Three Witches #1: Magnus and Magnolia

Chapter 28 (Magnus): Great Joy

He'd seemed so close as I took off running, but I'd realized it was a mirage. I had alligator-infested waters to swim through, tumbling rocks to evade, wild animals on the hunt to avoid, more water filled with sharks to navigate, and finally a sheer wall of rock to climb to get to the blonde fucker before the trial ended at sunrise.

Bleeding, dripping water, exhausted, I unlatched the golden cage containing Tahvo, then collapsed to my hands and knees, fighting for breath. It was done, and just in time as the sun was rising.

The little blonde fucker walked out and looked at me. "Took you long enough."

With the last of my strength, I flipped him off because I didn't have the energy to kill him.

"Quite the tradeoff," he smirked. "I lose my magical abilities, lose my wings, but I get Magnolia the rest of my life. I get the witch in my bed."

If you have water streaming down your face from your hair, no one can tell that your eyes are being emptied of tears. I'd just lost any chance to be with the only woman I had ever loved and ever would.

Now you have something to cry about.

"Enjoy the rest of your life knowing the consequences of your actions allowed me to love Magnolia forever while you were left with nothing," the blonde bastard laughed at me. "And I mean nothing."

I had to force back that lump in my throat so I could speak, and even then my words came out in ragged bursts as I tried to catch my breath. 

"You need to know..."

"Know what?" he snapped like the asshole he was. "I've got places to be."

"Noli doesn't like sugar in her coffee. Just cream and not too much. She switches to tea after one cup of coffee. She won't turn on the TV when there's a thunderstorm. Turn off the lights, then light a candle and let her rest her head on your lap and just talk to her quietly until it's over. She likes silver jewelry, not gold. When she's had a bad day, run her a bubble bath and sit beside the tub with her until she relaxes. She likes her hands massaged," and that was as far as I got before my voice broke and I had to stop to get myself under control again. 

It may have looked like I was stopping because my chest was getting hacked to pieces, but it wasn't the pain from that. It was the pain from the realization that it was over.

You lost her. You lost her because you were a selfish, horrible, cheating bastard.

"Magnolia likes you to brush her hair and then braid it," I continued once I'd caught my breath. "When she bites her lip, there's something she wants to tell you but she's worried it might upset you. She has secret chocolate stashes all over the place. Find out where they are and make sure they never run out. She really wants a dog but always says it's not the right time. If she rubs the spot between her thumb and forefinger, she's trying to get rid of a headache. She likes you to whisper I love you in her ear just as she's falling asleep."

Tahvo crouched down beside me. "You knew all this yet you didn't know she didn't want you sleeping with another woman."

The fae were nothing if not consistent. And I was fucking tired of them, tired of them going over the obvious, tired of them continuously recycling some variation of the same motherfucking comments and attitude and hate. But more than I was tired of them, I was tired of myself. Of being a man who consistently turned my life to shit because of my knack for making the worst choices.

Turning my head toward the blonde asshole, I didn't give a damn that my chest, already looking like raw hamburger, was about to get even worse. Fuck them. Just fuck them all for their constant hate. I knew I'd hurt Noli, knew I'd messed up something beautiful, knew I'd lost something I'd mourn for the rest of my life.

"Do you think I don't know that I made the very worst choice in my life? Do you all really think I need the constant reminders of what I've done when it's been burning me alive inside? Hearing the same thing over and over and over -- I fucking get it. I got it right then. You just keep saying the same shit because you like hearing yourselves comment about what a stupid, thoughtless asshole I was, but trust me when I tell you that not one word you say could make me angrier at myself than I already am for hurting Noli. I'm a disappointment to you? Get in line behind me because I'm a disappointment to myself for destroying Magnolia the way I did."

I slapped my hand over my chest, feeling the skin where it'd been shredded, was still being shredded, and I held up my bloody hand to him.

"This doesn't even matter. I'd give every drop of blood I have to go back and get it right with her. I will live with Magnolia's loss every day and each day it's going to be fresh. The pain of losing her is never going to fade. So put me through these trials, stab me every time I tell the truth, take your little pot shots at me, but just know that nothing you say or do to me could make me loathe what I did and the way I hurt Noli more than I already do. I have to live with the knowledge that I broke her heart and then lost Noli because of choices I made, and nothing, nothing you throw at me can hurt me more than that."

"Maybe we'll live stream our next fuck," Tahvo said to me, smirking. "That might hurt you some more, I'd guess."

"Not if she's happy," I gasped, that stab particularly vicious. And fuck me if my eyes weren't still emptying themselves. "Not if you bring that light back to her eyes and she's happy again."

"I'll give my witch your regards," Tahvo said with a sly smile, and then he was gone in a blink. 

I don't know how long they left me alone. It might have been their first act of true decency toward me, leaving me to collapse on the ground as the tears poured out of my eyes and I began mourning the irrevocable loss of Noli without the accompaniment of their mockery.

But appear they finally did.

"Pathetic," Yonaka sneered.

"It's time to go back home," Tarek said with some trace of compassion.

"But no worries, we'll wipe your memory so you don't have to be such a sad sack," Sumrak said cheerfully.

"Sack," they all giggled. 

That shot me to my feet, and I staggered.

"What did you say about my memory?"

Yonaka shrugged. "We wipe your memory. You lost the witch, so you have no need to remember the fae or witches."

"The fuck you'll wipe my memory."

"Oh, yes, standard protocol," Sumrak said calmly. "Can't have a bunch of humans not connected to our world running around with knowledge of the fae. And as of today, you lost all hope of the witch."

I saw how serious they were and lost it.

"No! No! Don't you dare take my memories from me! Don't you fucking take them from me! They're all I have left of her! Don't you dare!" I was shouting at the three of them like a lunatic, backing away as if that would matter to the little assholes. "Don't you fucking dare! They're all I have!" 

Yonaka smiled nastily. "This is going to bring me great joy."

He flew straight at me, evading my flailing arms.

"No! NO!!" I bellowed like a wounded animal, just before he pressed a tiny hand to my forehead.

Then nothing.