Page 6 of A Kiss from the Fae (Mistress of Magic #2)

Excerpt from Grainne Morgan’s diary

It would seem that Marian did not correctly observe the simple instructions I gave her for the herb tea to be drunk at the solstice, and she is with child.

I should have foreseen that Gwyn Beatha would seek to enchant her, for she is new to the ways of the witch – young and pretty, and a rather silly, romantic soul.

I questioned her and ascertained that Gwyn has been appearing in her dreams, telling her all kinds of falsehoods about her ruling the faerie kingdoms. This is utter ridiculousness: Marian Cullane has proved that she cannot rule her menses, never mind a faerie kingdom.

I offered her the tea again, but she has refused.

I fear she will be lost if a bargain cannot be struck.

‘The problem is that the powers that be’ – Ruby, the wardrobe mistress, twirled her index finger around in a circle as if to indicate a heavenly host floating above them – ‘want drama. They want luxury, they want glamour. They don’t want people wearing hoodies and leggings.

’ She smiled apologetically at Faye, who was wearing black leggings under a green pinafore dress with a black vest underneath it.

‘Don’t get me wrong. I’m a witch, not that they’d ever take my advice.

’ She lowered her voice. ‘It’s quite a toxic workplace if I’m honest. So I haven’t mentioned it.

You don’t want to give them any ammunition.

Surprise redundancies, that kind of thing. ’

Faye liked Ruby immediately. She reminded Faye of Annie in the way she talked, though Ruby was dressed far less outrageously than Annie generally was, even though she worked in the costume department.

She was short and curvy and was wearing black ballet pumps, skinny jeans and a baggy pink sweatshirt with GIRLS written on the front.

Her black hair was short, shaved close to her head.

‘Oh.’ Faye didn’t know what to say. ‘Sorry to hear that. So you can’t…make sensible suggestions about what the characters might wear? Or do?’

‘No. But you can, which is great. I’ve been dying for someone to come in and tell them this stuff.

I mean, who in their right mind wears a velvet dress day in, day out?

I mean, for a masked ball, fine. For a ritual, also fine.

But popping to the supermarket or reading the gas meter? Velvet wouldn’t be my choice.’

Faye laughed. ‘Well, I guess there’s a lot of fantasy about witches, isn’t there? I mean, it’s a romantic image.’

‘I know, but doesn’t it annoy you? Like, witches are real people.

This show paints witches as, like, Pre-Raphaelite tarts with magic wands.

I mean, it doesn’t have to be like that.

That show in the US, Spelled ? Those witches wear miniskirts, jeans, crop tops.

They have normal day jobs. I wish it could be more like that. ’

‘Agreed.’ Faye smiled.

‘Oh, goddess.’ Ruby smacked her palm on her forehead. ‘ Management , babes. Always getting consultants in when they could have just asked their actual staff. No offence.’

‘None taken.’ Faye looked around her at the wardrobe room. It was half filled with racks of costumes and boxes of accessories. On the other side, there were a couple of sewing machines and cutting tables. ‘So, you’re a witch?’

‘Wiccan. Since my teens. You?’

‘Ummm. Always. My family were witches.’

‘Oh, cool! Hereditary, then?’

‘I guess so. Annie and I grew up in the same village. I own a shop there, Mistress of Magic. It’s been in my family forever.’

Though to many people, ‘witch’ might have meant one thing, Faye knew that there was a great deal of variety regarding how witches defined their own practice.

Traditional witchcraft – an adherence to the native folk customs from whatever culture one had grown up in (Scottish folk magic, in Faye’s case) – shared many similarities with modern witchcraft, of which Wicca was one type, but there were also many differences.

Wicca was a modern fusion of nineteenth century ritual and occult practice with the reverence of nature and worship of pagan gods and goddesses of other cultures: Greek, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Celtic and many more.

There was much of what Faye had learned from her grandmother that was recognisable in more modern practices – the seasonal festivals, knowledge of herbs, reverence of nature and the elemental faerie kingdoms – but Grandmother had rolled her eyes at the more modern witchcraft detailed in the books Moddie, and now Faye, sold in Mistress of Magic.

All that arm-wavin’ an’ long names. Ower ficherie a job, hen . Faye remembered Grandmother tutting, confident in her older, simpler ways – ower ficherie meant fiddly and bothersome.

‘That’s amazing. I should introduce you to one of my coven. He runs an occult bookshop here in London.’

‘Oh! Well, that would be…that would be lovely, thank you.’ Faye was delighted at Ruby’s welcoming attitude. London was a big city. She wasn’t the only witch in the village – now, the city – any more. There was something nice about that.

‘Sure. We’re meeting up on Hampstead Heath next week. You should come. It’s a Mabon ritual.’

‘Oh! The autumn equinox?’ Faye realised that she knew very little about whatever ‘scene’ there was for witches in England – or even in Scotland, come to that.

‘Yeah. Falls on a Saturday this year. We run an open circle for the seasonal celebrations.’

‘An open circle? So, anyone can come?’

‘Technically, though most times it’s the same faces that show up. Anyone extra has to be personally recommended by a coven member.’ Ruby smiled. ‘High Priestess’s rules.’

‘Ah. Right.’ Faye knew little of the arrangements of organised covens.

Ruby reached across the cutting table and peeled a clean piece of sketchpad paper from under some pages filled with rough drawings of costumes.

She wrote something down and ripped it out, handing it to Faye.

‘Here you go. We meet at this pub before we walk up to the heath. You can walk up with us.’ Faye had already walked up on Hampstead Heath with Rav; a forested, ancient, sprawling city park where dog walkers, joggers, families and lovers met.

‘All right. Thanks.’ Faye took the paper on which Ruby had written the name of a pub, a tube stop and a date in just over a week’s time. ‘What time?’

‘Oh. Probably around eight? Then we can have the moon out for the ritual. Hope it’s a clear night. So often we get, like, Hubble-Telescope clarity the night before a ritual, but then on the actual night, a no show. Not that it really matters, but y’know.’

‘Witch problems,’ Faye said with a laugh.

‘Right? You know. Where did you practise, in your village? Did you have an outside space you could use? Hampstead Heath’s been used by London covens for a long time. We’re lucky to have it. But there’s still a fair amount of time we’re in someone’s front room,’ Ruby said.

‘Oh, right. Well. Abercolme is on the Fife coast. So, I used one of the beaches there a lot. And the shop, out of hours. It used to be the front room of the house, so I like to think of all the past magic of my ancestors, stuck in the corners, up in the webs and the dust on the ceiling.’ She smiled.

‘That said, I like a good spring clean. And I think there’s definitely a place for modern design. ’

‘Cool.’ Ruby looked impressed. ‘I’d love to do more sea magic.

It’s hard to do here. I mean, some of us have done, like, day trips to the coast and hung out and done some stuff.

But sometimes it’s bloody freezing on those beaches at night.

Or I’ve done more subtle stuff in the day, you know.

Stuff you can do that people don’t realise is witchcraft.

But if you live right by it, it must be so much easier. ’

‘It is, yes.’ Faye felt a tug of homesickness for Black Sands Beach and for Abercolme and swallowed it back like a bitter medicine. ‘I miss it,’ she added quietly.

‘I bet. More reason for you to come out with us. Be with your own kind,’ Ruby said kindly.

‘Thanks. That will be really nice.’ Faye smiled. She needed friends of her own here, and she missed her connection to the moon and the sea. A forest would be a good change of pace.

There was a knock on the door, and Annie poked her head around it.

‘Hey, babe. Thought you’d like lunch, if you’re done here?’ she said.

‘Definitely. It was good to meet you, Ruby.’ Faye made sure she folded up the piece of paper and slipped it in her pocket.

‘I’m sure I’ll see you again.’ Ruby winked.

‘Always good to meet a kindred spirit,’ Faye replied, smiling.