Page 40 of Our Covenant

I wonder if she’s slept at all, but then a question enters my mind and the answer would be devastating no matter if it were yes or no.

Did the feeling of being torn away from each other wake her, too?

19

MADDOX

Ican hear her.

It doesn’t matter that there are two bedrooms between us. Elsbeth is awake.

Normally, being surrounded by preserved wood, iron, and stone doesn’t cross my mind. It’s part of life. Using the products nurtured, harvested, and manipulated into walls, floors, and fixtures is human. The death of nature to sustain our comfort is as old as time, but tonight every creak of treated oak against joints and the squeak of nails shifting underfoot set my teeth on edge.

Asher and I lay down hours ago. And for too few of those hours, I was given reprieve. But she’s awake again. The bones of the old house are fortified by the magic we—and every legacy before us—have breathed into it. And yet, I can’t get my nervous system to remember that. There’s new magic here and it’s woken something ancient. I don’t know why Thorne, Asher, and Fox don’t feel it the way that I do, but Elsbeth is her own strain of power that we haven’t come up against before. A council meeting or deep dive into the family archives won’t be the solution this time.

I roll from my back to face Asher. His chest is rising slowly and steadily, and I’ve never been more jealous of him. Though, the envy stops at his ability to block out the threat we’ve brought onto ourselves and sleep soundly. The gift of strength, endurance, and fortitude makes him the one the rest of us run to when we need protection or comfort. But which one of us will he be able to feel safe with when he finally sees that Elsbeth is going to be our undoing?

“I can feel you watching me,” he mumbles, eyes still closed. He heaves out a loud, sleepy sigh. “What’s wrong?”

“Can’t sleep,” I whisper, not wanting to pull him further from the nightly abyss, but it’s too late.

He stretches his arms above his head then rolls toward me and props his head up on his fist and elbow. Looking at me through half lids, he waits for an explanation.

“I can . . . hear her.”

His brow perks up at that, then he glances over his shoulder to his bedroom door. “Is she trying to get out or something?”

“No,” I answer, pushing off the mattress to sit up fully. “The house is just really quiet tonight. Or maybe I’m too raw to the fact that she’s here.”

“It’s only for a little while. We’ll get the info we need then turn her over to the council. Whatever her deal is, it’ll be their problem to figure out what to do with her. If I had to guess, I think they’ll charge her with stalking and have her sent back to whatever coven she came from.”

He still thinks she’s a spy, but no idea for who. If it weren’t for the fact that she doesn’t seem to have an outstanding ability, I would let him believe that. But she’s untrained, raw, and filled with hatred for what we are. The other covens have no reason to hate us, even if we are more powerful than they are. Being one of the oldest covens in the three nations gives us the status, and our link to our ancestors brings us a higher yield during harvest rituals. That aside, we have good, sustainable relationships with the other magical communities in the States.

“Fox thinks she’s connected to someone close,” I remind him.

He lies on his back, tucking an arm under his head.

“We won’t know until she tells us. And that won’t be tonight, so you should get some sleep.” “Do you think it’s all in my head?”

He knows what I’m asking. I look at everything but him. The quilted blanket his mother made him for his birthday last year. A box of matches on his side table next to a white candle. A bundle of dried herbs he used to cleanse his room. I even attempt to strain my ears to hear if Elsbeth is still moving around in her room, but I can only feel Asher’s growing concern.

“I can call your therapist in the morning if⁠—”

“I already sent her a text. She’s going to see me on Tuesday.” I knew it was coming. Years of treatment have taught me the signs to look for when an emergency session is due. But I still can’t shake the feeling that, for once, it’s not my mental health faltering.

“Proud of you, man.” He gives me a smile and warmth blooms in my chest.

When the four of us moved into the house, it only took a few months for my PPD to almost ruin my life after going unchecked for years after my father finally beat me into the son he always wanted. A legacy he could be proud to call his heir. Fox had been ready. His grandfather is a doctor with connections to the psychiatric department at the hospital. Because I was far too dangerous to be admitted, my therapist performed treatments at the manor, with Asher as a personal bodyguard and Thorne close by for backup.

I sink back down next to him and stare up at the ceiling.

“For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s all in your head.”

“Then why aren’t you treating that woman like a ticking bomb?” I say a little too loudly, but I don’t turn to look at him, though I can feel his eyes on the side of my face.

“If we can’t handle one woman, then our entire lives have been a waste,” he says matter-of-factly. “We’ve been training to defend the coven since we could walk, and if this is the test we’ve been preparing for, we better win.”

“I don’t think it’s about winning.”