Bring Me Your Midnight(100)

And before I have time to respond, he kisses me, his lips soft and slow against my own. I pull him closer, backing into the wooden island in the center of the room. My dad’s pestle falls to the floor, but I don’t move away.

Wolfe brings his hands to my hips and lifts me onto the counter, kissing me as he does. I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, hugging him close as his lips trail down my skin and onto my chest.

My head falls back, and I whisper his name, hoping he hears that I’m already sure. Hoping he knows that to me, he is magic, a spell I will practice over and over for the rest of my life.

I am bewitched, every part of me.

And as long as he says my name and touches my skin and exists on this beautiful Earth, I always will be.





forty-three





It’s a cold winter night. The sky is clear, and stars shine brightly overhead. The full moon is tomorrow, and it will be the first time the new coven rushes their magic to us. The manor is alive with anticipation, a thrill I can almost see moving through the air.

But I know the anticipation we feel is likely a mirror of the dread the new coven feels. That my parents and Ivy feel. Giving us more power goes against everything they believe in, and it will take a lot of time to build trust between us.

Maybe one day, the new coven won’t feel the need to watch us use their magic. Maybe they will see the healing island and the calmer seas and know we’re being faithful to our word.

It’s that thought that gets me excited, a future I believe in with the entirety of my being. And I will work for it as hard as I possibly can.

I wrap my arms around my chest and watch my breath drift out in front of me before vanishing. The waves roll onto the shore, one after the other, the constant harmony to my life. The noise is still with me regardless of what side of the island I’m on or what kind of magic I practice.

A flash catches my eye, and I turn to see a small, circular light dancing at the periphery of the woods. As soon as I spot it, it dashes into the forest, and I jump up and follow it.

It’s dark under the cover of the trees, the canopy so dense the moonlight has to fight to get through. I slow my steps and walk carefully as the light darts ahead of me, casting a soft glow that cuts through the shadows.

After minutes of leading me, the light rushes into a clearing and tumbles through the air before vanishing. When I step out from the woods, a small, private beach is revealed.

Wolfe stands in the middle of the shore, and for a moment I stop breathing, still completely taken by the way he looks bathed in the moon’s light. It’s truly a wonder I get anything done, living in the same manor as him.

“Well, Mr. Hawthorne, you’ve successfully lured me here. What will you do now that you have me?”

His mouth pulls up on one side as he reaches a hand out to me. “You’ll see.”

I take his hand, and he leads me to an outgrowth of tall grasses with a narrow dirt trail running through them. A small wooden gate blocks the path, and it creaks when I push it open, its weather-worn wood splintered and faded.

The salty sea air is tinged with sweetness, and I look around to see dozens of flowers surrounding me, growing tall and wild. Evening primrose and black hellebores bask in the moonlight, and a single white moonflower grows amidst the night-blooming flowers.

“I was in this garden the first time you said my name at midnight,” Wolfe says. “When I heard it, my heart started racing, and I dove into the water thinking of only one thing: getting to you. And that’s all I’ve thought of since.”

“Wolfe,” I say, lingering over his name, saying it slowly so I can savor the way it feels in my mouth. I take a step closer to him.

“Wolfe.”

Another step toward him, this time close enough to touch. I grab him by his collar and pull him into me, brushing my lips against his ear. “Wolfe.”

He shudders as I say his name.

“You’re distracting me,” he says, his voice low, as if it hurts him to say it.

I raise my hands in the air in mock apology. “You’re easily distracted.”

“Only by you.” He says it in that way of his where he sounds angry, but I know it’s just that he’s frightened by how much he loves me. Everyone on this island knows his weakness now, and it’s a liability he never intended to have.

Perhaps the most unfair thing of all is that I find immeasurable strength in being the only thing that’s ever brought him to his knees. It is my openness, my vulnerability that cracked the exterior of this jagged boy, qualities only the foolish say are weak.

But I know better.

“I vow to use my power only for good.” I say it as a joke, but it’s wrapped in spools of truth.

Wolfe leans into me, his warm breath colliding with the cold air, sending a shiver down my spine. “Use it however you want,” he says, his words causing my insides to stir with desire. “I trust you.”

“I know you do.”

“Good.”

We watch each other for several breaths, and then Wolfe grabs my hand and leads me farther into the garden. He picks the moonflower and hands it to me, the petals brushing my lips when I raise it to my face.

“Every queen needs a castle,” he says, pushing through another gate and releasing my hand. I step through and gasp as I take in my surroundings. An entire field of moonflowers stretches out before me as far as I can see, thousands of them in bloom despite the winter chill. Their petals shimmer with moonlight and move in the breeze, a rolling sea of white in the darkness.