Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Katrina?” Jonas asks, speaking for the first time. Xander doesn’t tell him to stop talking, so he moves closer to Breena. “Are you Katrina?”
“Yes,” she says. “I’m Katrina.”
“Who is your mother?” Xander asks her.
“Marjorie,” she replies, and Jonas nods. “And I have a sister.”
“Do you have a brother?” Jonas asks.
“No.” She shakes her head, but then she frowns. “Wait. Yes. Yes, I have a brother. Before, I had a brother. But then—now—I don’t. I somehow forgot him.”
Lucy wipes at a tear. Giles is riveted.
And Jonas reaches for her hand.
“I’m here,” Jonas says. “I’m your brother, and I’m right here.”
“There is so much chaos, and I want to tell Jonas to be patient. He’s a good leader, a strong man. But he can be so impatient. I fear he won’t listen to me. So, I write everything I can think of in my grimoire. In secret. No one can see.”
“Thank you,” Jonas says. “Thank you for writing it down.”
“I do not know if he will ever see it. I am afraid, and we must flee to Boston.”
It’s interesting to me how her way of speaking has changed, as though she really is in 1692.
“We don’t want you to be afraid,” Xander says calmly. “There’s no need to be scared now. Nothing can hurt you. We’re going to start walking back. Are you ready to come back, Breena?”
“Yes.” Her voice sounds normal again, and Xander proceeds to guide her back to the present time.
“When I tell you to open your eyes, you’ll be calm and relaxed and will remember everything we talked about. Open your eyes, Breena.”
Her eyes flutter open, and she looks around the room. Her gaze zeroes in on Jonas, and then she immediately launches herself into his arms, hugging him tightly.
“You’re my brother.”
“It explains so much,” he says again. “Thank you for doing this.”
“Are you kidding? It’s so cool. But, you guys, there’s no time to talk about past lives now. I know what we have to do to lift the curse of the blood moon.”
Chapter Nineteen
He is resting. Feeding on the energy of the water, letting his strength build so he can finish it all soon. So he can move on to what he needs.
So he can finally free himself.
He’s always known that it would one day lead to this. It took far longer than it should have, and that angers him. But he sees the end now, and it’s more beautiful than he could have ever imagined.
It’s all about to end.
Chapter Twenty
Xander
“What do we have to do?” Lorelei demands as Breena stands and accepts the water Lucy offers her, then takes a soothing sip.
“We have to take the entire coven into Hallows End and speak the spell Katrina wrote in the grimoire.”
“How do we get the whole coven over the bridge?” Giles demands as he pulls his wife into his arms and hugs her close. “Also, sidebar, that kind of scared the shit out of me. Let’s not do it again, okay?”
“I was safe,” Breena assures him and pats his cheek. “I promise. Xander would never put me at risk. You know that. He’s your best friend.”
“And he’s the only one I’d trust with you like that. It still made me uneasy. So, before you go about saving the world here, I need you to take a deep breath, sweetheart.”
They’re sweet together, Lorelei says in my mind as Jonas reaches for his wife and tucks her against his side. They’re all so good together.
We’re all good together. I glance down at her and smile softly. Marry me, Lorelei. When all of this is over, and we can move on with our lives as normally as possible, do me the honor of being my wife.
Her eyes go round as she gazes up at me. I like that all six of us are taking a moment to center ourselves with the one who calms us the most.
I know it’s not the most romantic time and place, but damn it, I love you so much. You are love for me. You are my constant. Even when you were gone, I held on to knowing that you were safe and whole.
We’re better together than we are apart, she admits silently. Why now? Why this moment?
Because I know that I can’t go through the rest of what we’re about to go through if I have even one seed of doubt about the two of us. Because I want to know, deep in the marrow of my bones, that we’re going to make it. That, on the other side of this, it’s you and me.
She leans in closer and kisses my arm, then urges me down to kiss her on the lips.
“Of course, I’ll marry you.”
Lucy and Breena gasp as all eyes whip around to stare at us.
“It’s about damn time,” Lucy says smugly. “Also, could you redo that not telepathically so we can be in on how you proposed?”