Page 67 of The Magic of Betrayal
"Bram. She said his name was Bram," Fischer responded, a glint in his eye that promised blood.
"Oh shit," Laurie gasped and we all turned to her. "Oh no, no. That's not good. You're positive? Fuck!"
Gran snarled, slamming her hand on the table. "Spit it out, girl! Who the fuck is he?"
Laurie shook her head, the look of defeat in her eyes had my heart clenching in pain.
"Bram is the Prince of Besmet. He's the heir to the throne, and he's insanely powerful, and rumored to also be, well... insane."
"My granddaughter is with her demon father and a psychotic prince?" Bette shrieked.
"I just can't see Johnny being some evil demon prince, can you?" Kai asked, but there was a thread of worry there that even I felt.
"Nothing makes sense. Why do they want her? Khol said she has a higher purpose to serve or something..." I recalled, trying to replay everything that had happened in that conference room, but it was difficult because when I'd been in there, helpless to do a damn thing to help her, I'd lost my fucking head. Fuck, the way she'd looked at me... like I'd shattered her with my bare hands, I'd never get that look out of my memory.
"The prophecy," Bette breathed. "It spoke of saving a race, having to find her five before turning twenty eight, which is tomorrow. What if this... Bram," she spat his name from her mouth as though it was poison, "is the fifth? And where in Jupiter's cock is Sloane?"
Kai growled at Sloane's name and I swallowed down my own.
"Sloane decided he was going to be Larson's bitch and feed him information that we knew nothing about. Like the fact that Laura, who we were looking for, was actually Laurie, aka Saige's mother," I explained and the anger inside of me rose up like a fucking beast.
"He also lifted her hair from a brush in her bathroom and mailed it to Larson. That's how he was able to conduct a paternity test to be sure," Fischer supplied like it was no big fucking deal and I pinned him with a stare so harsh a weaker man would've hid under the table, but not Fischer. Not when he was like this, anyway. And this time there was no Sloane to pull him back from the dark. It was worrisome.
"That motherfucker," Kai snapped, completely disgusted with our supposed brother.
"He's at the apartment, as far as I know," I looked to Bette, hoping that she would be okay with what I was about to ask. "We were actually hoping that we might be able to stay here, that way we can work on this around the clock and figure out how we're going to get Saige back here safely, where she fucking belongs."
She looked at the three of us for an uncomfortably long amount of time before giving a stiff nod, but I knew it wasn't going to end there. Oh no, Bette Wildes was livid, and Saige had to have gotten her fire from somewhere.
"You can stay here until we get her back. But I want to be very clear, so listen closely. You hurt the most precious thing in my life, I'm not happy with any of you right now. That girl has gone through enough, especially after her relationship with Bryce, she doesn't need any more boys pretending to be big men. So either step the fuck up or get the fuck out. I'll let her make her decision when she returns, but the least you three owe her is getting her back here safely. It's late. There's nothing we'll be able to do for her tonight, we’ll sleep and reconvene in the morning. Her shifts at The Pig will be covered by one of you, work it out. I'll not see her livelihood suffer because of this. She will be back, and when she is, she won't be drowning in work. I'm going to call Miranda and cancel her birthday party festivities. Laurie, you're staying in my cottage now, so get your shit and get over there." Bette stood, walked over to the kitchen, and picked up the entire casserole of eggplant parmesan she'd prepared for dinner.
"I'm taking this with me, you three can fend for yourselves."
And with that, she stormed through the house and out the backdoor.
"I'm going to go grab my things then I'll be out of your hair, I think I still have some of my old demon texts hidden at Mom's, so I'll look through those tonight. But this isn't going to be easy. From what I know, you can't get into Besmet without a demon escort. They have to be the one to open the portal, there's no other way in," Laurie explained, taking her coffee mug to the sink.
Fischer was eyeing her, his face carefully blank, and I wondered what he was reading from her.
Laurie disappeared up the stairs, and Kai and I both looked at Fischer, waiting for his report.
"She's blocking me. There were a few hints of anxiety, some shock, anger. She's strong, but not like Saige and Larson, so I don’t think she’s a demon. Either she knew what I was capable of, or she trained herself to keep her shields up at all times, just in case. Regardless, it's interesting. Only trained witches are able to accomplish what she just did," Fischer pointed out, crossing his arms as he chilled in his chair.
"Well then, we'll be watching her even closer and we'll find out who Laurie Wildes actually is. Let's try to get some rest so we can hit the ground running in the morning."
Kai and Fish both drifted away, and I remained in my seat in my little witch's kitchen. Her scent was everywhere, her presence surrounded me and my throat constricted when I thought about how she'd screamed and fought like a bobcat as she was dragged into that portal. Fucking hell.
Stay strong, baby girl. I'm coming for you, and I'll cut down the demon king himself and set the whole realm on fucking fire if I have to.
The pain was indescribable.
Betrayed. Lied to repeatedly by the men I'd been falling in love with, and then there was Bram. Another liar. One who currently had his arm wrapped around my waist as he guided me to his living quarters in the castle. Larson hadn't been waiting when we arrived through the portal, and after I fought Bram, which was really just me pounding my fists against his chest as he grunted and took it, all of the energy left me. Like it had evaporated into thin air. My brain was shutting down, probably some kind of coping mechanism to keep myself from detonating. That was fine, I'd rather feel numb than feel all of that.
"Let me take you home, Goldie. You can rest, I'll get you whatever you want, food, coffee, anything," Bram promised, but I didn’t really care. All I could see in my head was Cam's pained expression, Kai's panic, Fischer's darkness, and Sloane—No, I can't go there. So, I let Bram lead me through the castle halls, my feet shuffling because the energy it would've required to pick them up off the floor was too great. I was spent.
Bram obviously noticed because next thing I knew, my feet were swept up and I was cradled against his chest. The desire to fight him over his macho bullshit was nonexistent. If I wanted to be completely honest, being held right now felt nice, I just needed to ignore the fact that it was a big red-headed lying fucker who had his arms wrapped around me tightly.
We reached the door to his place and he somehow got it open without putting me down and carried me straight to the bathroom that I hadn't been in the first time I was here. It was a massive space, easily bigger than my bedroom at the cottage. My eyes took in the huge shower with two benches that looked like they were made out of smooth multi-colored river rock on either side of the see through glass enclosure, jets built into the wall, and a rainforest showerhead in the middle of the ceiling. That wasn't the best part, though. There was a pool, a legit fucking pool against the far wall with steps leading up to a platform with the same smooth rocks as the shower.
