Page 40 of Love’s a Witch (The Scottish Charms #1)
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Sloane
Oh, good morning, Sloane. Don’t you look… rested.” Nova fluttered her eyelashes at me.
Three grinning faces greeted me when I walked in the door with Blue, and I pursed my lips, wanting to be annoyed with all of them.
We hadn’t left on the best of terms, and yet my body was sated from two rounds of extraordinary lovemaking, and despite my doubts about finding a solution to this curse, if anyone could do it, it would be Knox.
He exuded a quiet, and sometimes not-so-quiet, confidence about handling trouble, and he had somehow managed to kick-start a small spark of hope in my gut.
“I am, thank you.” I lifted my chin, determined to buzz past them and their nosy faces and go enjoy a nice hot shower. Blue launched from my arms, doing a lazy circle around the room, and went to the kitchen to investigate for any leftover snacks.
I slammed into an invisible wall.
“Ow!” Luckily, my hands had caught the brunt of it, and not my face, and I turned to glare at the only witch powerful enough to pull off that little trick.
My darling grandmother, who was dressed in screaming fire engine red today and pointing with one finger at the couch.
“Sit.”
“I’m an adult, Broca. I can do what I want. I’d like a shower, and then I can come chat.”
“Gotta wash all the nasty off her from last night,” Nova whispered to Lyra, and the two giggled while I sucked in a breath, ready to flay them with my words.
“Enough.” Broca continued to point at the couch. “Sit, Sloane. You’ll have time to shower before the festival. We need to sort this out.”
“Also, I would dearly like full details of your night with Knox.” Lyra raised her hand with a cheeky look on her face.
“Is it true you conjured a dragon?” Broca cut right to the chase when I dropped to the couch, arms crossed over my chest, determined not to spill any details about my time with Knox. Embarrassment crept in.
“Aye.” I hung my head. “I don’t even know how I did it.”
“High emotions.” Broca tapped a finger against her lips, her glasses a deep cobalt blue today.
“But your mother was never this powerful. I’ve been treating this like you two are much the same, but now I’m seeing you’re anything but.
Most witches in total command of their full power would never be able to summon a dragon, Sloane.
And you did that without even trying. You need to understand the intensity and severity of your power, and we need to train you to put safeguards in place until we figure out how to reverse this misfiring magick curse. ”
It was a relief to know I was nothing like my mother, even if it frankly terrified me to no end to hear how powerful I was. Maybe that would be fun once I was in command of my power, but as of now I felt like my magick was a ticking time bomb.
“This afternoon, you and I are going to work on a containment spell. This is basically a way for you to take your magick, shove it down in a little box inside of you, and keep it under wraps unless absolutely needed. I think it will be the best solution going forward until we figure this out.”
“And if we don’t?” I looked around at my sisters, their faces crestfallen.
“We will.”
“Everyone keeps saying that. And yet.” I waved a hand in the air. “How many generations haven’t been able to break this curse? Why us? Why now?”
“Three sisters, eleven months apart. It’s your destiny.” Broca’s eyes softened behind her glasses. “I’m certain of it.”
“And you think Briarhaven is going to put up with our curse on the town for the next two years until these two come into their magick?” I rolled my eyes. “It’s only been a few weeks, and already people want to run us out of town.”
“Yes, but we can handle this. Like we did last time. We just need to get the Charms on board to help.”
“Yeah, Sloane. Give this a chance. Please?” Lyra begged me. Nova just crossed her arms and glowered.
“Fine.” I couldn’t believe I was saying it, but a part of me that I wasn’t ready to examine too closely yet wanted to stay too.
Not just because I’d had some of the best sex of my life last night, and this morning, with what seemed to be a genuinely good guy—but because my wee family seemed to be happy here.
Lyra was filming more content than ever for her baking channel, and Nova’s sketchbooks were positively booming with new art.
Broca’s face wasn’t as troubled, and she laughed freely in a way she hadn’t when both my parents had been around.
She had lifelong friends here who had been visiting her each day.
And then there was me.
I had Blue to think about now. He needed a safe, magickal place to live.
I had Raven, my childhood friend who had forgiven my absence.
And the Charms were even starting to grow on me a bit.
The way we’d always lived might not be the solution anymore.
If I was going to appoint myself the unofficial leader of this little faction of ours, then I also needed to learn when to bend.
It might not be easy, particularly with the snow that continued to assault our little town, but I was beginning to actually believe that we might have a chance at beating this thing.
And I would never know if I didn’t at least try.
“Seriously?” Nova sucked in a breath.
“Aye.” I nodded, surprised when both my sisters jumped up and piled on top of me, squealing. Their sudden attack sent Blue into a tizzy and he wheeled around the room, barking loudly between little shots of fire, and we all screeched as he nearly burned our hair off.
“Blue, buddy, come here.” I waved him over so he would stop singeing us, and he slammed onto our cuddle pile, worming himself in between all of us, his tongue slathering my face with smoky-smelling saliva. “Ewww.”
“Do we have Knox to thank for this change of heart?” Broca asked as we righted ourselves on the couch. Did they?
“Nobody’s perfect, Sloane. And I like your sharp edges. They challenge me. I don’t need everything in my life to come easily to me.”
Yes, Knox Douglas was definitely one reason I wanted to try to stay.
“A bit, maybe.” I shrugged, uncertain how to articulate all the feelings pinging around inside me.
“It’s just… he really seems to think we can break this curse.
He’s full on. And he carries this absolute conviction that everything will work out for him.
It’s hard not to be swayed when someone like that tells you everything is going to be just fine. ”
“His track record is pretty good so far. He’s not a bad guy to have on our side.” Broca waved a hand in the air. “Now let your sister go shower. We need to pick out our outfits for later.”
“Are you going too?” I asked Broca as I rose.
“Of course. One doesn’t miss a festival simply because one has a bad hip. Knox has commissioned a sleigh just for me.”
I winced, having a good idea just where that sleigh had come from, and dearly hoped it would be drawn by regular horses this time.
Retreating to my room before I had to answer any other questions, I stopped by the window to look out at Briarhaven.
Gray clouds blanketed the sky, a permanent fixture these days, and snow barreled down relentlessly.
My neighbor frowned at me and raised his hand.
It was just a quick jerk, but for the first time, he waved. A salute almost.
To my surprise, the gesture brought hot, sharp tears to my eyes. Returning it, I ducked into the shower and laid my cheek against the wall while the warm water sluiced down my back, mirroring the tears that ran the length of my face.
The hardest thing to admit, at least to myself, was that I wanted this more than anyone.
It was easier to avoid the painful memories here, to stay on the move, and to never set down roots.
Settling down in one spot was a siren song I’d long evaded.
Even the thought of having a chance to start over here, to make a real life for ourselves, was enough to crack open the lid on those long-ago-buried dreams.
My own house.
A love life.
A family, even.
Such simple things, and I know my ancestors before me had managed them, but they’d had to do so always on the go.
We made the best of it, us MacGregors, but we were not nomads at heart.
We were made for quiet mornings and restful routines.
Easy friendships and cozy fires and weekly meetups with friends.
My soul craved it, but I’d ignored these needs for so long because I’d had no other choice.
But now it seemed like I did. Hope was dangerous, I knew, because it made you believe that another way could be possible.
And yet.
And yet .
Was I just going to repeat this cycle the rest of my life? Dragging my sisters along with me? Forever on the move, forever saying goodbye, forever unhappy? It went against everything that I’d been taught, but now was the time to stay.
To stay and fight.
Broca said I was powerful.
And I believed in Broca. My silly, impossibly elegant, steadfast grandmother. I’d do this. Even if it hurt. Even if it made me uncomfortable. Even if the whole town ended up hating us.
By the time I’d returned downstairs, hair dried, resolve hardened, Lyra had laid out our outfits.
“What in the world?”
“Aren’t they great?” Lyra beamed at me from where she stood over three pink tartan ski suits. Like the one-piece ski suits from the ’80s, with a zipper up the front. I gaped at her.
“Seriously?”
“I promise. We’re going to look super cute. Plus, with these hats?” Lyra held up a white knit hat with a matching pink pom-pom on top.
“Very chic.” Broca nodded in approval.
“Everything is going to be outside tonight and this weekend. We’ll want to stay warm, and I figured matching would kind of show the town we come as a set, you know?”
I slanted a glance at Nova, who glowered at the ski suits.
“You’re okay with this?”
“She’s right, and I do wear pink well even though it’s not my first choice of color.”
I lifted my chin in surprise. If Nova was okay with it, then I had no choice.
“Pink tartan it is, then.”
Broca walked into the room, relying on a cane, decked out in her pink tartan. Naturally, her pink glasses were covered in rhinestones, and diamond hoops winked at her ears.
“Well, ladies? Shall we show Briarhaven that the MacGregor witches are back and back for good?”
“Let’s do it.”
“Charm on, witches,” Nova crowed, and despite myself, I laughed.
“Charm on indeed. Let’s make this town fall in love with us.”