Page 8

Chapter Eight

A flurry of nerves hit me. If someone could knock on the door, that meant they could see it – and that meant the ward Maddie had put on it had finally worn off. I shouldn’t really have been surprised because we’d been back for more than an hour. Still, there would be no hiding for me now.

‘You heard them coming, huh?’ Eva was barking as an early-warning alarm. She gestured pointedly towards the door with her nose. ‘Thanks.’ I patted her head. ‘Next time let’s do a quick two-bark for visitors coming, okay?’

She barked twice in rapid succession.

‘Oh, brilliant. Now you’re fluent in sarcasm, too,’ I muttered. ‘But yes, like that.’

She wagged her tail once then looked at me expectantly, then at the door and then back at me. Yeah, yeah: she was waiting for me to open it. Obviously that was the sensible thing to do but my hands felt clammy and my heartbeat had picked up again .

What if it was Yanni, wanting to know why I wasn’t down at the fayre? What if it was Helga and Volga, the elderly witches who lived down the road, who could never be more than six feet apart and who had never looked at me the same since my grandmother had shown up? What if it was someone who wanted to come in? They couldn’t see that the Eternal Flame was absent!

Eva decided to bark again. Traitor.

‘Shh, girl!’ I whispered, pushing my finger to my lips as if that would reinforce my point. I reached out with my empathy skills and felt a wave of impatience from my would-be-visitor. Oops.

‘I can hear you in there,’ a deep male voice called from outside. ‘You should know I’m not leaving until you speak to me. As a Witchlight resident, I have a right to view the Flame.’

Arrogant and entitled: ugh. I was pretty sure I knew who was speaking, but even so I edged towards the window to peer outside. The man had his back to me so all I could see was the dark-blue fabric of his sharply tailored suit. Men in Witchlight aren’t known for their sartorial style – we’re more a shorts and flips-flops place – so I was most likely looking at Fraser Banks.

I had two choices: ignore him until he went away and leave Maddie to deal with him, or try to get rid of him myself. Given that Maddie had been dealing with all the crap so far, it didn’t seem fair to go with the first option. It was time to woman up.

‘Look intimidating,’ I ordered Eva. She instantly bared her teeth. I blinked. ‘Dial it back a notch.’ She hid the teeth but her body stayed tense. ‘Perfect.’

I tried to cross my arms to match her intimidating vibe but then I had to uncross them to open the door. Damn: intimidation was hard when basic motor skills got in the way.

I took another steadying breath, opened the door – and then I gawped.

Yup, that’s the only word for what I did. My jaw lost its ability to stay in place, while my lungs seemed to have forgotten that inhaling and exhaling were supposed to be automatic functions.

Fraser Banks was absolutely gorgeous. Why hadn’t Maddie mentioned he was sex on a stick? Surely that was crucial information?

He was the type who dressed to impress. He really didn’t need to because he’d look good in a dustbin bag – though admittedly the dark blue suit was a better fit. It matched perfectly with his deep purple shirt, which was open at the collar and giving the impression of effortless cool. His thick brown hair had a windswept look in a good way, and his facial hair was impressively manicured; it wasn’t the type of designer stubble that came from three days of not bothering to shave. This was the type of stubble you went to the barber for.

As for his eyes? It didn’t seem possible that they could be so blue, but they were like clear, cold water. And I wanted to drink them up. Or drown in them. Either worked.

‘Who are you?’ he asked, obviously taken aback. The surprise in his voice brought me back to the moment. This was not a man I was meant to be ogling; this was a man I had to keep away from the house whatever happened.

I folded my arms again, successfully this time. ‘I think I should be the one asking that, don’t you? Given that you’re the one standing on my property.’

His head tilted to the side in a manner remarkably similar to Eva’s when she was listening to me speak. ‘ Your property?’

‘ My property. I’m the one with the lifetime ancestral tenancy. I’m Beatrix Stonehaven.’

I watched his pupils dilate and hide a fraction of those shimmering blue irises. ‘Stonehaven? You’re the generational guardian? But I thought … I thought you didn’t live here anymore.’

‘Really?’ I raised my eyebrows and gave him the most withering look I could muster. ‘Why would you think that? I’ve been doing some travelling recently, but this is my home. This house and its guardianship have belonged to my ancestors for centuries.’ I paused. ‘And it’s going to stay that way.’

His jaw tightened, though it didn’t make him look any less attractive; if anything it added a brooding dimension to his look. I could do brooding for a night. Brooding was often very good fun for one night. And with those broad shoulders, he could definitely—

Stop it, Bea, I said to myself. This was not the time to fantasise about what I would see if I undid a couple more of those shirt buttons. He was the enemy and there was no sleeping with the enemy, no matter how good they looked.

‘And you are?’ I asked, even though I knew the answer.

‘Banks. Fraser Banks.’

I wondered if he thought he sounded like James Bond. He didn’t.

‘The Eternal Flame is a gift to Witchlight Cove,’ he continued sternly. ‘All the residents should have the opportunity to benefit from its power.’

‘And all the residents do have that,’ I said coolly. ‘The Eternal Flame has strengthened the wards protecting this village for centuries and kept us secret from the non-magical world. That’s pretty much the biggest benefit people could ask for – not to mention the tonics and wards its power has created.’

‘That’s a small fraction of what it’s capable of. If you knew what the Flame—’

‘You’re not about to mansplain the thing that I was literally born to protect, are you?’ Anger rippled down my spine. Just because we’d lost the damn flame didn’t mean I’d let some guy in a fancy suit talk to me like he knew better than I did. Because he didn’t. Not a chance in hell.

‘Trust me, I know exactly what the Eternal Flame is capable of,’ I continued. ‘And I also know exactly what people will do to get that power.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘What are you accusing me of, Miss Stonehaven? Because I’m not the sort of man you want to get on the wrong side of.’

‘I’m not accusing you of anything.’ Yet. ‘But most of the time, the people who talk about its amazing properties don’t want to do pleasant things with it. In fact, they want to do very, very bad things. And if you want—’

My tirade was interrupted by a ringing sound coming from his pocket. I huffed and wished my arms were unfolded so I could fold them again. I’d just been getting into my stride. Bloody modern technology had ruined my soapbox moment .

Banks pursed his lips. ‘Sorry… I need to take this.’ To give him his due, he seemed mildly embarrassed at cutting me off.

‘You go ahead,’ I said. ‘It’s not like I’m going anywhere. I’m sure you’re very important.’

He narrowed his eyes at my sarcasm then cleared his throat and answered his phone. I was about to walk away to give him a degree of privacy when his posture shifted and I felt tension ripple through him. Was it something to do with the house? Had he heard that the Flame was gone? I pricked up my ears and tried not to make it obvious that I was trying to eavesdrop.

‘Poisoned? They’re sure? Which contestants?’ he demanded.

My stomach knotted. The call might not be about the house, but it obviously wasn’t good news, not good news at all. Poisonings were not par for the course in Witchlight, and the mention of ‘contestants’ meant it had to be related to the pasty-eating contest. The contest that Ezra was supposedly taking part in.

Panicking a little, I took another step forward to listen in to his call.

Banks frowned. ‘Amara Drakefield? No, I don’t think I know that name.’ The knot in my stomach became a matted rope; Banks might not know that name, but I definitely did.

He ended the call and opened his mouth, but I didn’t give him a chance to speak. ‘Has Mrs D been poisoned?’ I asked urgently.

‘Mrs D?’

‘Mrs Drakefield,’ I spat impatiently. ‘Did you say she was poisoned?’

‘They won’t be a hundred percent positive until they’ve run more tests, but it looks like it.’

That was as good as a yes to me. ‘Have you got a car?’ I could walk because nothing in the village was that far away, but that would take time. I thought longingly of poor Rustbucket Rosie hundreds of miles away in London.

‘Yes.’ He nodded behind him.

I didn’t even bother to look at his vehicle. Instead, I turned to Eva. ‘You stay here. No one comes into the house. You understand, girl? You let no one in.’

She barked, gave me a little growl like she was showing me she knew how to stop people coming in, then she bared her teeth.

I patted her. ‘You got it. Great,’ I turned back to Banks. ‘Let’s go.’

‘After you.’ Once again, he gestured down the path .

I took one last look at Eva and the house I wasn’t supposed to leave, then I strode forward.

Someone had poisoned Mrs D and that put them at the top of my shit list. And I was determined to find out exactly who it was.