Page 16 of A Trial By Blood

“When are you coming to me?” he said, his voice utterly horrifying. “I grow impatient, witch.”

A clearing was just ahead, and I turned to Death before I reached it. He stood there, shrouded in his black cloak, his twisted wooden staff planted against the forest floor. I couldn’t see his face. I’d never seen his face. “What will you do when you have me here? Will you hurt me?” I asked. “Will you make me suffer?”

“No, not at my hand. That’s what Hell’s for, witch. Any suffering you endure here will be of your own making.”

I didn’t know what he meant by that.

“Your soul is mine. Let go. Or should I take someone else from your coven?”

“No, please. I’m coming.”

He took a step closer. “When?”

“Tonight.”

His hand gripped my wrist, his flesh burning mine, and I cried out. “I’ll be waiting.”

My eyes flew open.

I was back in my room, in my bed, unable to walk or move. I rubbed my wrist, looking down at it. There was a red mark on my skin. I shivered.

“Rose?” My mother’s voice sounded panicked.

I turned my head on the pillow and blinked up at her, trying to fight the grogginess I still felt.

She was shaking. “You were dreaming, sweetheart. That’s all. Just having a bad dream.”

I’d stopped breathing by the look on her face. They didn’t think I knew, but again, I’d heard them talking. It was the reason I always had someone with me. Sometimes when I slept, I stopped breathing for a while, and it scared the hell out of whoever was with me.

My sisters had all stopped by today to spend time with me, Else and Art as well, and now Mom. They knew the end was near, there was no way they couldn’t. Else had tried the IV this morning, and I’d seized like I knew I would. I’d passed out for a while, and when I woke, Mom, Else, and Mags had been around me crying.

Maybe I only had a day or two left, but I couldn’t endure another night of this, and neither could they. What happened after I died was out of my control, but my death would be on my terms.

And it would be tonight.

At least my turn for the worst had given me the chance to say goodbye to everyone in my own way. Mom was the last.

She gripped my hand, and I held hers back. “I’m so glad you’re my mom,” I said, trying to keep my voice strong.

“It’s a privilege to be your mom, Roe.” She blinked rapidly.

Yes, she knew, and she was fighting to hold it together for me. I could say a lot of things, but talking wasn’t easy right now. From last night to now, I’d gotten a lot worse. The thirst, the hunger had become unbearable, breathing so difficult. So I said the words that said it all, words that she already knew, but I was determined to share with her anyway. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she whispered and brushed her knuckles down my cheek. “We’re not going anywhere tonight, my sweet girl. Rowena can wait. We’ll all be right here.”

No. That wasn’t the plan. “No,” I rasped.

“It’s not that…we’re just…there was just a change of plans, that’s all,” she rushed out, trying to cover for the real reason, her fear that I would die while they were gone. As if I didn’t know what state I was in. And I would, but not because my body had given up on its own. I wasn’t going out like that. I was dying the way I wanted.

The only way to get that was to give her the truth, or at least some of it. “Ronan,” I whispered. “I want…to be alone with him, Mom. I-I have to tell him…t-tell him…”

“Shh, it’s okay,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “I know. I know. It’s okay, sweetheart. We’ll leave for a while, okay?”

They knew, they all knew how I felt about Ronan. Neither of us was saying what was coming, but she was going to give me that time with him. She’d give me the world if she could.

Mags sat with me until it was time for them to go. Magnolia talked, I didn’t, couldn’t. I took in my beautiful baby sister, knowing this was the last time we’d ever see each other.

“You’re the strongest person I…I know,” I forced out when Mom called her to come down, which meant Ronan had arrived.