The Magi Lunations: Maebry's Vision

Twenty Six

Yohana kissed the tear away then looked deeply into my eyes, "Because Biltmore murdered my parents."

"No."

"We always knew someone from the Order of Andreas killed them."

"No. That doesn't mean it was him."

Yohana kept holding my bleary gaze. "So you know he's in the Order? Most Magi don't even know they exist." He sighed, "He meets the description of the murderer."

"No. No. That can't be," I tried to pull away. "You're wrong."

Yohana held me tighter. "Thanks to his bloody injuries. We'll now have proof."

The dull ache now burned. I wept into Yohana's chest. The Sister Moon tattoo hidden between my breasts felt like it caught fire. Wherever he was, I knew the same tattoo seared on Biltmore's chest.

Time blurred and morphed. Yohana picked me up to his chest and took me to the swing. All of the adrenaline running through my blood evaporated, leaving nothing but trembling, grief, and gnawing pain. I cried and shook – letting all the fear, regret, anger, disbelief, and exhaustion run through me.

He held me to his chest and said nothing. He used that physical magic to press tingling fingers to my back, my temples, my scalp. He comforted and soothed, and our bodies melted together as if they were made for each other.

Yohana rocked the swing. I cried in his shoulder, legs wrapped around his waist. Our chests pressed together, and our breaths matched – finally evening out my gasping sobs. Until I remembered the hateful press of that Sister Moon tattoo hidden from his eyes, now pressed against his chest, and I started crying in full force again.

Somehow I ended up lying down. He was next to me. I curled into his chest, breathing in his smoky cardamom smell.

"Please stop apologizing. Please. You're breaking my heart."

I hadn't realized I'd said anything.

"Mae, please. I'm just so thankful we made it in time. If those ivory traders..." He shuddered. "I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father that you're safe." He kissed the top of my head over and over again.

He had no idea. He had no clue how I'd betrayed him...with a murderer. How I'd let the man who killed his parents between my ribs and between my legs. How deep he'd burrowed into my heart.

I cried and cried until my head throbbed and the back of my eyes burned.

At some point I must have fallen asleep.

My head now lay in his lap. His fingers played with my hair. Every time he started over at my scalp, the magic danced and zinged.

I closed my dry eyes again as he rocked us back and forth in the giant swing.

Apparently I'd rolled over. My face now cuddled against his taut stomach.

"How is she?" lulled me from my stupor.

I bat my eyes, but my limbs were too heavy to move.

"How do you think she is?" Yohana replied.

McKinley drawled, "I could kill that asshole for putting her in danger like that."

I replayed Biltmore reaching for the Tusks while a gun was pointed at my head over and over and over again. She's nothing.

Yohana's hand on my hip clenched into a fist a few times. "Me too, but we can't. He must stand trial, and we must see to it that he's not executed for his crimes."

"What are you talking about? You're lucky I didn't kill him with my bare hands after what – "

Yohana's hands folded around my hip and my head. "We don't know what killing her conduit will do to her. It could hurt her, and I will do everything in my power to protect her from pain. So yes, even the man who killed my parents will live if it means Maebry is safe."