Page 57 of Song of the Hell Witch

The Tempest sisters slowed their playing, transitioning from a jig into a ballad, an instrumental version of a song about a lovelorn knight and the lady he could never have.

Puck pulled Pru closer so that her hips melted against his.

His warmth radiated through her gown until she was certain she might burst into flame.

“I …” He stood still and pinched his eyes shut, almost like he was in pain. She prepared to ask him what was wrong—until he found his voice again. “I want to believe you. What you said this morning, about the embargo and wanting to come back. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted you to say.”

She knew the laugh was cruel, but she didn’t have time to bite it back. “But?”

“But I don’t know if I can.”

The warmth fell away like a discarded cloak, and she shivered. “Why would I make that up?”

“Because twelve years ago you told me you loved me. And then you took off. It’s tough for a bloke to know what’s real and what’s not after that.”

Anger clawed up her throat. “Right.” Her head was spinning, and suddenly, she needed to get out . Slipping out of his grasp, she backed toward the doors.

“Hang on, I was just—”

“I can’t do this.” She looked around. Mari, Bea, and the others pretended not to notice, but she could feel the sideways glances, their curiosity winning out over their determination not to eavesdrop. “I’m not having this conversation again .”

“Pru, wait—”

But she didn’t. Hiking up her skirts, she slipped out of the room as quietly as possible, careful not to sprint until she reached the den.

After that, she broke for the foyer and the tower steps, desperate to make it back to her chamber and draw the curtains around the four-poster bed.

What she needed was to be alone, to sit in the dark and sort through her thoughts.

It was the only way to figure out what was scraping at the edges of her heart, asking to be let it in.

Was it regret? Rage? Something else entirely?

“Pru!” Puck’s footfalls were heavy behind her. All she needed to do was make it to the stairs; between the injury and the exhaustion, there was little chance he’d chase her all the way up to the room.

Halfway up the tower, she heard the exasperated “Fuck” echo from the bottom of the steps. Relieved, she rushed up into the room and closed the door, resting her back against it as she caught her breath.

When the banging started half a minute later, she couldn’t believe it. “Come on, Spitfire, let’s talk.”

“What is there to talk about?” She wouldn’t let him in. She would not let him in. “We kissed, it was lovely, but you don’t and can’t and won’t trust me ever again, so it’s done. I fucked us up irrevocably and that’s all there is to it.”

“Irrevocably. The Silks really did make you talk pretty, didn’t they?”

“Puck …”

“Open the door.”

“Can we just—”

“Chat? Love to. Let me in.”

You know what …

Her wings flexed in her back, the frustration almost enough to set them loose.

Gripping the doorknob, she wrenched the door open, and there he was, with his forearm propped against the frame, his blue eyes that much brighter because of the blue in his coat.

She wanted to grab him by the collar and pull him in, but she clenched her hands into fists instead, ignoring the urge.

He straightened up and walked in, glancing around the chamber as though it were the most interesting place he’d ever seen. “It’s like the mirror image of my room.”

“I swear to the Mother, you start talking about the fucking decor, and I’ll—”

At the center of the room, he turned and looked her dead in the eye. “You didn’t just hurt me.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “What?”

“I know you’re sorry for hurting me. You’ve said that.

I know that. But hurt’s when you punch someone in the gut.

They stagger back, they’re sore for a bit, and then they move on.

What you did was you ripped a hole in my world.

One that took me fucking years to fill. And giving you that kind of power again, when I’ve got so much more to lose … ”

She huffed and he went quiet. There was more to the story than her coming back. There was why she’d left in the first place, a piece he still didn’t have … and one she thought he might finally be ready for. “I thought I was doing the right thing, okay? I thought I was doing you a favor.”

“A favor ?”

“Oh come on, you and I were finished the day Standish sent me to the brothel.”

He scoffed. “What are you talking about?”

“You couldn’t look me in the eye! You couldn’t hold me the same way. And I thought, why not make it easier for you? I’d always wanted to leave, and you didn’t want me anymore, not after I started working there, so yeah. I took off.”

He shook his head. “That’s a crock of shit, Pru. I didn’t see you any differently! Standish told you to go, what choice did you—”

“You did see me differently, Puck.” She hated the tears brimming in her eyes, the fire raking the sides of her throat, but she held her ground.

“I knew you’d never say it … and I couldn’t bear it, so I left.

For both of us.” She took a breath. “But as it turns out, I couldn’t bear life without you either. ”

She took his hand, terrified that he might read all of this wrong, see it as a sign that she wanted to push him away.

As her fingers twined with his, everything she’d ever felt for him—longing, admiration, love , deep and complicated and messy—woke all at once, like muscles stretching after years of slumber.

“I feel like one of those weak heroines in some ridiculous romance,” she said. “Like some foolish lovesick girl. And maybe a week or two ago, that would’ve stopped me, but …”

This time, instead of letting him pull her in, she placed one foot between his legs and crushed herself against him.

She palmed his face with one hand. He closed his eyes at her touch, and his hand traced a path of starlight up the buttons of her dress and along her spine, a path that sent her shivering.

“I want this.” She couldn’t resist the space at the base of his throat, just beneath his Adam’s apple. “But if you don’t, then—”

He pressed in closer, his hands finding her hips. “Now’s the time to tell me to stop. ’Cause if you don’t, I’m gonna—”

“Don’t you dare stop.”

And just like that, he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground, pulling her up into the kiss.