Spellbound - Cara Lynn Shultz [116]
“A concussion, a fractured ankle, and a ton of bruises and cuts.” His dark eyebrows knotted together in worry as Brendan ticked off my maladies darkly, reaching over me to intertwine his fingers with my other hand, as well.
“Concussion,” I repeated. “Could that explain why I imagined an officer there? I don’t understand….” I let my voice trail off, until I realized that Brendan had a peculiar look on his face.
“Did you see a cop?” I whispered.
Brendan nodded in agreement, his mouth set in a grimace.
“I don’t understand,” I said again. “Where did he go? Maybe he wasn’t a cop and was just a regular person?”
“Emma, honey, it’s not important. Let’s talk about this after you’re feeling better,” he said, holding my hand and kissing it.
And then I realized that my ring was gone.
“Brendan, my ring,” I cried, then felt a stabbing pain in my head again. “Ow!”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s just your concussion. It’ll get better.”
“But my ring,” I whispered.
“I have it. The nurse gave it to me,” he reassured me. “They had to take it off for the CT scan. The ring—it’s safe.” He laughed a quiet laugh to himself. “That ring.”
In spite of my glorious painkillers I recognized that loaded tone and knew there was no way I was leaving the hospital without the full story. Brendan definitely knew something he wasn’t telling me.
“Why are you being weird about my ring?” I mumbled.
“What?” He laughed awkwardly. “I’m not being weird.”
“You’re not a good liar. You’re being weird.”
“Um, now’s not the right time,” Brendan said in a soothing voice. “You should just rest.” He started stroking my bangs back again, a move which could easily lull me to sleep. How sneaky.
“No secrets,” I warned, my thoughts getting a little clearer.
Brendan sighed, exhaling a heavy breath that seemed to come from his feet.
“Remember how you asked why I got you sapphire?”
I nodded, and he continued. “I didn’t know it at the time, but your brother—” his voice got very soft over that word “—is the reason I bought you that ring.”
Brendan pursed his lips, looking down at my arm and stroking the hand-shaped bruises softly with his thumb. “After we had that—I don’t want to call it a fight, so I’ll say disagreement— last Sunday, I felt pretty bad about not wanting to hear about the witch stuff. You didn’t deserve that. So I decided to get you a present, just something small that you could wear as a reminder of how much you mean to me.”
“A diamond-and-sapphire ring is something little?” I squeaked, shifting uncomfortably in my bed, which set my head to aching and buzzing.
“What? It’s not a big ring,” Brendan shrugged. “Anyway, it was on my mind. So I was going to get you amethyst, your birthstone. And then the night before I went to the jeweler, I had this dream. And this guy was there. He told me to get you sapphire. He said that you would need something to help bring out your power.”
“Angelique told me that,” I admitted. “Sapphire amplifies a witch’s powers. We used it in that spell we did—to give me my natural powers.”
Brendan nodded. “The next day, the jeweler showed me the sapphire rings, and I just felt like I should pay attention.”
Brendan paused. “The guy in my dream, Emma. Well, he looked exactly like—no, I’d say he was the officer who helped you pull me up. I know it sounds crazy, completely insane, but, Em, I just know it was him. I recognized him, because, well, he looked like you.”
I stared at Brendan confused for a moment, before the pieces fell into place.
“Ethan?” I asked, my voice coming out very small.
“I think so,” Brendan said, his voice very gentle. “I think the sapphire helped you tap into whatever magic you have when we were out on the cliff. Or at least helped you believe that you could. And you summoned him.”
“He tried warning me so many times,” I whispered. “It’s like he knew I’d need more help….”
I let my voice trail off as I tried to sniff back the tears, which only hurt my head more. I winced, feeling the hot saltwater stream down my cheek.
Brendan grabbed a tissue and