Page 30 of The Endless One

This man.

She looked back at him, a soft smile on her face that she couldn’t wipe away. “After all that’s happened, you still like looking at me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I’d imagine seeing someone die as much as I do would change most people’s thoughts about them.” That she was weak. Lesser. Or maybe just that she was cursed and he should be afraid of what that meant for the two of them.

Elric shook his head. “You’re one of the strongest women I’ve ever met, Jessamine. Just because you were bested a few times doesn’t change that. You have never let anyone beat you for long. Even if they get the upper hand, you always seem to win.”

She grabbed the bar of soap they’d left in the water and started scrubbing her skin. “I don’t feel like that. Sometimes it feels like all I do is lose and then fumble my way into a victory. Leading people is hard. Making sure they come out of my harebrained plans alive is even harder. I suppose I’d be better at it if I was like my mother, or if I stopped to think a little while longer. But I always feel so rushed—”

He stole the soap out of her hands.

“Be gentle with yourself,” he scolded.

She looked down at her arms and realized she’d been scrubbing them with her nails. Raw, welted lines rose on her pale skin in the absence of all that dirt.

Sighing, she let her shoulders sink; she’d been so tense she was holding them nearly to her ears. “I’ll get there.”

“I know you will. But let me help in the meantime.” He skated the soap gently over her shoulders and then nudged her forward. “Let me get your back.”

“Why are you so supportive and… good?” she muttered, staring at the soap bubbles that popped in front of her eyes as she leaned forward. “Aren’t you supposed to be a terrifying god?”

“Because this is what I wanted someone to do for me when I went through the exact same thing,” he replied. “It heals me to heal you.”

And damn if that didn’t make tears burn in her eyes.

Elric forgot many things about being human, but the sensation of being clean after being so very dirty was not one that he had readily forgotten. He was eager to feel that delicious sensation of clean skin on clean sheets, and knew as soon as his head hit the pillows, he would sleep for a very long time. If any of these witches thought to wake him, he would not be responsible for what he did.

His love was back. His little nightmare had turned his entire world upside down, and all he wanted now was to fall asleep with her in his arms. Not on a bed of hay like the night before, but on a proper bed. He’d even waste some of his magic to make sure it was comfortable for her. She deserved to feel like a princess again.

Soon, they would return to the fight. But tonight, he wanted her to be happy.

Except in the last moments of his bath, when he’d conjured a brush and was vigorously scrubbing the blood and dirt out from under his nails, the door to the shack opened.

He sighed. Not even a single moment of relief, it seemed, would be provided to them. Not that they hadn’t all seen him naked by this point. Still, it always made him want to throw an arm over his chest when a witch stared at him like the one in the doorway.

She blinked a few times, her eyes caught on the planes of muscles of his chest before Jessamine stepped in the way. She might be a little rabid when it came to protecting him, but it was nice to have someone be like that for him.

“Can I help you?” Jessamine asked.

“Th-there’s something going on in the sky,” the witch stammered.

In the sky?

Jessamine looked back at him, and he could see the worry in her gaze. “The spell?”

“It must be getting worse.”

He stood, uncaring if anyone saw his nudity now that he knew what was happening. The very last thing he wanted was for that spell to run out of control. His brother knew what he was doing, and that blue electrical storm was something dire, but he didn’t know what it was.

Rushing through throwing his clothes on, he headed out with Jessamine at his side. They’d been in the shack for a while. The sun had long ago set, and now the sands were glowing white as the moon illuminated them. But it was the fifteen women who stood on the shore that caught his attention most.

They were highlighted by the pale light of the moon, although each of them was dark in their own way. For the first time, he saw them as the coven they were. Dangerous monoliths of women who would be spoken about for centuries to come. Each of them had their face turned toward the sea, staring out into the distance at what he was certain was a horrific spell that would alter the very world they all lived in.

But for just a brief moment, he wanted to drink in all the essence of the women before him. They were stunning. Truly wondrous as the first coven this world had seen in over two hundred years.

And then he looked up.