Page 61 of Witch Unexpected
“Arne? Is everything okay?” A woman stood partway down the stairs.
A shawl was wrapped around her shoulders, and dark smudges sat beneath her brown eyes. Her chestnut hair, streaked with gray, was pulled back into a braid. She held onto the banister with a white-knuckled grip.
“Charlotte, what are you doing?” Arne was across the room in a flash.
He swept her into his arms and cradled her to his chest. “Sten!”
Another huge golden-haired man came barreling through an arch to the left. He had a tea towel slung over his shoulder and a scowl on his face.
“What the fuck, Arne, you don’t bug me when I—” He skidded to a halt at the sight of us, and then his head whipped up to where Arne was standing with Charlotte in his arms. “For fuck sake, woman. How hard is it to stay in bed?”
“Take her, please,” Arne said. “I need to contact Toke and get him to increase patrols.”
“What happened?” Sten climbed the stairs and took Charlotte from Arne before dropping a kiss on her forehead.
“Ward breach on the grounds.”
Sten made a low growling sound in his chest and looked down at Sloane. “That shit is your responsibility. Can’t you fucking do your jobs?”
Sloane didn’t flinch. “We’re on it. Trust me. This isn’t something we take lightly.”
Sten looked like he wanted to unleash some more, but Charlotte pressed her palm to his chest and nuzzled in.
“I’m tired, Sten,” she said softly.
Sten’s expression immediately relaxed. He looked into Charlotte’s eyes and sighed. “Come on, love. Let’s get you back to bed.”
Charlotte locked gazes with me across the room. “Cora, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Come, I need to speak with you.”
Both Arne and Sten’s attention was now on me.
“Fuck, you’re her, aren’t you?” Sten said.
Charlotte answered for me, a beatific smile blooming across her face. “Yes, Cora is going to free me.”
* * *
Charlotte’s roomwas pink and purple and totally girly. The bed was huge—a double king-sized thing, and she looked tiny parked in the center of it.
Sten closed the doors softly behind him as he left.
“You’re probably wondering why I need such a huge bed,” Charlotte said.
“Not gonna lie, that was exactly what I was wondering.”
“It’s the perfect size for the four of us,” she said.
Bramble’s earlier words came to mind, the ones before we’d been attacked by banshees.
“You love one another.”
She nodded slowly. “Have a seat, Cora.”
I perched on the window seat.
