring it out. We’ll hire a moving company. We have choices. It’s not across the ocean,” Duke laughed. “Even if it were, with the Other World gateway nearby it wouldn’t be that big of a problem. Seriously,let us worry about that. Actually, after we ward to your liking, both of you should let me worry about that. You two take your mating moon. I’ll figure out the details of the move.”

“Thanks, Duke,” Blithe said before his cousin could change his mind.

“Don’t worry. One day, I’ll meet my mate and you can babysit life while I go to la-la-romping land for a while,” Duke chuckled, his cheeks slightly tinged with a blush.

“You know I will,” Blithe smiled. “What about the notes? It said to stay here.”

“Well, if the old dead vampire has a problem with me getting things in order for the move, he can come talk to me himself. I’m too old for passing notes,” Duke said, leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms high above his head. “I’ll clear up the breakfast dishes. You two work out what you want for wards.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. “You don’t have to clean up after us. You cooked, after all.”

“Division of labor,” Duke shrugged. “I’ll be living here too. I don’t want to wake up with some escaped loony ghost standing over me either.”

I laughed despite the image of Ginger his comment brought to my third eye.

“So, you two magic us up some ghost nets and I’ll clean up,” Duke said.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Blithe

Before Heartville belonged to us it belonged to our grandparents. Our parents grew up out here and Uncle Blake had returned for a while before deciding he wanted to be closer to my carrier. That same magic ran through the land now that it did back then. Some part of me liked to imagine that’s why I was so drawn here and why Duke followed me all the way almost to the coast. Others had lived here claiming houses in one way or another, but our family was here at one time. I imagined our grandparents performing their own wards and the magic pulsed in my veins. Maybe the magic came from the shifters who came before us or maybe from the dragonfly fay that flew in and out of the seam carried it to Earthside. I wasn’t sure of the how, but I knew Heartville was fortunate to have the magic buzzing beneath its houses.

That magic that ran through the very soil itself made our new home easy to ward. None of the previously lain magic interfered as I drew symbols and gave the house blood in spaces I viewed as ‘weaker.’ Inch by inch and room by room, we made the house ours. We used old magic – fur, whiskers, and scales all hidden out of site to keep away negative energy from us and the place we now called home.

Once the hearth candles from breakfast burnt down the three of us gathered in the backyard just a few feet from the wild rosebush where the shade had finally been laid to rest. With a garden spade borrowed from a wolf named, Eston, we dug a hole and buried the candle stubs along with a lock of hair from each of us. None of us could be sure what would come next. Cord’s trauma was still around and all of our problems didn’t magicallydisappear. Hell, we even had a dead vampire wanting us to stay put. Nothing had changed except everything. Cord was my mate – the man who I’d spend the rest of my life with. Whether it was for family or by fate, Duke had decided to join me on the next chapter of my life.

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