The Year of the Tiger (Book 3 of The Almair Series) (Completed)

Chapter 61

Tygra and I entered Marcus's house later that afternoon with my brother by my side like always. Tygra had a bag of food in her hands, but it was something that I had bought myself. "I can't believe that you bought him food," she muttered with pursed lips. "I mean, I wouldn't have if he had treated me the way he treats you. Spell or no spell." She mumbled the last part so that I was the only one that could hear it.

I rolled my eyes and scowled. "I know you wouldn't have," I said. "You kept telling me that on the way here from the burger place." I shrugged. "And he needs to eat."

"Not something you brought," Marcus said, walking into the entryway from the living room. He scowled and narrowed his eyes at me. "I don't know where it had been."

"Mainly in Tygra's lap because she was the one that had it after we got it," I replied. I gestured for Tygra to take it into the kitchen. "You and I have some business to attend to, Marcus, so she'll put it into the kitchen, and you can eat it later."

Marcus scoffed and rolled his eyes. He folded his arms across his chest and scowled, and I raised an eyebrow. "We have no business to attend to," he said, "so you may leave and never come back."

Tygra scoffed and muttered something under her breath. She walked to the kitchen, and my brother followed her, hoping that she would drop the whole bag and let him eat the contents.

I didn't reply and gestured for him to walk into the dining room with me. I was surprised when he actually walked in, but I did not comment on him while I took my bag off my back and opened it.

"And what are you trying to do?" Marcus asked. "Poison me?"

I shrugged and didn't reply, searching through my bag for the two small jars that Hermes had created for me. I found them both and set them down on the table before I peeled the label off of one and made sure that it was the one that I needed.

"Martha," Marcus said, and his voice shook. Nervousness and fear filled his voice, and I could tell that both sides of him didn't trust me because I didn't respond to his question. "What are you doing?"

I tossed the jar that would put him under a spell to him, and he caught it without even dropping it. "Open that and smell," I said. "And then I will answer anything that you want to ask."

He raised an eyebrow and opened the lid without any fight from the controlled him. "And why won't you do it now?" he asked, raising the eyebrow higher.

I shrugged. "Because I don't want to," I replied. "Go ahead and sniff. It's not dangerous."

Marcus scoffed and rolled his eyes. He muttered something under his breath before he complied and smelled the contents of the jar. Confusion was written on his face when he looked up, and he blinked. He blinked again and didn't say a word.

"Well?" I asked, biting my lip. I shifted on my feet and waited for him to say something, anything. "How do you feel?"

"Confused," Marcus replied. He looked at the jar and then looked up at me. "The spell," he said. "It stopped." He furrowed his brows and cocked his head before he again looked at the jar. "Or the effects of it. I think it's still there." He turned the jar in his hands, and the confusion was written on his face.

I sighed in relief and nodded, a lump appearing in my throat. "It's still on you," I said, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat and shrugged when he looked at me. "I just had someone make something so that you could be free from it for a while."

"So, I am under a different spell?" He capped the jar and then tossed it to me, and I caught it, and I placed it in my bag.

"Sort of," I replied. "You just can act the way that you want to act and say what you want to say."

"But not forever."

I shook my head. "They'll know if I keep you on that forever," I said, and he sighed and nodded before he ran a hand through his hair. "Do you trust me?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. I stared at him with wide eyes and placed my hands behind my back while I waited for him to answer.

Marcus nodded. "I wouldn't have forced the controlled part of me to smell it," he said. He moved a hand through his hair and sighed before he shook his head. "I know that you placed me under a spell, but I know that you won't do anything that would harm my family or me."

I nodded and bit my lip. My throat closed itself off, and my heart pounded hard in my chest. Memories of being in his arms appeared in my mind, and I wanted to hug him and remember the warmth that the younger me knew every time he came to visit Miss Kip and myself.

Marcus cleared his throat and shifted on his feet. He studied me, and I had no idea what he saw or didn't see. His whole body was relaxed, and I could tell that he was happy that he didn't have to be rude to me when he didn't want to. "Is it too much to ask for a hug?" he asked, his voice shaking. He cleared his throat again and shifted, looking guilty. "Please."

I didn't respond and shook my head, my bottom lip quivering. I ran over and crashed into him, Marcus stumbling back but standing. I wrapped my arms around him and cried, grateful that it worked but upset that it couldn't be like this for long.

Marcus wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. He placed one hand on the back of my head with the other around my back and rested his head on top of mine. He held me close to him, and his heart pounded in his chest. He didn't say a word and stroked my back, letting me cry out everything that I had been holding in ever since I lost him and Miss Kip the first time.