Belmary House Book Three (16 page)

He backed out the door. There was nothing he could do for them, and they wouldn’t want him there. He made his way to his own cottage, bumping into the scattered, fear-gripped villagers as they ran from house to house, trying to discover if any of their loved ones had been lost. If their lives would change forever, or if they could carry on and try to comfort the others while they waited for the next deadly whim of his grandmother. He came across Sorin, sitting in a patch of grass along the side of the road, a blank look in his staring eyes. He cradled his bad hand in his lap and jerked his face up when Kostya stopped in front of him.

He shook his head, tears sliding down his cheeks, and Kostya sat beside him, not bothering to say anything. What could he say when his cousin’s hope for the future had just been taken from him? There had been purges before he left, and certainly there had been while he was gone, but no one was ever prepared for them, no matter how they tried to harden themselves. Even in the bleakest situations, it was impossible not to love. And that was where she got them, every time.

There was nothing to say this purge had anything to do with him, but he somehow knew that it did, especially one of this magnitude. He’d been back for two weeks, and had blithely begun to believe they couldn’t hurt him anymore.

He had been stupid. And so very wrong.

Tilly kept her eye on Ashford as he stood with the crumpled parchment in his hand, the look of rage in his eyes making her nervous. The last time he’d got that angry, someone disappeared off the face of the earth, after all.

“At least they left the goats alone,” Piper finally said, breaking the tense silence that had descended on them.

“I’d count them if I were you,” Ashford said dully. “Those were bones around the cairn.”

Lachlan and Shane swore simultaneously and the other goatherd Danny started to cry.

“Why do they always have to mess with the animals?” he asked no one in particular, wiping his eyes and sniffling.

Piper patted him and turned her attention to Ashford, looking very much like Tilly felt. “Are you going to go home?” she asked. A muscle in his jaw twitched and he shook his head. Piper nodded. “Then are you ready to learn?”

Ashford’s angry look turned into one of distaste. “I suppose so,” he said.

“A little more enthusiasm will be helpful,” Piper said. “Let’s find Liam. As annoyed as I still am with him, the lying jerk knows more than I do, I’m sure.”

“I think my grandma has a crush on him,” Tilly said, explaining that they had gone on a walk in the flower garden.

“Well, who doesn’t love a bad boy?” Piper said.

She squeezed Danny’s shoulder and told them they didn’t have to go after the goats that day if they didn’t feel up to it, but the boys clearly wanted to find out who amongst their four-legged friends had fallen victim and set off to do the inventory. Lachlan went with them in case anything else worrisome turned up.

On the way back up to the castle, Tilly hung back to observe Ashford and Piper as they quietly discussed the Povest’s newest threat. While she was glad Ashford had finally come to terms with needing to learn how to use his new abilities, she kept hashing over their last few conversations, or rather arguments. She’d always started and ended them with wanting to stay with him, and he’d always readily agreed.

Or had he? Now that she was faced with their needing to make a decision in a hurry, she wasn’t so sure. He’d seemed to go along with her when she said they should stick together, but he’d never actually said the words.

He couldn’t possibly still think he was going to leave her behind and close up the portal, not after she’d practically bared her soul to him. Except he was Ashford, and she was fairly certain he could. By the time they reached the kitchen, she was fully immersed in a bubbling stew of resentment and hurt. She wanted to pull him aside and make him say the words, make him swear he meant for them to stay together, but she still had a shred of pride. She’d foolishly thought the impossible way they’d met and their consequent falling in love had been the hand of fate, but he’d grabbed her by mere accident, and now their time was up. He had his own issues to deal with, and she would only bog him down.

Liam and her grandma came back in, cheeks red from the brisk weather, or from how hysterical they both seemed to think the other was. Everything Helen said elicited a roar of laughter from Liam, and whatever Liam said in response had Helen practically in stitches. Piper’s mouth quirked up at their adorable flirting until she saw Tilly’s grim face.

Tilly wanted her grandma to be happy, but Liam Wodge was completely unsuitable, traveling all over the ages, tangling with witches, risking his life, not to mention his family baggage … oh. She clenched her fists at what she realized was the same argument Ashford used to keep her from staying with him. Damn it. She got up to pour herself some soothing tea, perhaps with whisky in it.

“All right, Mr. Wodge, we’re going to need you to get serious for a bit,” Piper said. “Lord Ashford here wants to learn to harness his powers.”

“Do you have to say it like that?” Ashford asked.

“Tame the magic within?” Piper suggested instead.

Tilly snorted, spilling a few drops of tea into the saucer. He gave her a wounded look, which she ignored. She wanted to have it out with him right then, while her suspicion was fresh, but the threat from the Povests had to take precedence over her dysfunctional love life.

Lachlan saw her scowling into her tea and pulled out a bottle of whisky from an upper cabinet, holding it out to her solicitously.

“Maybe just a drop,” she said, nodding as he poured a healthy slug into her cup. He poured himself some and sat beside her at the bar.

“Were you very shaken?” he asked.

She wondered if he could read minds, and was embarrassed to be caught thinking about Ashford’s betrayal when everyone else was concerned about the warning. She realized it was that very warning he was concerned had her upset.

“Yes, a bit,” she admitted. As long as she had a valid excuse to keep the alcohol flowing, she’d let him believe that was the reason.

Her grandmother squealed and clapped her hands, turning Tilly’s attention to the spectacle by the fireplace. Piper had laid out three candles in a row on the big plank table, and had succeeded in lighting one after much concentration and eye crossing. Liam lit his with a mere flick of his fingers, which had caused her grandma’s outburst, and now both Liam and Piper were giving Ashford varying advice on how to light his.

“It’s one of the easiest ones,” Piper urged. “Just imagine the static from your body flying to the wick.”

“That’s not how it works,” Liam argued, showily lighting the last one and snuffing it between his fingers. Helen beamed at him and he leaned over and chucked her under the chin. “It’s a spell, plain and simple.”

“That’s not how I do it,” Piper said. “The one spellbook I used to have got tossed in the lake. I just wing it.”

“We can’t have Lord Ashford winging it, now can we?” Liam said, giving her a knowing look.

Ashford ran his hands over his face, and if Tilly hadn’t already started feeling the effects of the whisky she might have taken pity on him. He looked at her so pathetically, she started to soften. Didn’t she love him? She’d always been taught that was an unconditional sort of thing. She did believe he loved her, and it was his foolish old-fashioned thinking that he needed to protect her that was going to keep them apart. As soon as she softened toward him, a new bout of anger rose up. The damned fool was going to make them both miserable if he got his way. As angry as she was, she didn’t like the idea of him being miserable and gave him an encouraging smile.

“You can do it, Julian,” she said, pushing her cup toward Lachlan for a refill. He reached for the tea kettle, but she shook her head. “Just the whisky will be fine.”

She downed it in one burning gulp, watching Ashford over the rim. He locked his silver grey eyes on hers and held out his hand toward the candle.

Please don’t blast it into another dimension, she silently begged, gripping her delicate china cup so desperately that Lachlan pried it from her fingers so it wouldn’t break.

The candle wick flickered to a tall, dancing flame, and he pulled his hand back until it was normal, finally closing his hand altogether. The candle stayed lit and the look of triumph on his face made Tilly want to jump up and run to him. Her head spun from guzzling down the alcohol so fast, so she stayed in her seat, but couldn’t help grinning proudly.

The three continued their lessons, Ashford succeeding at each new task as if he’d done them a million times, and Tilly watched his confidence grow, as his uneasiness at finding himself saddled with the powers diminished. She wondered what he was thinking as he moved small objects around the room, made a potato from the pantry sprout several green shoots, and finally made a book disappear off the table.

Everyone was silent at his last accomplishment, but he hurried from the room, returning a moment later with the same book in his hand. “I put it away,” he marveled at his own success. “It was on the shelf where I wanted it to go.”

Tilly knew Ashford learning to harness his powers was a good thing. They could help Kostya with his evil family now. Or, Ashford could. If he was determined to go through with his plan and leave her behind, there wasn’t much she could do about it. She only wished he would be honest about it, and not lead her to believe everything was fine when it wasn’t. She looked at the whisky bottle morosely, wondering if more would help her depressed mood, or if she’d already had too much.

The ebullience in the room was too much for her, and she slipped away to call her mother. It was past time to tell everything, so her mom would be prepared if she didn’t return, or returned with a broken heart.

***

Ashford hated all the attention as he continued to do one outrageous thing after another, but he couldn’t deny the heady rush of energy that flowed through him as he concentrated his thoughts toward doing something and it just happened. It was like magic. He laughed at himself. He’d been surrounded by it his whole life, watched Camilla do countless impossible things while growing up, was able to travel through time due to his ancestor’s cursed portal, but through all that, he’d never really believed in it himself. It had always been an annoying bit of madness he was much happier to ignore.

Every time he glanced at Matilda, he saw her go from encouraging to mournful, and he didn’t know what he did wrong. He’d been agreeing with her since she overheard his argument with Liam, and as much as it tore at him to deceive her, he still believed it was for the best that he give her up.

He knew he was in for it tonight when they were alone. She’d argue that now that he could use his inherited abilities, he could protect her. He knew she’d been talking to Liam and that scoundrel was on her side.

Even though Liam had been unable to protect his wife against their dangerous lifestyle, he still believed that love was stronger than evil, that love shouldn’t be denied. Ashford thought it was hogwash. The very thought of having to mourn Matilda the way Liam so clearly still mourned his wife was unacceptable. It would kill him.

After he managed to move a book to the library, he noticed she quietly slipped out of the room. He made to go after her, wanting to erase the sadness from her eyes. He knew he was about to add to her sadness exponentially when he left like a coward, but for now he only wanted to do whatever he could to see her smile. He stored them all up in his heart for the lonely days ahead without her.

“Well, let’s try moving a person, shall we?” Liam asked. Piper gasped and he turned to her. “You were with us in the room with Solomon. Do you think we were just flying around on our own? It’s a common offensive move to toss someone away.”

She looked around the kitchen, at the shelves full of pots and pans, the cozy paintings of fruit and livestock, and shook her head. “Take that nonsense out to the barn, if you have to, but I think he needs to master more basic things first.”

She grimaced before holding her fingertip over one of the candle flames, flinching as it burned her. She quickly pulled away before it got too bad, and showed them her reddened finger.

“Can either of you heal this? I think healing’s much more important that hurting.” She pushed Lachlan away when he ran around the bar to chide her for being so foolish. “Seriously, one of you heal this already.”

Ashford didn’t have a clue what to do, but he’d found that simply focusing on whatever outcome he wanted had worked up until then, so he concentrated on Piper’s finger returning to it’s unburned state. After a second, she gave up on him and held it out to Liam, who quickly healed it.

“See, he’s not ready for offense yet. Let’s keep working on basics,” she said.

His confidence was rattled and he wished Matilda would come back from wherever she’d gone. He couldn’t move the book again, or light the candle. No matter how he tried, he was spent.

“This is disappointing,” he said, looking at his hands and willing them to work again.

“What were you thinking about when you did it before?” Liam asked. “You were getting them every time up until a few minutes ago.”

He’d been thinking about keeping Matilda safe, and he had to admit to himself, though he’d never admit to anyone else, he’d been showing off a little for her. Every time he turned and saw her proud face, he knew he could do better. He closed his eyes and conjured her smile in his mind, then concentrated on the candle. It seemed to take more out of him this time, but he managed to light it.