Page 7 of The Magic of Betrayal
“Hey! Come back here, mister! I’m scolding you,” I called out, stomping over to follow him, my vision tunneling on his back.
“Who, me?” he called back over his shoulder, still not stopping.
Huffing with indignation, I mumbled, my feet tromping through grass, “No, not you, I was talking to the other freckle-faced nut —oof—” I slammed into a Bram brick wall. “What the heck are you doing, you are really starting to p—” I shut up. My eyes scanned the landscape and my mouth dropped open.
We were standing on a cliff that overlooked a massive forest with rolling hills and tinkling streams weaving in and out of the trees. Houses of all sizes were sprinkled throughout the vast land, smoke from chimneys rising towards the sky, lights from their homes lighting up the night like beacons.
“Wow, this is beautiful,” I sighed. A green witch’s dream, really. All of this growth? Ahh, I lowkey wanted to get down there and roll around, touch all the trees, and trail my hands through the tall grass.
“Would you like to go on a walk with me? I can tell you a little more about this realm?” Bram offered, and the slight insecurity in his tone had my heart softening and the anger I’d felt earlier dissipating.
“I’d love that!” I jumped up on the balls of my feet a few times in excitement.
He grinned, reaching for my hand. “I’m going to jump us down, and then we can walk like normal people, okay?”
As much as I didn’t appreciate the sensation of jumping, maybe this time wouldn’t be so bad since he’d given me a warning.
“Alright, let’s do this.” I grabbed his hand and a moment later, we were standing in a dense evergreen forest, the trees towering high above us, the cool air nipping at my nose. The jump had not jolted me as badly since I knew what was going to happen, so I immediately began wandering around, slipping between the trees, and letting myself enjoy the rich pine and cedar scent the forest was offering.
“This was one of my favorite places to play when I was a boy. The trees are excellent for climbing, makes it easy to hide from your friends and pounce on them when they least suspect it,” Bram told me, keeping pace behind me.
“Oh, if this was where I’d grown up, I would’ve been out here every day! These trees are monstrous. The ones on my land don’t get this big. I love them!” A flash of white in my periphery had me slamming to a halt.Maven?
“Did you see that?” I questioned, pointing to where the white flash disappeared.
“See what?” Bram asked, his body already stiffening in preparation for…what? Are we in danger out here?
“There was something white, it reminded me of my pet back home,” I confessed, walking over to see if I could catch another glimpse.
Bram relaxed. “Oh, yeah, these woods are overrun with white foxes. Little shits are troublemakers.”
I froze in my tracks. Prickles of awareness tickling the back of my neck,oh my gods. What were the odds? No, there’s no way this was a coincidence. Demons hunting me? Check. Their forests are running rampant with white foxes like Mave? Check.What the fuck sticks? Is Maven a… demon fox?
“What is it, Goldie? Are you cold? You’re shivering,” Bram observed, wrapping his frame around me, holding me tight. Without conscious thought, I nuzzled my cheek against his chest and one of his hands came up and began to run through my hair.
“I’m okay, just tired,” I lied, not wanting to talk about this Maven conspiracy that my brain was trying to run away with. I wondered if there were some way to see if he was a demon fox, like a spell we could try that would reveal the truth. Thinking back, I couldn’t remember when Maven actually showed up. Well, I remember when I first started seeing him, he’d stuck to the forest for a while before getting brave and approaching me. It was a brutal winter and I felt bad for him, so I let him in the house. Gran about lost her shit over that, but he loved it. Snuggled right up against me in bed, and I never kicked him out again. That was about five years ago now.
“Let’s get you back to my place then. I can make you something warm to drink, run you a bath? Whatever you wish, I’ll make it happen, Goldie.”
Warmth did sound good, and maybe a nap. Definitely a nap since I had no idea why I was here or how I’d get back home again.
* * *
Wakingup in Bram’s giant bed, the sun was shining outside and I had lost absolutely all sense of time. The satin sheets felt delicious against my skin and I stretched out like a cat, only to remind myself of Kai. Sigh. How long was I going to be stuck here? I missed my guys. Tears pricked my eyes and I rolled my face into the pillow.
They must have been so worried. I could barely recall the events that happened before darkness took me and I woke up here, the pain was the focus of my attention, but I did remember their panic, the fear in their shouting.Is my body just laying there in my bed still? Are they all sitting around me like I’m Snow White? I need to figure out how to get back, and soon.
A snore that was most assuredly not my own startled me, and I sat upright, eyes wide as I frantically searched the room before lowering my gaze to the bed. That sneaky little demon. Bram was snoring like a freight train, an arm slung over his eyes, the sheets low on his waist. Outrage tried to stir, but was pushed down by curiosity. My greedy eyes trailed over every exposed inch of his skin.
Black tattoos covered much of his body, all of them some type of rune or symbols that I didn’t understand. They must be important to his culture, and that would explain why I was clueless. On his chest, right above his heart, there was a bare spot. Like he was holding that place for something important.
The freckles that smattered his face covered his whole body, I realized. Dark russet hair sprang from his chest, trailing down, down, down to fun town. A peek of thick curls peeked just over the sheet and I froze when I realized he was naked under there. Shaking my head, I rolled over and swung my feet off the mattress.I need coffee. Stat.
Padding silently through the room, I searched for the kitchen that ended up being just off of the sitting area, so it wasn’t too difficult to locate. My stomach rumbled. When was the last time I ate anything?Food and coffee, in that order. I wondered if I could eat here… but my stomach was growling so that was a good sign.
“GOLDIE!?” A panicked shout from the bedroom made me stop and run back to Bram.Oh shit, is he in trouble?
Bursting into the room, I glanced around, finding the demon sitting on the bed, hair askew, eyes wild.
