Page 24 of Witch's Betrayal
10
DEJA
Igroaned in agony, feeling the unbearable pounding of my headache before I even fully woke.
"It's okay, beautiful," a voice soothed me from somewhere above. "You're okay. Move slowly."
My eyelids cracked open, nearly blinded by the ordinary daylight coming through the window. A gentle hand skimmed across my forehead and I turned in the direction of the voice.
Sal's green eyes glittered down at me and his smile was filled with relief.
"Hey, handsome lion," I croaked.
"Hey." He planted a warm kiss on my forehead. "You were out for a while. We were starting to get worried."
As I slowly blinked my eyes, my surroundings came into focus. I recognized Ash's study, lined with books and the fireplace roaring with cozy flames. I was laid out on the love seat, covered in a blanket and propped up with pillows. Ash and Raum sat nearby in chairs, relief etched into their features as well.
My headache was killing me and all my limbs felt beyond exhausted, but I was cozy and happy to be surrounded by my men once again.
"Sal filled us in on what he saw," Ash said, reaching for my hand and planting a kiss on the back of my palm. "Do you feel up to telling us what happened from your perspective?"
"She needs to rest," Sal growled with a warning at him.
Annoyed, Ash turned his icy eyes to his second in command. "Which is why I'm asking if she feels up to it. Calm the fuck down."
Another warning growl started rumbling in Sal's chest, which halted when I touched his cheek.
"I'm okay, lion," I assured him. "I want to talk about what happened."
"Only if you're sure.” He pressed my hand against his face and kissed my palm.
I gingerly pulled myself up to a sitting position while Sal, being a total sweetheart, stuffed pillows behind my back to prop me up. The other two waited eagerly while I got comfortable.
Cutting to the chase, I blurted out, "I saw when I died. For good."
All the air seemed to get sucked out of the room as each man muttered curses and hung their heads. Sal squeezed my hand tighter.
"I found the memory while looking through my mind's shadows," I went on. "I felt every bit of it exactly as if I was there. Right up until the point the angel ripped my soul from my body."
"My love," Ash said softly, reaching for my other hand. "Why would you want to relive that?"
"I didn't go searching for it," I protested, my heart aching at the pain in his blue eyes. "When we talked about our children the other day, it made me want to look for the ones we've had in the past. The first one I found was Ragnar."
Raum's dark eyes caught mine from across the room. His aura flickered and pulsed with red energy when he heard me speak our son's name. Our last son.
He shook his head, letting out a huff of laughter as he seemed to recall the memory himself.
"I almost thought that would be the last happy moment of my life," he said softly. "Before we found you again."
"You should have pulled away from the memory once it started to go bad." Ash's voice was harsh and commanding. "Especially with so many other things in your head, you could've gone mad from living through that again. And the Mother of Witches would spend the rest of this lifetime in a vegetative state."
"I didn't know." My frustration started climbing. "Especially with all of you not telling me what happened."
Ash bit his lip and lowered his eyes. He knew this withholding of information was my ongoing gripe with them and it was pissing me off that it was still an issue.
"We didn't know either," Raum said from across the room. "We had no idea if you would have any memory of that event after your soul returned. But we felt your pain through our auras and it nearly broke us in turn. We figured if you didn't remember, it would be for the best."
"The three of us still remember it all too well," Sal chimed in softly.
