“Did you cast a spell on Ruth?” Alanna sat on the couch, deep in an island of despair and gloom.
Gregori stopped pacing the floor. “No. Why?”
“She doesn’t appear to have told anyone what went down this afternoon.”
“She’s a good woman. She just needs a real friend.”
“Well, it won’t be me,” Alanna said and sunk further into the couch.
“For Warlocks’ Sake, woman … You were a mere chit. You didn’t deliberately set out to cause your parents’ death. It was an accident.”
“How can you forgive me so readily?”
“There’s nothing to forgive. Your error of judgment in playing with spells you were not equipped to handle resulted in a cataclysmic event. No one in this world would ever wish it to happen to them. It did. It happened. It’s time you allowed yourself to heal.”
“How can I, knowing my sisters hate me?”
“By proving you’ve grown up. That you’ve matured. That you will do anything to make amends.”
“I cannot bring my parents back.”
“No. You can’t. But you can honor their memory by moving forward. By becoming the witch they wanted you to be. That you were destined to become. Holding that secret inside was slowly eating away at your soul. You can only hide a secret like that for so long before it will fester and come out in some other way. Your behavior had been growing increasingly destructive. If there’s one thing I’m certain about is that you have an enormous capacity to love. Use that passion for good. Stop trying to convince the world you’re as bad as you think you are.”
“Mindwalk me,” she said out of the blue.
“What?”
“Mindwalk me. Make me forget. Better yet, mindwalk Beth and Rosa.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“I will not.”
“Could you mindwalk me back to when I was fourteen and undo my spell?”
He paused. If only he could. “No.”
“Stop saying no.”
“Stop asking and then I will.” His voice was grave. “My father was hunted and killed by his own dragons after using mindwalking as a tool to get information from a mortal. That mortal went mad and my father’s mind was so deeply affected he went rogue.”
Alanna flung the cushion onto the floor, her depression forgotten. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“So you understand why I won’t do it, even for you?”
He reached out and she stepped into his arms. “So what happens now?”
“Come live with me in Cabasson.”
Alanna looked into his eyes, so full of warmth and love. How could he still care for her? “I’ve been hiding my entire life. Now you want me to hide with you in the South of France?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of giving your sisters time to calm down. They will come around.”
“Did you see the look in Beth’s eyes?” Alanna shivered even though it wasn’t in the least cold. “I thought it would be Rosa to cut me off. I expected Beth to be deeply hurt, but she’s usually far more forgiving than Rosa. If Beth can’t ever forgive me, what will I do?”
“I know it’s an old adage, but the saying is true. Time heals all wounds.”
“Unless you harbor them so close to your chest they fester.” All the poison from hiding the truth had spilled out to infect her family.
She felt what remained of any color in her cheeks drain away. Ruth. “So what do we do about Ruth? Can you cast a spell to ensure her silence? Otherwise, the entire town will know everything by tomorrow morning.”
“They won’t unless you tell them,” Gregori rested his cheek on her head. He brushed her hair away. “No one need ever know.”
She pushed herself away to look at him. “You don’t understand. She may not have said anything yet, but she will. Ruth won’t be able to help herself. She’ll tell everyone.”
Gregori was unconcerned. “You don’t give her enough credit. I trust she won’t tell a single soul. Neither will her husband.”
“You don’t know her like we do. Before the sun sets tomorrow, I’ll be the focus of all the gossip in town.”
“Ruth is lonely. All she’s been looking for is friendship. From someone. Anyone. I can’t believe neither you nor your sisters have ever seen it. She’s been in this town for nigh on thirty years and all this time, all she’s done is try to make friends.”
“How do you know this? You’ve only just met her.” If this was true, then she felt so incredibly sad for Ruth.
“She told me she came to this town as an outsider and found it difficult to fit into a close knit community. You understand the concept, I’m sure.”
“But she found a place for herself.”
“She is loved by her husband, otherwise I fancy she would have left years ago. She’s hungry for companionship from other women. She needs friends. She rushes from group to group imparting her knowledge in the hope they will finally accept her. Do you not think she knows what everyone says about her?”
“Have we been so blind?” Alanna shot from her chair. “If all this is true, then why should she now not tell all of Raven’s Creek about what I’ve done and that we really are witches?”
“Her gossip is small stuff. There is nothing small about what happened today.” Gregori stood and followed Alanna as she stepped into the small kitchen.
“I only hope you’re right,” she told him and placed her hand under the cold water before placing it against her neck. “What a mess. What a complete and utter mess.”
• • •
Rosa was the first to venture to speak with Alanna the next day while Zelda stepped in to run the Gallery. Beth refused to work while Alanna still lived above it. Rosa recognized her baby sister was deeply disappointed and hurt, but truly believed she would come around, given time to recover from the shock.
“I’ve tried talking to her,” Rosa admitted to Alanna, “but she won’t listen. It’s going to take her time to forgive you.”
“If she can’t forgive me, I imagine you never will either. So why are you here?”
Rosa’s eyes filmed. “I’m here because I love you. It’s me you should forgive. I can’t believe you’ve held such a dreadful secret all these years with no support from anyone. That you felt you couldn’t tell any of us.”
“I think Zelda knew. I reckon she guessed, but she’s never said anything.” At least Rosa was talking to her. “Gregori wants me to live with him in the South of France.”
Rosa wrung her hands in her lap. How could she urge her sister not to go, when she spent a lot of her time at Marylebone and even in Cyprus, the base of Aden’s family home. “Is that what you want?”
“I want my family,” Alanna cried. “I want you and Beth, but I fear nothing will ever be the same again.”
“You’re right,” Zelda spoke from the doorway to the studio. “It would be a mistake to pretend it is or will be again. Now is the time to start afresh. For you to prove to everyone you’re not what you’ve set out to be ever since the accident.”
Alanna twisted her hands and fingers together and rested them underneath her chin. “Gregori said the same thing, pretty much. He thinks I’ve been self-sabotaging myself ever since the accident. That I’ve deliberately broken rules in an attempt to punish myself for my actions.”
Zelda walked over to the plinth to inspect Alanna’s work. It was very clear now that the bust Alanna was sculpting was Gregori. “Where is your Dragon?”
“He went home to Cabasson. He said he had business to attend to. He’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
“So, are you leaving us?” Rosa felt so sad. Guilty too. She’d never looked deep enough to see Alanna’s fears. She was completely at a loss in how to handle this situation, realizing she didn’t know her sister as well as she thought.
“I don’t know.” Alanna’s tone was flat, her shoulders slumped in defeat. It seemed to Rosa she’d shrunk several inches overnight. Her heart ached for her sister. “Perhaps it’s for the best.”
“It’s not,” Zelda declared. “What’s best, is for you, Alanna, to get your magic back by working hard to atone for your past actions.”
“That could take years. I’m doomed either way,” Alanna whispered. “I will live a mortal life bound to Gregori. I will die and he will continue on after mourning my death. I’ve broken our family unit and will cause Gregori grief in the end. There will always be a gaping hole in my heart and I don’t think it will ever be healed.”
“I should have been more observant,” Rosa declared her eyes bright with unshed tears. “I should have been less judgmental. Perhaps if I had been, you’d have been able to tell me everything years ago.”
She looked to Zelda who had never mentioned her suspicions. Not once. “If you suspected something, why didn’t you say anything?”
“It was a feeling only. I knew as much as anyone else on the subject. Alanna’s blanket silence convinced me there was more to this story, but because she refused to speak of it and because she’d built such huge walls about her, no one could breach her heart or mind. I knew we might possibly never know the truth. Do not judge me too harshly on my silence. You forget I was grieving for the loss of my best friend as well as trying to care for the three of you.”
Rosa rubbed eyes with dark circles beneath them. “Before the accident, even though Alanna has always been willful, she was never unkind or caustic. Beth used to trail around after her, and Alanna always took great care to ensure Beth was included in everything she did.” Her sigh was filled with regret. “I was buried so deep in my own grief, I never saw how much either of them had been affected. Plus I never saw just how much you, Zelda, suffered as well.”