CHAPTER 100: SOME PROTECTOR 2

MADELINE

My mother’s voice drifted up the stairs. "Madeline, dinner’s ready."

I closed the grimoire I’d been studying. The words had stopped making sense an hour ago anyway. My mind kept wandering to the metaphorical blood on my hands. To the way that witch’s eyes had probably gone dim first when the gift I had left her started working his magic before her body would have exploded. Hee blood and guts would have gotten everywhere. From the distance I stood, I could tell that Cian must have suffered the brunt of it. I really had not expected him to be there. If I had known, I would have made it less violent.

I pushed myself up from my desk. My legs protested. I’d been sitting too long. The walk down the hallway felt longer than usual. Each step echoed in the quiet house.

The dining room came into view. I stopped in the doorway.

Something was wrong.

My mother stood by her chair. Her hands gripped the back of it too tightly. Her knuckles had gone white. She didn’t look at me when I entered. Just kept her eyes fixed on the table.

Wilhelm sat across from where I usually sat. My little brother’s blonde hair fell into his eyes. He looked pale. Sick almost. His jaw worked like he was chewing on words he couldn’t spit out.

My father sat at the head of the table. His expression was completely blank. Dead. Like someone had carved his face from stone and forgotten to add any emotion back in.

"Sit down, Madeline." His voice matched his face. Flat. Empty.

I moved to my chair slowly. The scrape of wood against floor sounded too loud. I lowered myself down. My hands found my lap. I pressed them together to keep them from shaking.

No one spoke. The silence pressed against my eardrums. I could hear my own heartbeat. Could hear Wilhelm’s breathing. Could hear the grandfather clock ticking in the hallway.

My father reached into his pocket. He pulled out his phone. His thumb moved across the screen like he was finding something and only stopped when it seemed like he had found what he was looking for. He set the phone down in the center of the table.

Then he pressed a button.

A voice filled the room. Crackling slightly through the speaker. But unmistakable.

"I know I shouldn’t be calling."

My entire body went rigid. I knew that voice. Would know it anywhere. Even distorted by a phone recording. Even when it was rough with pain.

Cian.

"But I—"

The pause stretched. I heard him breathing. Heard the way his voice caught on whatever he was trying to say.

"I need help. Please, I need either you or Madeline’s help. I don’t want my mother to die."

The message cut off. The silence that followed felt worse than the words themselves.

I stared at the phone. My mouth had gone dry. My heart hammered against my ribs hard enough to hurt.

His mother was dying. Cian’s mother was dying and he’d called my father for help. Called because I’d blocked his number and he had nowhere else to turn.

The pain in his voice. Goddess, the raw desperation in those few words.

I looked up at my father. His expression hadn’t changed. It was still that terrible blank mask.

"Just say it." The words came out sharper than I meant them to. "Don’t leave me in suspense."

"Do not think about it." My father’s voice was cold. "Do not think about helping him."

I almost laughed. The sound died in my throat. "That’s not possible."

"Yes, it is."

"No." I shook my head. "Even if I was callous and cruel enough to not want to help. Even if I could ignore what I heard in his voice. I can’t refuse."

My father’s eyes narrowed. "You can and you will."

"He wants me by Cian’s side." I kept my voice steady. Calm. Even though nothing inside me felt calm. "’He’ wants me there. So I must be."

"Who?" The single word came out like a whip crack.

I looked at my mother. She stood frozen by her chair. Her face had gone pale but her eyes were sharp. She knew. Of course she knew. She always knew. Most of it at least.

Then I looked at Wilhelm. My baby brother who was freshly nineteen and thought he was grown. Who wanted so badly to be let into the family secrets. Who had no idea what those secrets would cost him.

"You really want me to speak here, father?" I met his gaze. Held it.

His throat moved as he swallowed. It was the first crack in that stone mask. "You two should leave us."

My mother nodded. She moved toward the door quickly. Not running but close to it. She knew better than to argue. Knew when a battle was already lost.

Wilhelm didn’t move.

"Wilhelm." My father’s voice dropped into a warning.

"I am a son of this house." Wilhelm’s hands curled into fists on the table. "It’s about time I start getting to know what is happening around here."

I watched my father’s expression shift. Watched anger flash across his face. Real emotion finally breaking through.

"If I repeat myself, you will be carried out of this room unconscious."

Wilhelm stood. His chair scraped back violently. He looked at me and the disgust on his face made something twist in my chest. Like I was something dirty. Something shameful. He believed what I had was special treatment.

Then he left. His footsteps pounded up the stairs. A door slammed somewhere above us.

The moment he was gone, my father flicked his wrist. Magic slammed the dining room door shut. The lock clicked. A shimmer appeared around the frame. Soundproofing. Privacy wards.

"Aldric and his antics again I see." My father’s voice dripped with venom.

"I killed a witch today because he asked me to."

The words hung in the air between us. My father went completely still. His face drained of color.

"Are you insane?"

"What was I supposed to do?" My voice rose despite my efforts to control it. "Defy him? Pretend like I had a choice?"

"You always have a choice."

"No." I stood up. My chair tipped backward. "No, I don’t. And if you’re worried I’ll be caught, I won’t be. I was careful. I covered my tracks."

"That’s not—"

"It hurts, father." The words ripped out of me. "What I have to do for this family. The things I have to sacrifice."

He opened his mouth and closed it shortly after. He couldn’t’t seem to find the words.

"I hurt Cian again." My voice cracked. "To keep this family safe. To keep Aldric from destroying everything we’ve built. And now I’m about to become his dog again. Because that’s what he wants. He wants me back at Cian’s side so he can use me however he needs."

My father shot to his feet. The chair fell backward. "I have had enough of this."

"Have you?"

"Tell that bastard you are not doing anything for him." His hands slammed down on the table. "Let him threaten all he wants. I don’t care anymore."

"You should have thought about that before you participated in fleshcraft."

The words came out cold. Clinical. Like I was discussing the weather instead of the one crime a witch shouldn’t commit that had now tied our family to Aldric forever.

My father moved faster than I expected. His hand cracked across my face. The sound echoed in the spelled silence of the room. My head snapped to the side. Pain bloomed across my cheek. Hot and sharp.

I didn’t move. I didn’t even raise my hand to touch my face. I just stood there and let the sting spread. I took it.

"I didn’t mean to." My father’s voice broke. "Madeline, I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry."

"It doesn’t matter." I turned back to face him. My cheek throbbed. "But I cannot say no to Aldric for that exact reason."

"We can find another way."

"There is no other way." I moved around the table toward him. "Even if you decide in the goodness of your heart to come clean. To pay for your crimes. Everyone else in this house will suffer."

"Madeline—"

"Mother will suffer. Wilhelm will suffer. The entire coven will be dragged through the mud because of what you did." I stopped in front of him. "So we are bound to Aldric until he gets bored of us. And trust me, father, he will not. Not until he is the ruling Alpha of Skollrend."

My father’s face crumbled. He reached for me but I stepped back.

"So yes." My voice steadied. "I will go to Cian. I will help his mother if I can. Because I want to help Cian. It is the least I can do for the crimes I have committed against him and the crimes I will commit against him. I have to help Aldric too. He wants me there after all and we don’t get to say no."

"There has to be something—"

"There isn’t." I walked toward the door. My hand found the handle. The wards dissolved at my touch. Family magic recognizing family blood. "So pull yourself by those bootstraps you love so much and act like the Coven leader of Primrose that you are."

"Madeline, wait."

I didn’t wait. I walked out of the dining room and up the stairs. My cheek still burned. My heart still raced. But my hands had stopped shaking.

In my room, I pulled out my phone. Scrolled to Cian’s contact. My thumb hovered over the unblock button.

His voice echoed in my memory. The desperation. The pain. The way he’d said please like the word was being torn out of him.

I pressed unblock.

Then I typed out a message.

"I’ll be there tomorrow. Tell me what you need."

I was about to hit send before I could second guess myself. Before I could think too hard about what going back to Skollrend meant. What seeing Cian again would do to me.

But I hesitated. I hesitated because I was worried. Because I was scared. Aldric has already said how he wanted us to meet again. Was it smart to defy him?

I was about to go against any common sense present and just fucking do it when a phone call came in.

It was Aldric. Speak of the fucking devil.