Page 70 of Witch Untold
The sun was comingup as I made my way through the corridors toward the main staircase. The thought of bed and sleep filled my head. Were the guys okay? And Jasper… I needed to see Jasper, but sleep needed to come first.
“Wait!”
I spun to find a ghostly figure behind me.
“Meredith?”
“Quickly, before it’s too late. I must tell you. I must—”
“Meredith?” Dorothy materialized behind her. “What are you doing here?”
Meredith’s expression smoothed out as she turned to face the other ghost. “Wandering. It is what we do, is it not?”
Dorothy pressed her lips together. “Not on game night. The others are waiting.” Her gaze flicked my way. “Oh, Cora. I didn’t see you there.” She drifted closer, her expression morphing to one of concern. “I heard about Wren. Is he all right?”
“Wren will be fine.” I looked over her shoulder at Meredith, who shook her head ever so slightly.
A prickle ran up my spine.
“Oh, thank goodness.” Dorothy pressed her hand to her chest. “We were all so worried.”
“The Magiguard are taking care of him, but he should be home later today.”
Dorothy smiled. “Will you bring him to see me? Please.”
“Of course.” I couldn’t help but glance at Meredith again, but the space where she’d hovered a moment ago was empty.
Meredith was gone.
* * *
The cabin wassilent as I crept up the stairs to my room. The place smelled clean, like furniture polish and bleach. Leif had a tendency to clean when he was stressed out. The doors to their rooms were closed. I hovered outside Tor’s, tempted to knock, but that would be mean. He struggled to sleep as it was. Instead, I made a beeline for my own room.
The door was ajar, and the sound of deep, even breaths drifted out to meet me as I pushed it open and peered inside.
Tor and Leif lay on my bed, naked except for boxers. Tor on his back, one arm thrown over his face, Leif on his front, face turned away from me. Rune was stretched out at the foot of the bed, wolfy face resting on his paws.
They’d left a space between them for me, and I ached to join them, but there’d be no sleep for me until I spoke to Jasper and made sure he was okay. I’d died and then come back to life in his arms, but with all the other shit going on, there’d been no time for us to absorb this, to talk about it and reconnect.
Sleep would have to wait for a moment longer. I stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. “Jasper? Jasper, are you there?”
The skin at my nape pricked in warning, and then his hands smoothed down my arms to grasp my hands, chest pressing to my back.
I leaned into him, and he wrapped our arms around me. “How’s Sloane?”
“They’re taking care of her.”
“And you? How are you?”
I closed my eyes. “Tired. But I wanted to see you, to speak to you.”
“I want to speak to you too.”
Something in his tone had me turning to face him, because I needed to see his expression. I needed to look into his eyes to decipher what I was hearing.
Darkness looked back at me. “Jasper, what is it?”
He cupped my face. “I think I understand now.” He stroked my cheeks with his thumbs. “I think I understand what love is.”
