Chapter 30

Chapter 30
I stretched out in bed, searching for another body, but found nothing but cold sheets.
I don’t know why I thought he’d be there like the first time we slept together. It was foolish to think he’d be by my side, warming me, waiting for more.
After all the hot sex in the shower, he helped me dry off, and we lay down in bed.
I felt the absence of something else. It was almost ridiculous to admit, but I think I’d gotten used to having my dreams invaded by others. Whether they called them visions or dreams, I found it strange that no one had interrupted my sleep.
Especially the thing chasing me. After everything it did yesterday, after trying to take me away and taking advantage of Seth’s body to kiss me, I thought it would show up in my dreams.
“I’m not coming back! Not until this whole mess is over.” I heard Quanah’s voice from the living room.
The place wasn’t that big, so he couldn’t blame me for overhearing his call.
I sprang out of bed, wrapped myself in the sheet, and tiptoed to the door to hear better.
“She’s safe here. The cabin is protected; no one can get in, not even that thing’s spirit.” I had no idea who he was talking to, but I could see he was irritated, pacing back and forth, hands in his hair. “No, she doesn’t need to learn to use her powers. I won’t let her fight, no matter what bullshit they say!”
He had no right. He couldn’t keep me locked here and stop me from learning to control my powers. If he wanted to protect me, he knew I needed to learn to wield all the magic I could. Only then could I defeat anything threatening me and my child’s life.
“This is my decision, Quanah! Bridget stays here with me, where it’s safe.” So he was talking to his brother, as expected. “I just need to keep her here until the baby’s born. After that, she’s free to do whatever she wants, and I’ll be responsible for protecting my son.”
My blood boiled the moment I heard those words. I couldn’t hold back and marched firmly into the living room, stopping in front of him.
“You can change your plans. If you think I’ll let you take my son, you’re dead wrong!” I emphasized my, because if he thought he could claim my son as his, he was gravely mistaken.
Quanah looked me up and down. There was nothing sexual in his gaze, only boredom and anger.
“I’ll call you back.” He hung up and kept staring at me.
The seductive or friendly aura was gone. His eyes were sparking while mine were already burning.
“As far as I know, you didn’t even want this kid. You tried to kick me out of your house the moment I set foot there.” I shouted the truth, ready to make him swallow every word if I had to. “Now you want to play the good guy? The devoted father?”
He swallowed hard. I saw his struggle to digest the raw truth in my words. If there was one thing he couldn’t change, it was the facts.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, girl. You have no idea what’s going on in our world.” Quanah looked away, as if searching for something on the walls, then turned back to me. “If I have to make sacrifices, my son won’t be one of them.”
“And you think I’d sacrifice my son? You think I’d give him up?” I gripped the sheet tighter around my body, feeling rage overflow in my veins. “Unlike you, I’ve protected him from the second I knew he existed. And I’ll keep doing that.”
I heard his growl, and his fangs appeared, but that didn’t intimidate me if that’s what he expected. Quanah paced the room, his heavy steps making the wood creak.
“You couldn’t understand what’s happening here even if you wanted to. This is bigger than me, bigger than all the witches in your clan or all of Salem.” He took long strides until he stopped in front of me. “The chances of any of us destroying something of this magnitude are so slim it’s laughable. So if I have to hide you until the baby’s born, I will, and whatever you decide to do after that is your problem.”
What could be so terrifying? Because that’s what I saw in his eyes—fear. Quanah was afraid of what was coming, and it was the first time I’d seen him like this.
“Then why not tell me? Tell me once and for all what’s going on!”
I was tired of all these secrets, and I believed he was too. But apparently, the words he said in the meeting room after my outburst only applied to the witches. He didn’t seem the least bit willing to share anything.
“Too many things, things that don’t even make sense, and others I’m still trying to understand.”
“So that’s it? You treat me like a child. Everyone here treats me like I’m too dangerous or too fragile to know anything!” I shouted, furious at his audacity. “But you forget it was all these secrets that got us here. If you’d told me the truth from the start, things could be very different.”
Quanah scoffed and shook his head in denial. My hands clenched into fists, and without even noticing, the walls shook. The wind blew fiercely, and the fire in the fireplace flared hotter.
Only then did I realize I was causing it all.
“Control it, unless you want us both dead.” He growled, and I laughed, dripping with scorn and overflowing rage.
“How can I control it when your plan is to keep me locked here, with no one coming to teach me? Right? How do you expect me to understand a power I don’t even know the extent of? A power I didn’t even know existed weeks ago?”
“Breathe deep, Bridget. Calm your breathing and listen to me…”
“What? Listen to more lies and half-truths?” I opened my hands, stopping the tremor, but the rest continued. “You’re such a hypocrite. You told the witches and warlocks you didn’t want more lies, yet here you are, trying to hide the truth from me. Was fucking me even real? Or was it just another trick to keep me quiet and stop me from questioning where you were taking me?”
I couldn’t handle the thought that he might’ve deceived me again, that all the sex was just to make me comply, to stop me from asking anything.
Sex could be his way of manipulating me. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time—he’d done it before after that day in the hallway.
“The less you know, the better.” I couldn’t hold back the shrill laugh that tore from my throat.
It was ridiculous, this talk that would lead us nowhere.
I turned toward the door, ready to walk out and leave him behind with all his crap. At least I could do that, knowing he couldn’t stop me if I focused my powers.
I had no idea if I’d have the courage to hurt him, but I was willing to test that theory.
“The only thing I can say now is that you were promised to a man.” His words stopped me at the threshold. “Your father promised you to Koschei, the immortal. That’s why he’s on earth, why he wants you alive and without the baby. He’s come for his bride!”