Page 28 of Love’s a Witch (The Scottish Charms #1)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN Sloane

Briarhaven is a cesspool of eejits. The last thing I’d ever do is be caught dead in that sad excuse of a town when there’s so many more cosmopolitan and beautiful places in this world.”

My mother’s words played in my head as I drove toward downtown Briarhaven with Lyra humming in the seat beside me.

Even in the snow, Briarhaven was beautiful.

And it always had been beautiful, even before Knox’s makeover.

It was our mother’s hatred for Briarhaven, coupled with a difficult childhood, that had colored my memories of the town.

But now, as I watched the shops opening for the day, snow being shoveled from walks, neighbors waving to one another, I realized that I might have a jaded view of a community that was trying very hard to be a lovely place to live.

The spell invoking the help of the fae had made the fine hairs at the back of my neck stand up and had reminded me that there were far more than witches who needed the protection of a place like Briarhaven.

Knox had given everyone here a gift, the peace to live somewhat in the open, and had created a tourism industry on top of it.

Had I stayed up late last night cruising through the travel sites and reading reviews of tourists’ experiences here?

Maybe. Was I beyond impressed with the publicity and positive coverage that Knox had managed to achieve for Briarhaven?

Sure, but I’d never tell him that. The man was already too confident for his own good.

And unfortunately, one hell of a kisser.

My cheeks flamed again, and I looked away from my sister, not wanting her to guess what I was thinking about, and focused on looking for a parking spot in front of Pixie Dust Apothecary. Pulling the car into a space at the curb, I turned it off and paused for a moment.

“You know, it’s really pretty here.”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” I said.

The sun had broken through the clouds in a rare moment of no snow, and the landscape glittered and glimmered in the soft rays of light.

The colorful shops stood out among the snow, like bright smudges of paint on a plain canvas, and cheerful tendrils of smoke wound from chimneys into the air.

The village hustled and bustled as it woke up, and a few tourists with knit caps and wide eyes hurried across the street, pointing excitedly to a map.

To them, this was a theme park—a destination—but to us it was just home.

Home.

It had been so long since I’d attached that word to an actual place in my mind, having ruled out Briarhaven as a spot to return to long ago.

Now my perception was shifting, as memories sifted through like sand in an hourglass, and for the first time in ages I thought about what it would be like to stay in one spot.

To have an actual place to call home.

“Do you think we can stay?” Lyra wondered, echoing my thoughts.

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know, Lyra. But Broca wants us to try. And I’m starting to think that I want to as well.”

Lyra gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth, her eyes shining.

“You really like him, don’t you?”

“What? No!” I shook my head, and when she just kept grinning at me, I reached over and tugged a strand of her hair.

“I just meant that I think our perception of this town was tainted by Mum and Dad fighting all the time. We were just kids, you know? Maybe we can look at it a bit differently now that we’re older. ”

“And in charge of our choices.” Lyra pushed her lower lip out in an adorable pout that I was certain she didn’t even realize she did. That same pout had earned her a gold Cartier LOVE bangle from a besotted admirer.

“There’s that too. What if we need Mum’s blood to break the curse?” I spat out one of the worries circling my head, and Lyra gasped.

“I hadn’t even thought of that. Ugh, she’ll never come back here. She was so unhappy in Briarhaven.”

“We’ll find a way around it. Promise. Come on, let’s go see what Raven wanted to talk about.”

We piled out of the car and looked both ways before crossing the street.

The wind was a touch gentler today. Whatever magick the Charms had worked must be helping, because the snow situation seemed to be easing just a touch.

At the very least, it would make it more manageable for tourists to access the town, and for that I was grateful.

It wasn’t fun being the ones everyone in the community resented.

I didn’t mind being an outcast, but I’d rather it be because of something I’d purposefully done than something that was outside my own control.

A tinkle of bells announced our arrival as we pushed inside to see Raven pouring three cups of coffee for us. Soft Celtic music lilted in the background, and a candle, scented of cinnamon and vanilla, burned at a table in the middle of the room.

“This shop is great. I haven’t had a chance to get in here yet,” Lyra said, turning a wide circle as she studied all the bottles lining the shelves. “You’ve got ingredients for practically everything in here.”

“Part of the job.” Raven grinned at us. “Now, what’s up with you? You sent me a panicked message yesterday, then no follow-up, and today you’re being weird.”

“Bloody hell, Raven, it’s been a lot, all right?” I grumbled, gulping the coffee while Raven grinned at me.

“Och, she’s a tetchy one in the morning, isn’t she, then?”

“The worst,” Lyra agreed, sipping her own cup.

“I am not the worst. I’m just figuring a few things out. There’s a lot on my mind.”

Raven slanted a glance at Lyra, who grinned and twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

“Her magick is misfiring. Something new every day. One day it was fire. Most notably when she lit Knox’s curtains on fire after climbing all over him on the couch in his library.”

Raven sucked in a breath and whirled on me, and my face went mutinous.

“Such a bitch,” I hissed at Lyra.

“We don’t know what today’s magick is because Sloane refuses to try it out again, so it’s exciting times for all of us. We just get to wait and see,” Lyra continued, unbothered by my fury, as every sister everywhere likely was when they purposely enraged their siblings.

I let out air, trying to calm myself, and ended up sounding like a wheezing teakettle. Raven thumped my back while Lyra laughed outright.

“And Mandy is being quite the bitch to Sloane, so I’m sure that’s just adding to the fun of it all for our favorite control freak, isn’t it?” Lyra winked at me when I mimed slicing her neck open.

“That I can at least offer some insight into,” Raven said, seeming to understand that I needed to tackle one thing at a time. “It’s because you’re meant to be the next president of the Charms.”

“What?” Lyra and I said simultaneously, our mouths dropping open in mirrored expressions.

“Aye.” Raven laughed and ran her hands through her long hair, automatically starting to braid it. “She’s been running it since you’ve been gone, but you, or one of you, should have been the next successor.”

“Is it by bloodline? Was our mum a president?”

“Goddess, no. My mum told me everything. Your mum hated everyone and everything to do with the Charms. Refused their help. The only reason she ended up being able to stay as long as she did in Briarhaven was because Broca battled fiercely for your protection. The Charms used to have weekly meetings to shore up the protection of this town against the curse. It took heavy magick to allow you to live here as long as you did. And then one day, your mum just gave up on the town and took you with her. After all we’d done for her to make it so she could stay. ”

“Gratitude isn’t a strong suit of hers,” I muttered, shocked at this new information.

Sadness rose inside me, the same that was always there when I thought of my parents, along with a bone-deep resentment.

So much she’d kept from me. Not only had I had no idea we had a coven, I hadn’t known that we were meant to be running one.

“To say the least.” Raven gave me a sympathetic look.

“Mandy’s territorial. She’s run unopposed for years, and we largely have let her because we’ve all been fine with it.

She likes to be in charge, most of us have been busy with our own lives, and it’s been fine.

Not the greatest, but fine. And not everyone wants to continue to be in the coven.

My mum ceded her seat to me, because she didn’t want to do the weekly meetings with Mandy. But now you’re here.”

“I don’t know the first thing about magick, Raven.

You know that. Mum was a horrible teacher, and I’m still learning.

I don’t want to challenge Mandy for the spot.

I can’t even rely on my own magick.” A small thread of despair wound through me, and it made me even more grumpy.

I didn’t like feeling helpless—well, frankly, who did?

But I was certainly not equipped to be running a coven.

“It sounds like you’ve got bigger things on your mind anyway. So, Knox?” Raven raised an eyebrow at me, and my cheeks flamed again.

I needed a spell to stop blushing. Opening my mouth to deny it all, I was saved by the tinkle of bells from the front door.

“Pub. Later. For a drink?” Raven asked, nodding toward the tourists who had come in and were exclaiming over a bowl of crystals.

“Sure, I’ll see you after work.” Relief filled me that I was escaping an interrogation, for now, and I pulled Lyra out of the shop.

“Mystic Munchies? Pleeease?” Lyra begged, and I relented, even though I wanted to get home and talk to Broca about the language for the curse ritual. I allowed Lyra to drag me down the street toward the colorful bakery, and stepped inside to a crowd of tourists placing their orders.

“This place seriously trips me out.” Lyra looked around, a delighted look on her face, not even seeing how people gawked at her beauty.