Page 21 of Reluctant Witch (A Course in Magic #2)

21

Ellie

The last few days had been an exercise in madness for Ellie. Prospero had decided to renew their courtship. Her wife was chivalrous, attentive, and focused on Ellie.

But still adamant that there would be no sex, Ellie grumbled to herself.

Prospero had been by the castle to visit Ellie at morning and evening meals. She had appeared at the door each time with a small gift and then asked, “Would you like to join me?”

The first day, they ate in the large dining hall where students and other witches gathered. Today, Prospero stood there holding a basket of food out and asked, “Would you like to eat somewhere more private?”

Alone with her! At last!

Ellie’s ongoing desire to seduce her wife was challenging. It was as if Prospero had known that Ellie wanted to be alone with her, so she’d been as charming as possible—all while refusing any attempt to be alone together.

Today, she was offering. Ellie gripped Prospero’s hand and marched through the castle hallway at a speed that was closer to a run than a walk.

“In a hurry?” Prospero asked quietly.

Ellie met her gaze. “You have been avoiding me, so yes. ”

“I find you hard to resist. So I chose a tactic to assist me in that.” Prospero had the grace to look a little sheepish at her admission.

“ Hmph. ” Ellie scowled and marched forward. Maybe she was rushing, but no one was going to have the audacity to comment. Half the students seemed frightened of Ellie or Prospero or both of them, and the majority of them looked at Prospero with apprehension, at the least.

And yet, I was the witch Howie found scary. Ellie shoved that stray thought away. Her self-control was a little wobbly, but that would get easier. She was sure of it. Magic was like anything else. It took practice. Her first attempts at baking scones were no better than door stoppers, so to presume magic would be instantly reflexive seemed odd.

Ellie glanced at Prospero again. Maybe my self-control is not going to improve in this area, though. Regardless of the secrets between them, Prospero was everything that Ellie craved. Beautiful and deadly. Maybe the secrecy made it more thrilling… or maybe it was the thrill of the hunt.

“Do you refuse my advances because it makes me chase?” Ellie asked.

“No. I am attempting to be a better person, a person who might one day be worthy of—”

“Everyone deserves love,” Ellie said firmly.

“Even those who betray others?”

“So you think what happened was a betrayal?” Ellie’s gaze narrowed. “Watch out!”

Prospero pulled Ellie to her as a woman walked by with a tower of boxes tall enough to completely obstruct her view.

“It’s so much more chaotic in the passageways,” Prospero pointed out with widened eyes as she shifted the basket of food to avoid spilling it. The castle was increasingly crowded as people from the edge of the village had been moved into the empty rooms. Ellie had obviously never visited every room, but all the hallways seemed longer. There was a wing on the east that she hadn’t recalled existing before, either. She was not the only one thinking it. At least three students had suggested that there were two extra floors.

“It’s bigger than it used to be.”

“The castle simply grows sometimes.” Prospero shrugged, as if buildings shifting and reshaping was a perfectly normal experience. It wasn’t, as far as Ellie knew, but Crenshaw was still something of a mystery. “The Congress is moving witches in.”

“What if there are New Economists in the group?”

“Every witch is given a choice to be siphoned first, so if anyone thought that going back was better, they have that chance.” Prospero frowned slightly.

“What if they can’t be?”

This time Prospero paused. “Only the low-magic-level witches are moving into the castle. It protects them from the rift and the rogue witches but doesn’t endanger students.”

Ellie paused, a stray thought wriggling up out of the depths of her mind. “Could I have been siphoned?”

Prospero’s expression blanched. “Do you want to be?”

“You’re avoiding the question.” Ellie caught her gaze. “Could I ?”

“No.”

Ellie was certain that detail mattered, but she wasn’t sure why. She stepped around a pair of students coming out of another room. There was something about this that was unsettling her wife, more so than the topics of threats and dangers, so Ellie decided to be sure they were back on track.

“No gift today for me?” Ellie teased, hoping to pull Prospero out of her reserve.

“Just me, unfortunately.”

“That seems like an excellent gift.” Ellie squeezed her hand. “You know I don’t need things, don’t you?”

“You wanted me to court you,” Prospero said, sounding more awkward than usual. “Gifts, attention, flowers, praise. There are rules.”

“I want you to date me.” Ellie unlocked her door and pushed it open. She felt briefly self-conscious that all of Prospero’s recent gifts and notes were beside her bed, but at the same time, she wanted Prospero to notice that Ellie treasured each token, too.

Notice that I think about you before I sleep each night.

Both the click of the door shutting and then the thud of the lock being thrown seemed louder somehow, reminding Ellie that she was alone in a locked room with her wife.

“That’s much better,” Ellie murmured.

Prospero set the basket of food on a table. “I wanted a chance to speak to you in private.”

“I’m here.…” Ellie stepped closer. Private time sounded perfect.

“I expect that I will have to leave tonight,” Prospero told her. “There was magic, but by the time we felt it, the witch relocated. Teleported. We weren’t fast enough.”

“What does that mean?”

“Once a witch starts… leaking, it’ll be easier. Something is causing the witch to be unstable. That’s not likely to be Agnes, and the most logical answer is that the witch teleported. That’s going to happen again, and each time the spills get bigger. We will find her, and maybe she knows where Aggie and Allan are.”

“I don’t like this. Let me come with you,” Ellie urged.

“It’s an easy thing, but I didn’t want you to think I was skipping our meals together by choice if I can’t come back in time.”

Fear tightened Ellie’s stomach so intensely that she couldn’t speak. If? If she can’t come back? What does that mean? Ellie felt her excitement shift to worry.

“If I can return to you—”

“If?” Ellie interrupted. That was twice now Prospero had used that word, and Ellie’s anxiety now felt like worms writhing in her stomach. “If? What do you mean if? If is not okay. If is that I might lose you and… no. Not if. ”

Prospero reached out and caught Ellie’s flailing hand. “Perhaps the process will be quick. Perhaps it will go well. Retrieving the other witch was easy enough. However, we may need to pursue her if she teleports, and with a spill we need to repair whatever damage we can in their world.”

“What if they shoot you like Lord Scy—”

“I am not new to people trying to kill me, love.” Prospero smiled like she was charmed by Ellie’s worry. “Few witches can stop me. I slip into their minds and change their perceptions, so they no longer want to hurt me. It’s simple magic. I’m not expecting to be shot or killed.”

“That’s similar to Grendel’s magic. You said she could summon fears and—”

“Walt is optimistic that this is just one of the others. There’s a witch called Jenn, and Allan, too. He’s simply a drunkard, and it’s highly unlikely they’re all together, love.”

Ellie felt like clutching her. “Why you? Why can’t I help?”

“If this one is spilling magic over, that’s not Agnes. Plus, the headmaster will be with me. He’s transferred his role here temporarily, to keep the castle safe.” Prospero cupped Ellie’s face in both hands. “And this is my responsibility. I retrieve witches when their magic flares, along with whichever witch is headmaster. You know this.”

“I object. What if Grendel is there?” Ellie pressed.

“She’s a tactician. She knows we would be less likely to find her if they stay apart.” Prospero sounded increasingly exasperated. “I know what I’m doing, Ellie.”

“But we can’t do magic over there, so how are you to be safe?” Ellie frowned, jumbled images of a car shifting form and a diner reshaping into a cage crowded into her head. Why do I know that? She stared at Prospero, who looked tenser now.

Because of what I said?

She stared at Prospero. “What if you do magic and… what if it goes wrong?”

“You’re right that magic is not as stable over there, but my magic is specifically designed because of the need to alter memories to bring them to Crenshaw. It’s not like other magic because it’s all internal.”

“So that should be true with Grendel’s.”

Prospero dropped her hands. “Elleanor.”

“What are the exact rules?”

“I don’t know because we are not to do magic there. ” Prospero’s words snapped out. “That’s the whole point of spell stones. It’s why they were invented… well, that and to let witches be able to do magic larger or different from their innate magic.”

“But mental magic works? Stuff that doesn’t change the outside world? Could I manifest something internally in someone and that would be allowed?” Ellie asked, trying to make sense of the rules that governed the use of magic outside Crenshaw.

Maybe there was a detail here that could unlock her memories. Is that what I forgot? Ellie started to panic harder. Did I break someone? She felt like there was someone she’d hurt, but more… the thought skittered away like insects at night.

All she could ask was, “Could I do that?”

Prospero looked briefly traumatized. “I suppose. Perhaps?”

“So I could make their heart or lungs—”

“I would not ask that of you, Ellie.” Prospero reached out again and stroked Ellie’s cheek. “This is not your responsibility. Sondre and I will manage it. I would never ask you to take a life.”

“But it’s okay for you?”

“I don’t relish it. I do what I must to protect our world. Agnes and Allan tried to kill Scylla and expose our world. They are an exception.” Prospero’s voice was colder now.

“Am I to think you’ve never killed anyone?” Ellie asked.

Prospero dodged the question. “Would you think less of me if I had?”

Ellie pondered. The rules were not entirely different here. Murder was still murder. Self-defense and war were still nebulous territory. Would I forgive her all of those? She knew the answer before she considered long.

“Self-defense is different.” Ellie pulled her closer, grateful when Prospero didn’t resist. “All I want is you to be safe and uninjured. I want you to be here in my arms and life and bed. I want everything to be okay, and us to be happy and Crenshaw to be safe and peaceful.”

“Is that all?” Prospero’s words were a half laugh against Ellie’s hair.

So Ellie did the only reasonable thing. She pinched Prospero’s side.

Prospero yelped and jerked away.

“Yes, that’s all,” Ellie said in the most serious voice she could muster. “Happy life, happy wife. I think those are reasonable goals. Seems like someone else has been working toward the same things lately.…” Ellie gestured to the tiny stash of gifts on her bedside table. A candle; lavender, of course. A pretty notebook. A bouquet of flowers that was beautiful, albeit slightly eggy-smelling. “Am I wrong?”

“No.”

“Well, then.” Ellie shoved Prospero onto the bed she’d just magically widened at the same time.

Prospero laughed. “Someone’s grown confident in her magic.”

“Shut up and hold me for a minute before you need to abandon me to hunt,” Ellie grumbled.

“Yes, dear.” Prospero pulled Ellie closer, and Ellie nestled her cheek against Prospero’s shoulder.

After a blissful few moments, panic rumbled like something angry under Ellie’s skin. What if she gets injured? Ellie couldn’t imagine losing her. “I could go with you. I’m strong enough. You know I can help.”

“No.” Prospero stroked her hand through Ellie’s hair. “We know these witches are capable of extreme violence. They shot Scylla. She was simply in their way, so they resorted to using a gun… on a witch with centuries of life ahead of her. She’s still not healed. She should have been, and Mae has no idea why. The barrier won’t stay up. Scylla isn’t healing, and Mae is constantly drained. I’m not going to risk you. ”

“I can transform things. Gun or bullet—”

“No,” Prospero said. “A blast or burst of accidental magic is one thing, but sustained magic use has consequences.”

“What sort?”

Prospero was silent for several moments. She continued running her fingers through Ellie’s hair, but that was the only clue that she was still awake. Finally, she offered, “It ripples things. Reality is not well suited for a lack of scientific laws. I don’t know the right terms because they change… but physics, I guess, is the right word. There are laws of physics. Magic ignores them. And the laws of medicine. And chemics.”

“Chemistry,” Ellie corrected quietly.

“Yes. That. Magic has its own laws, but it doesn’t blend with nonmagical worlds. We talk about witches accused of whole fields of animals sickening… and while most so-called ‘witches’ were women who died for no crime other than failing to fall in line or speaking their minds or being bright enough to see the efficacy of herbs, some were actually real witches. When they woke, before there was Crenshaw, there was a ripple.”

“Whole herds died,” Ellie said. “That was a witch-trial accusation.”

“Plagues. Fevers. Other… odd acts. It depends on the sort of magic.” Prospero sighed. “My presence over there too long would make people forgetful.”

“Agnes was head of House Grendel. Grendel was a monster, right?” Ellie wasn’t sure what sort of side effect that would have.

“Yes, who was violent and wandered.” Prospero’s voice sounded thicker with worry. “And Allan is head of Dionysus and Jord, a house of debauchery. And there are at least three others who went, but they are not house heads.”

“I still think you ought to take me,” Ellie said, propping herself up on one arm.

“No.”

“Obstinate woman. I just want to take care of you.” Ellie leaned down and caught Prospero’s mouth in a kiss. Her free hand cupped her wife’s breast, thumb flicking over the nipple hidden under both a vest and a blouse.

The hand that had been threading through Ellie’s hair tightened, holding Ellie to her, and teeth and tongues clashed.

Mine, Ellie thought yet again. Whatever we did wrong doesn’t matter.

But a few moments later, Ellie moved to undo the buttons of Prospero’s trousers, and her wife’s hand wrapped around Ellie’s wrist, stopping her.

Prospero turned her head, ending their kiss abruptly.

“What?” Ellie asked, looking down at her.

“No.” Prospero’s voice was ragged, but her words were clear. “You really don’t want this. Me. You don’t want me. ”

“The throbbing between my legs disagrees with you,” Ellie snapped.

“I’m trying to do the right thing.” Prospero rolled out from under Ellie and came to her feet. She sounded as upset and rejected as Ellie felt. “This is not easy for me, Ellie, but I care about you. I want to respect you.”

“By denying me? By making choices for me?” Ellie glared at her wife. “I’m able to make my own choices, Prospero!”

“Not without all the information.”

“And whose fault is that?” Ellie bit out.

“Mine. It’s mostly my fault, but I won’t compound it by doing this.” Prospero tidied her hair and clothes, not making eye contact as she did so, and when she looked up, her mask of indifference was securely in place. “I’ll see you again as soon as I am able. Please stay safe in my absence.”

Prospero leaned down and brushed a quick kiss over Ellie’s lips.

And Ellie decided to push the line a little more. She knew what she wanted. She wasn’t sure why Prospero—who clearly wanted the same thing and was courting her and had already married her—was being so difficult.

Ellie unfastened her jeans and shoved them and her underwear down. “Prospero…”

When her wife glanced back, Ellie said, “I’ll settle for thinking of you while I touch myself. If you weren’t so difficult, I would invite you to stay, but I won’t beg.”

“Ellie…” Prospero stared at her. “I swear I’m trying to be a better person, and later, you’ll probably understand why. I cannot take advantage of you, though.”

“You cannot take advantage of the willing, ” Ellie argued.

“If you remembered why you were angry, you wouldn’t be willing, love.” Prospero shook her head. “I’ll court you as you asked, but I can’t… we can’t…”

“So that’s a no to all touch? No sex? Tell me that’s not forever,” Ellie begged, because maybe she was a little bit of a liar after all. She would beg for an answer.

“I need time, Ellie. I am asking you to give me time, to wait for me.…” Prospero swallowed, gaze fastened exactly where Ellie wished her wife’s mouth or hand was.

Ellie was done with her wife’s refusals. “Tell me you’ll at least stay and watch next time. That’s not going to require you to touch me, but I want you here with me.”

“That…” Prospero’s voice broke as Ellie folded her left leg, so she was in a figure-four and exposing herself more fully to Prospero’s hungry gaze. “ Ellie. ”

Ellie held out a hand toward her, and Prospero moved toward her like she was unable to resist.

When Prospero was near enough, Ellie took her hand and directed it to her thigh. “Just hold on to me.”

“Ellie.” Prospero watched as Ellie widened her legs and touched herself. Her grip tightened on Ellie’s leg as Ellie started to tremble under the combination of her wife’s laser-focused gaze and Ellie’s own quickly moving fingers.

“ I want you, Prospero,” Ellie pronounced as she hurtled toward orgasm. “And I know you want me.”

It wasn’t a question, but Prospero answered as if it were. “I do.”

Then Prospero bent closer and kissed Ellie, swallowing her whimpers and moans as she fell into that silent bliss. Alone.

“Next time,” Ellie started, pulling back just enough that her words fell on Prospero’s lips, “Your turn. None of your rules would be broken by that.”

“Ellie…”

“Say yes,” Ellie whispered.

Prospero gave a single nod. “You’re making my attempts to be a good person harder than they already were.”

“Good.” Ellie leaned away from her. She didn’t again ask Prospero to stay, even though she knew they both wanted that. Ellie knew what the answer would be if she tried. She did, however, add, “Promise me you’ll come back to me.”

And whether or not Prospero meant it in all the ways Ellie did, she agreed. “Yes.”

Prospero paused, as if she couldn’t step away from the edge of Ellie’s bed. Then she released Ellie’s thigh, knuckles briefly trailing upward until they were pressed against Ellie’s throbbing center. “I will return from their world, and I’ll be here. Just be patient for me, please?”

Ellie nodded, but Prospero was already gone, teleporting herself from Ellie’s room to wherever she needed to be.

“Please be safe,” Ellie whispered to her empty room.