I swallowed. With his tone, I knew he wasn’t joking. And I was glad it wasn’t me he was angry with.

He put his hands under my shoulders and lifted me carefully until I was sitting up. He reached over to the nightstand. “Here you go.”

He placed two white pills in my hand, and I swallowed them with the glass of water he handed me. “You should be feeling better in twenty minutes. At least that’s what the doctor said.”

Doctor? “How long was I out?”

“A few hours. I was worried about a head injury, but the doctor is also a witch, and he said that the magic needed to work its way out of your system.” He grumbled something unintelligible. “But he didn’t say it’d take so long.”

I sighed. “It would’ve been faster if I wasn’t already so worn out.”

“From Luciana draining you.”

“Yeah. And from the healing chant I did last night on Raphael.”

“What?”

I filled him in on the phone call. “So, I was already depleted.”

“I see.”

“Can I have my purse?”

“Sure.” He got up and grabbed it.

I looked up at him. He’d saved me from something really, truly horrible. Teresa had survived it, but I wasn’t sure that I could live without my magic. Luciana’s way of draining me was one thing, but I always knew my power would recover. If he hadn’t stopped it this time…

My hands shook as I took the purse from him. I met his gaze “Thank you for getting me out of there. I’m terrified of what would’ve happened if you hadn’t shown up.”

“I’ll always show up for you.” He cupped my face in his hand. “You’re not ready for all of this, but I’ve been waiting a long time for you. I’d rather die than let you down.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. Right now, he was right. I wasn’t ready. I had so much to deal with, I didn’t know where to start.

I reached inside my purse. “Going there was awful, but it was worth it. I found this before they caught me snooping.” I pulled out the old map. The paper had yellowed and the edges were frayed, but the ink was still bright on the page. And for something so old, the paper didn’t feel too fragile. It had to be the magic that preserved it so well.

Lucas grunted, telling me that he wasn’t sure it was worth it. As I unfolded the map, he leaned down to take a look.

“What do you think? Do you know where any of this is?”

He ran his hand along the symbols.