Page 34 of Love’s a Witch (The Scottish Charms #1)
“But it is a good starting point. Not to say that people who are married are all in love and all that, but we could maybe start narrowing down the bloodline by those that are single.” Lyra fed Blue a few pieces of chicken, and he did a wee dance on the counter, his paws making a fun little tippy-tapping sound against the Formica.
“Assuming they even live here.” Broca tapped her finger against her lips as she thought.
I wasn’t sure how I’d missed the fashion gene, but she always looked good, and today’s lemon-yellow silk pants, lime-green top, and bright orange–rimmed glasses just worked.
She looked like a citrus plant—in the best way possible.
Blood magick. Dark curse. Keeps them close.
“Blue says dark magick will keep the person close.”
“He’s not wrong.” Broca nodded thoughtfully. “You pay a great price for using dark magick, and oftentimes it can bind you to the area of your ritual.”
“How can that be?” Nova protested, closing her drawing pad and leaning back on her arms. “I’ve read enough accounts of witches who are extremely savvy in the dark arts and travel all over the world.”
“Och, I said oftentimes, but not always.” Broca nodded her approval at Nova.
“The thing with magick is that there will always be outliers. There will always be people who practice and grow to such a level that they become the exception. Those practitioners are the scariest, so they are. The stronger a dark witch becomes, the more they know how to offset the potential repercussions of using power to harm. But in this case, from my understanding, it was a young witch new to her magick. She wouldn’t have had time to protect her own bloodline from harm revisited on her for using such a curse.
She wouldn’t have likely learned how not to be tethered to this place.
It’s highly probable her bloodline is still here because of that.
Nothing is for certain, but I’d lay money on it. ”
“Which says a lot, considering you only like to spend on name brands.” Lyra blew a kiss at Broca and came to join me at the couch, Blue bobbing along in the air behind her, still hopeful for more food.
“So shouldn’t we be spending time trying to find them?” Nova asked.
“I guarantee they’ll be well shrouded. It’s not just like looking up a name in the phone book.”
“What’s a phone book?” Nova fluttered her eyelashes at Broca, who glared at her.
“Och, this one’s got a smart mouth, doesn’t she? Like nothing existed before Google.”
“Learned from the best.” Nova held up her arms when I threatened to throw another cushion at her.
“Right, let’s crack on, then, shall we?” Lyra said, casting an eye at the timer on the oven. “I don’t want to burn my pie.”
“Oh, aye, let’s hurry this ancient blood ritual that might take the curse off our bloodline in time for Lyra’s pie to come out of the oven.
” I rolled my eyes as I slid to the floor next to the table we’d pulled close to Broca’s chair.
On it, I’d put a small bowl above a Bunsen burner–style candle, and with a dash of honey and whisky inside.
“Are the hematite stones in place?” Broca asked, looking around the room. Lyra had created a circle with crystals she’d picked up from the Crystal Cavern.
“Aye,” Lyra said, leaning forward over the table.
“Heather bloom and thistle’s thorn,
Shield me now from harm unborn.
Circle o’ light, fierce and bright,
Keep all ill beyond my sight.”
A shimmer in the air, almost like the surface of still water being disrupted by a dragonfly, and Broca had cast the circle.
“Sloane?” Lyra offered me a gold pin to prick my finger. I did it quickly, keeping my mind clear, and dripped my blood into the dish. The rest of the women did the same, and then Lyra stirred the mixture with a small silver spoon with Celtic insignia on the handle.
“By blood that bound, by love now freed,
Let this curse be undone in word and deed.
Honey sweet, whisky strong,
Upend this heartache to right a wrong.”
Three times we repeated the spell, passed the cup around for a wee sip each, and then we waited, our breath holding.
Nothing happened.
“How will we know when, or if, it has worked?” Nova asked.
“Look out the window,” Broca suggested, and we all turned. If anything, the snow had intensified, not lessened, and the wind howled as it battered our wee cottage.
Told ya. Blue rolled over and pawed me, wanting his tummy scratched.
“Just let me close the circle,” Broca muttered a few quick words, and that same disruption in the air shimmered around us before we were free to move about.
Standing, I picked Blue up because I needed a cuddle.
A part of me had really hoped it would be that easy.
A quick ritual to ease this curse that haunted us, to stem the hatred flowing our way from those of Briarhaven who resented us, and to maybe, just maybe, allow us to finally put down roots.
I stood at the window, Blue nuzzling into my neck, and watched as the snow attacked Briarhaven.
There was only so long we could stay here before the whole town turned on us.
It was inevitable, really, and I’d seen it many times before.
I was used to this. Moving on, packing up, saying goodbye.
That was our norm. We weren’t cut out for putting down roots, building lasting friendships—hell, even falling in love.
Unless our partners were ready for life on the road, and that was a lot to ask of someone, particularly if they already had a good thing going in their own life.
It was just… for the first time in, like, ever, I wanted to stay.
I wanted to get a drink with Raven at the Rune & Rose, and pick out new books at the Silver Quill, and shop for gifts at the Dragon’s Hoard.
I hadn’t even been to Whispering Woods, the garden center, yet, and I had to imagine they probably hated us the most. Autumn would be a booming time for their business, as everyone prepped their gardens for winter.
Feeling dejected, I turned back toward my family.
“I think we’re going to have to go.” I hated to say it, I truly did, but it needed to be put out there.
The girls needed to start thinking about packing up, not settling down, and we needed to see about getting a more comfortable car for Broca to ride in so she could join us. Maybe a van would be the best option.
“You give up so easily.” Nova jumped up, stomping a foot, her face contorted in frustration.
“I’m not giving up.” I wasn’t giving up, was I?
It was just the reality of the situation.
“I’m not. It’s just… the writing might be on the wall, Nova.
We need to be prepared. We need to be thinking about buying a nice van, maybe even a camper van, so Broca can travel with us.
We need to be thinking about food supplies and amenities for Blue.
We can’t just up and go in the middle of the night. Not like this. By failing to prepare—”
“You’re preparing to fail,” Lyra and Nova finished for me, their expression of frustration mirrored on each other’s faces.
“Well, I’m not wrong,” I shouted after Nova as she stomped upstairs.
“A camper van.” Broca snorted, and then shook her head sadly at me. “Have you met me?”
“It’s a viable solution to keeping you comfortable while on the go,” I protested.
“Listen to yourself. Viable solution? Sloane, you are twenty-five years old. When did you become so mired in the pragmatics of things?”
“When I had to be the one to make sure they were actually fed.” I flung my hand out in the direction of Lyra.
“It’s true, you did.” Lyra jumped onto the couch next to me and hugged me. “But we’re not kids anymore. And it’s time for you to maybe be a bit selfish.”
“Beyond time,” Broca agreed.
“You do know, don’t you, that we don’t always have to stay together now?”
My mouth dropped open at Lyra’s suggestion, because honestly, no, I had not considered that.
We’d always traveled together. The MacGregor sisters were stronger together, as a unit, and just thinking about one of them being on the other side of the world from me caused my heartbeat to speed up and my mouth to go dry.
Blue leaned up and licked my face, sensing my distress, and I cuddled him closer.
“So you’re going to leave me?” I asked, a bead of sweat breaking out and dripping down my back.
I honestly couldn’t imagine being away from them.
Maybe it wasn’t the healthiest thing in the world, and yes, I realized that codependency came out of the trauma we’d experienced as children, but knowing something in your head and facing it were two totally different things.
“We didn’t say that.” Lyra smoothed my hair back from my face. “But if you try to leave here, we might decide to stay.”
“But we don’t have a solution.” The protest was weak on my lips, but still, my brain couldn’t wrap itself around not having a solution.
Were we meant to just exist here, throwing Briarhaven into increasing harm, with no way to ease the torment for ourselves and our neighbors?
Surely my sisters could see the insanity in that.
“One might show up. In time.”
“Like it did with our mother? You heard it yourself. The Charms kept her, us, here for as long as they did with an extraordinary amount of work. And magick. And they hated it. They resented her, resented the toll it took on them to do so, and where did it leave them? With an ungrateful witch who ran from town anyway.” I stood, anxiety coursing through me, needing to move around the room.
“They didn’t do it for your mother, Sloane.” Broca’s voice cut through my anxious thoughts. “They did it for you and your sisters.”
At that, the enormity of what we owed this town rose inside me, and I choked back tears. Turning, I looked helplessly at Broca.
“Which is exactly why we have to leave. We failed them then, and we’ll do it again.
Our curse is hurting Briarhaven. Whether we do the stupid festival or not, it won’t be enough.
Don’t you see? We aren’t repaying them by showing up here again.
We’re just screwing them over. Again .” I grabbed my coat and wrenched the door open, Blue still in my arms.
“You were just children, Sloane.” Broca’s voice was quiet at my back as the snow swirled inside the door.
“They didn’t expect anything of you three other than to grow and prosper.
It’s not your job to break the curse, alone, without help.
We can do this… together. You just have to be patient and believe a solution will present itself. ”
“I already know the solution. The safe solution. And that’s to leave. I need… I just need some space to think.”
I slammed the door behind me and crunched through the snow, my shoulders bent to protect Blue until I reached the car and bundled him into the front seat. Rounding the car, I glanced back at the cottage to see Broca standing in the window, Lyra at her side.
They didn’t have to say anything, because I could see what they were thinking.
They thought I was coward for wanting to leave, but I thought it was more cowardly to stay and let other people fight your fight for you.
Frustrated, and slightly distracted, I started the car and pulled it gently into the recently plowed street, no specific direction in mind.
My thoughts churned, my feelings rioting around me, and I was so stressed by the discussion that I’d forgotten one warning that Knox had given me.
An emotional witch new to her magick can wreak havoc.
Just like the witch who cursed my bloodline.
And just like now, when all of a sudden, my car morphed around me and no longer were Blue and I cozied into the front seat.
No, now we were tucked inside a sleigh, wrapped in blankets, while a dragon bucked its head against the reins.
The reins that I was now holding.
My mouth dropped open in a silent scream as the dragon blew out a breath of fire and took flight.