Before (4 page)

Jack opened her front door, she took a deep breath preparing
herself for the onslaught of questions. She turned her head to see
the shocked expression cross her mother’s face.

“
What on earth has happened?” Her mother asked as she rushed
forward with her long brown hair flying behind her.

“
Some boy’s jumped her,” Jack grunted.

He still hadn’t let her down from the safety of his arms. Her
mother looked at her injury as she lay nestled there. Her
grandmother and grandfather also walked in and still Jack didn’t
put her down. Not that she was making much of an effort to leave
his arms. She’d never been in this position before and relished in
it.

“
What has happened, dear?” her grandmother moved towards
her.

“
I was kicked in the face by a boy. There was a group of them
calling me a witch and even though I politely told them I wasn’t,
the boy who was the leader still pushed at me. He was the one who
kicked me. I probably look horrendous,” she moaned feeling for the
first time the sting of tears.

“
You look beautiful, like always,” Jack whispered close to her
ear.

“
Jack, put her down please; I need to get this
fixed.”

Jack reluctantly placed her feet on the floor. She saw the
expression cross his face. His hand tenderly stroked her arm before
she was led away.

“
Thank you, Jack. What happened to the boys?” her grandfather
asked.

“
I dealt with them,” Jack grumbled.

“
Non-magically?” her mother asked.

“
Yes.”

Jack’s lie made her body jolt with nerves. Cora knew why he
had to lie, her mother wouldn’t be happy about the show of magic.
In a way Cora had used her element too. Plus, her mother was his
coven leader. After his actions Jack could face some form of
punishment if he’d said yes.

“
Good, thank you.”

Jack nodded at her and then left leaving her to answer the
questions that would follow.

“
What did the boys say?” her mother whispered as she wiped the
crusted blood from around her mouth.

“
They called me a witch, they said that I dress strange which
makes me a witch. What more did they have to say to me before I
snapped.”

She heard the insistent muttering from her grandmother. She
didn’t like how things were changing in their small
village.

“
It is fine, Mother, we expected this after what happened with
Noah.”

Cora watched the look pass between her grandmother and her
mother. Cora felt anger surge through her body.

“
Why wasn’t I pre-warned? You could have told me to be
cautious.” She’d been the one to have her nose broken after
all.

“
I didn’t think they would come after you.”

“
Well, they did, of course they would. They wouldn’t just skip
around me, I’m your daughter,” she replied smartly.

“
Yes, you are my daughter, especially with your temper and
wit,” her mother whispered with a smile on her face. “I’m sorry
that I didn’t tell you. I believed I was keeping you safe, you are
still my baby girl even though you are seventeen years
old.”

“
Next time please tell me if anything has happened. I prefer to
be warned before I get a broken nose, or I at least need to
understand the reason behind it if someone tries again.”

“
You have my word, I will let you know.”

Cora nodded, happy that her mother had finally acknowledged
she was an adult and she could handle the information.

“
So, you seemed to enjoy your time spent in Jack’s arms?” her
mother said as a smile played on her lips.

“
Mother...” Cora hissed not knowing how else to respond to such
a comment. She
had
enjoyed it and she wanted to spend more time in his
arms.

“
You look good together, sweetheart. Being in love suits
you.”

“
I’m not-”

“
You are,” her mother whispered as her hand brushed aside a
strand of Cora’s hair.

She was, there was no denying it. She always had
been.

“
Right, that’s taken care of the blood, Alizon, now I need to
fix the break.”

Her mother stood aside as her grandmother placed her hand over
her broken nose. She’d never seen her grandmother fix a nose
before. She hoped she could do it well enough. She didn’t want a
misshapen nose for the rest of her life.

“
Now, this may sting a little.”

With that warning, her nose snapped back into the place, the
pain of it bringing tears to her eyes. Her grandmother moved her
hand and pushed her head to the side studying her.

“
How does it look?” she asked, nervously studying her
grandmother’s expression.

“
You will do,” her grandmother said nodding her head which made
her short, grey curls bounce. “Jack will still love you in the
morning.”

Cora sighed, so much for waiting to tell her family about the
two of them. It would seem they already knew that she was now in a
relationship with the boy who had stolen her heart at the age of
six when he’d given her his hand to help her across the beck
because she was too small to try.

4

19
^th
June 1610

Jack walked by her as she stood in his field throwing rotten
scraps to the pigs. She was aware of the heat between them, had
been aware of it the entire morning. She hadn’t done anything about
it though. She threw the last bit to the pigs as Jack’s finger
softly brushed against her cheek. She looked at him, his eyes
making short work of her insides. She watched the curve of his lips
widen into a sexy smile as the dimples deepened.

“
I want to kiss you again,” Jack said, the comment making heat
flush in her cheeks.

“
Near the pigs? How romantic,” she laughed.

Before she could catch her breath, he took her hand and pulled
her up the field towards the cottage. They stood on the crest of
the hill, the heat was starting to build which meant the day was
going to be a long and hot one.

“
How about now? I need to kiss you,” Jack repeated.

“
Oh, do you?” she replied teasingly.

He didn’t respond as the smile stayed on those lips but she
could see the heat burn in his eyes. Her lips tingled in
anticipation. She lifted her hand, brushing his hair back from his
face.

“
Cora!!”

They jerked apart, the loud shout making her heart thud harder
than it had been.

They both looked down to where the cottage sat at the bottom
of the hill and saw Eli running full sprint towards them. Jack
stepped towards Eli, his fingers brushing up against her hand. She
knew that Jack sensed something was wrong. He’d positioned his body
in front of hers, even protecting her from his own
brother.

As Eli neared them, Cora could see the look of pure panic on
his face. His shirt was ripped around his shoulder, had something
or someone attacked him? Were the people going after Eli now? Would
they start on Jack’s family?

“
Eli?” Jack rushed forward to meet his brother. Cora followed
closely behind him.

Eli came to a stop, panting. “Cora, it’s your
mother!”

She didn’t wait for him to continue. She picked up the full
skirt of her lavender dress and ran. Her heart jumped into her
mouth as she thought about the worst possible outcomes.

Had her mother been dragged to the gallows? Was she hurt? Why
were the commoners only attacking her family?

Her legs moved quickly under her feet. See, this was the
reason why she cut her dresses, she could run without the material
restricting her. She also couldn’t breathe because the corset cut
into her ribs.

“
Cora!” Eli shouted as he ran next to her. “You can’t go
there.”

“
Eli,” she panted, feeling the dress restrict her chest
further. “I’m going whether you like it or not, she’s my
mother!”

“
Eli, what has happened?” Jack asked as he ran next to her.
Jack knew that Cora wouldn’t sit back and let someone else handle
this. Eli liked to handle situations; he didn’t like the two
younger witches involving themselves in apparent
adult
situations. That
was too bad, because Cora was about to jump in head first. They
neared the end of the field and ran along the dry dirt
path.

“
You will see soon enough,” Eli muttered to Jack.

She turned the corner and stopped, shocked by the scene in
front of her.

The cottage was surrounded by commoners, there must have been
the whole of the village there. The noise assaulted her ears. The
immense rumble of angry words were cast around from some of the
leading men, their words causing the crowd to jeer and move closer
to her cottage. Pitchforks and shovels were held in their hands as
they waved them.

She walked more calmly towards the mob, if she ran they would
try to stop her, she couldn’t have that. As she neared, she noticed
that food and rocks were being thrown at her cottage. She gritted
her teeth angrily as she heard the sound of breaking glass, yet
more damage caused to her cottage. Fortunately the cottage was fire
free, for now.

She pushed her way through the loud mob trying to find her
mother. Had they hurt her? The more she pushed through, the more
the crowd pushed back. She felt the crushing presence of a man
twice her size but luckily she had Jack by her side who pushed them
harder. He forced his way through them as he held her by his
side.

She all but fell through the door and found her mother backed
into a corner with a pitchfork pointed at her midriff. Her face was
impassive, it revealed nothing, but Cora knew her mother was at
breaking point. She could see it in the way she formed her hands,
her fingers were evenly spaced ready to cast her energy into the
room. One push in the wrong direction would mean a world of pain
for the people gathered around her. Cora had to stop this before it
got out of hand.

Several commoners surrounded her mother but one man was
brandishing the pitchfork, forcing it closer to her mother’s belly.
His face was red, his lips pulled thinly as his blue eyes bulged
out of his head.

“
What is the meaning of this?” Jack shouted to be heard above
the roar of voices.

“
Stay out of this, boy, this doesn’t concern you, unless you
run with this witch?” The man spat at her mother’s feet which made
Cora’s element push up against Jack who held her hand
tighter.

She was struggling to cope with this, if her element chose to
snap, it would.

“
Who has stated this?” Eli stepped forward, holding his arms
out to try and contain the situation.

The chants from the crowd hushed as they listened to Eli.
Luckily for them, Eli was a well respected merchant in the
village.

“
People everywhere state this,” the man grunted as he waved the
pitchfork threateningly.

“
She’s my mother!” Cora shouted and moved to stand in front of
the pitchfork.

“
No, Cora!” Jack stormed and followed her so they both stood
protecting her mother. Jack’s body was angled slightly so if there
was a blow, he would take it first.

“
If she was a witch, you know that she would have protected
herself. She would have used some magic before now,” Eli
shouted.

There were some agreeable grunts made in the crowd. It was a
good job Eli could appeal to them. This situation would have
escalated very quickly if it wasn’t for Eli.

“
What right have you to come into someone’s home and threaten
them? Look at her daughter, she is frightened. She doesn’t need to
see our village behaving in such a manner.”

The crowd looked at her. She tried not to grind her teeth, she
hated when people stared at her. She worked on her face trying to
make it appear terrified rather than angry. Some of the men looked
sheepishly down at the floor realising what their actions looked
like.

Cora noticed that some of the crowd at the back had dispersed;
the violent energy to spill the witch’s blood had already
dissipated. Eli only had to appeal to the few strong minded ones
that remained.

“
Please, we’ve lived in this village all our lives, you know
us, we sell you produce, we give what we can to you when you are in
need. Please do not resort to this, this is not the
way.”

“
Aye, John, we can’t do this.” The man wielding a large shovel
spoke and touched John’s arm, the leader who was holding the
pitchfork.

John stepped towards them. Jack subtly moved his body, she
sensed the tension grip him. Jack would use his element if
pushed.

John stopped, his body nearly brushing up against Jack. His
eyes were focused intently on her mother. “If you are a witch and I
find out, I will kill you myself,” John spat the words at her
mother but he dropped the pitchfork which clattered on the stone
floor as he stomped out.