MINERVA
I’ve grown accustomed to being in Jonah’s head and him being in mine. However, when he wakes in the night, so do I. I can hear his mind working, and it’s impossible to sleep through that.
In his bed in the house now that June is gone, I roll toward him as he gets up. “What is it?”
“Something is wrong. Someone is coming.” He pulls on his trousers and shirt, then grabs his boots.
I wrap myself in my robe and hurry out the bedroom door after him.
He throws the front door wide, then tugs on his boots. Cool air washes into the house.
Not yet dawn, the lane is dark. Hoof fall is the only sign that someone is indeed coming.
Squinting, I barely make out a horse and cart growing larger as it barrels toward the house. I reach my magic out to detect danger, but nothing registers. Usually that would mean whoever comes is not a witch.
“What do you sense, Jonah?” I touch his arm and watch his fierce expression.
“I sense only light, but I can’t tell who it is.” He steps onto the porch, grips the post near the steps, and waits.
Moving beside him, I ready a fire spell in case I need to defend the house. If I’d considered it, I’d have put shoes on, but it’s too late, and I can’t bring my shoes to me while holding the fire spell.
Heart in my throat, I wait.
When the cart slows, I make out Phillip sitting on the bench. “Trouble, Jonah.”
Crouched in the back and clutching the side of the cart, June’s whimpering sends me down the steps.
I pry her fingers free. “What’s happened?”
“They’re moving.” The words barely form as June bursts into tears. From the pale look of her, she’s cried a lot.
Jonah lifts her from the cart like a child and carries her into the house. “Let’s get you warm. I’ll make a fire, and you can tell us what’s got you out in the pitch of night.”
By the time we have June settled and a fire going, Bellamy has woken and joined us. She and Phillip go to the kitchen and start some tea.
Trent wanders in the back door rubbing his face and hair. “What’s all this?”
“We don’t know yet.” Jonah lights a lantern.
Sitting beside June, I wrap her in my arms. “I’ve got you now. I shouldn’t have let them take you away. I’m sorry, June. What did they do? Did they hurt you?”
She shakes her head but is too hysterical to form words.
“She told me the coven leaves at first light to war with Windsor.” Phillip walks in with Bellamy behind him, carrying a teapot.
Trent looks ready to bolt from the house. He looks at June tenderly but grips the back of the chair near the table until his knuckles turn white.
Jonah kneels on the floor in front of June and me. He takes June’s hands in his. “June, you know we will do whatever it takes to protect you. What happened exactly?”
As if his voice is a balm against her hysteria, June calms and sniffs. “I heard Orin come last night. They kept me in my room above stairs, but I crept to the landing. He has ordered the coven to Windsor. First, they come here to kill you, Minerva. They fear you almost as much as Sir William. They will use my magic to defeat the Windsor coven and take over the country by gaining control of the king.”
Her tears begin again, but she draws a long breath. “I don’t want to die or be used for dark deeds, Minerva. You are my sister. I can’t let him kill you. I’m afraid to let my magic free, though I feel it churning inside me like a caged cat.”
“I am your sister.” I tighten my arms around her. “I will protect you. No one will die today.”
Jonah stands and kisses the top of June’s head. “Trent, will you take June to her mother?”
“I don’t want to leave you.” June grabs my hand and Jonah’s.
“We go to battle, June. You’ll be safer on your family farm with your mother and brother.” Jonah makes sound sense despite the uncertainty I feel inside his mind.
“I might help you.” Insecurity and self-doubt roll through her words.
Despite Jonah’s worries that June might be turned to dark, I think she needs to stay close. “I think we all go to Windsor now.”
“And if June grows a mighty oak in the middle of the coven house?” Jonah warns.
If I had trained her better in the use of magic, this wouldn’t be a valid point, but there was no time. “Then we’ll deal with that.” I cup June’s face in my hands. “I have done you a disservice, June. I should have left your magic where it was. I have brought this out of you without giving you the skills to control it.”
As if much older than her twenty years, June takes my hands from her face and offers me a warm smile. “But I am controlling it, Minerva. You taught me to push it down until I’m ready to use it. I regret nothing. If you hadn’t freed me of the binding, I might have followed the coven to a very dark purpose. I hope you are not sorry.”
When had my student become so wise? I kiss her cheek. “You’re right. Let’s face this together.”
Jonah’s smile is enough to make any price worth it. “We go together then?”
I nod. “Auntie, can you pack in short order?”
She gives a nod and hastens into her room.
“What shall I do?” Phillip asks.
Looking around the house and out back toward his garden, Jonah sighs. “You should go from this place for a while. When it is safe, I’ll let you know you can return.”
Brow furrowed, Phillip nods. “Where should I write to you, so you know where I’ve gone?”
“Sir William Meriwether’s home in Windsor. If we fail, someone there will inform you.” I ache in my heart at the idea of failing this task, but I know it’s possible. Orin wouldn’t be going back to Windsor unless he had grown in strength, and I’m betting whatever that extra magic is has much to do with June.
Jonah goes to our room and returns a moment later with a folded document. He grips Phillip’s shoulder. “Take the cart and horse. Be safe, my friend, and don’t come back until you hear something.” He gives him the paper. “This will turn the house and shop over to you should we be killed.”
Bellamy and June both gasp.
I would too, but I need to be stronger for their sakes.
They shake hands. Phillip says, “Don’t get killed. I’ll be very vexed.”
“I’ll do my best.” Jonah smiles.
Phillip bows to us, then dashes out the door.
Trent says, “I’ll pack up and ready the horses and carriage. I’ll bring it round and help load the trunks in no time.”
June goes to help Bellamy pack.
Folding my few dresses and personal items into my trunk doesn’t take long. It’s intimate to be packing alongside Jonah, yet neither of us speak. When I close the lid, I turn to him.
His wide chest expands. “Is it silly that I feel bad about my garden not being readied for winter?”
After I step to him, I wrap my arms around his waist and press my cheek to his chest. “No. Hopefully you’ll be able to come back and take care of all those things we’re leaving tonight.”
“I’ll not leave you, Mina.” He pulls back and says it again.
Emotions I’ve no idea what to do with force a tear from my eye before I swipe it away and take my shawl from the bed. “We’d better go before the Kent witches are on our heels. It won’t be long before they realize June is gone, and once that happens, they’ll be looking for vengeance.”
If he wants to argue or state his case, he doesn’t. He frowns and carries both trunks out as if they weigh nothing.
Less than an hour after June’s arrival, we are packed and heading toward Windsor. Three hours before dawn, I watch the little house where I fell in love fade into the darkness. I pray the horses can see for I am lost in a sea of the moonless night. Clouds overshadow the nearly full moon this night. Perhaps it is a bad omen.
Despite the two ladies sitting across from us, Jonah wraps an arm around me and pulls me close. “Keep your thoughts light, Mina. You’ll need every ounce of happiness you can conjure before this day is done, I fear.”
“It took two days to journey here. I expect it will take the coven longer if they all plan to make the trip.” I don’t know if the magic I’m intending is a good idea or not.
“Tell me,” Jonah says, already knowing I have a spell in mind.
I look at my aunt. “Mother once showed me a spell. She made a horse in our field plough faster. At the time, I laughed.”
“Yes, my sister had a way with spells that defied natural laws.” Bellamy cocks her head. “Can you remember the spell?”
I nod. “I do, but I’ve attempted it with a mouse and not succeeded in much more than an annoyed rodent. However, Mother was an earth witch. I’m a fire witch. Perhaps that was my problem.”
Bellamy says, “You are still a fire witch. I’m not powerful enough to wield such a spell, and I dare say it would be risky to have June try something of this nature.”
Jonah takes my hand. “You’re thinking of me. That with my nature blended with yours, you might be able to speed our journey.”
I shrug. “It’s a risk, but if it works, we might arrive two days earlier than the Kent coven and keep them from bolting to our heels to capture June.”
“I think it’s worth risking.” Jonah’s pride floods through me like a warm balm.
I’m reminded of the sacred pond. I wish we had more time there. I turn my attention to Bellamy and June. “It will be uncomfortable, perhaps even sickening for you.”
June grins like a child. “It sounds like an adventure.”
Patting her hand, Bellamy says, “It’s worth the risk to keep us ahead of Kent.”
Caelum flutters and settles at the window.
Jonah says, “I suppose you already know what’s going to happen, my friend.”
She settles on the sconce attached to the carriage next to Jonah.
“I’ll need Trent’s permission as he’ll be bespelled as well.” Nerves make my stomach lurch.
Reaching behind us, Jonah opens the window to the driver’s seat. He calls out an abridged version of what I have in mind.
Trent slows the horses and peeks through the window. His eyes are wide. “You mean to put a spell on me and the horses?”
I try to smile, but fear it’s weak. “Yes, but only for the extent of this trip. You and the horse will need a great deal of rest and food when we arrive in Windsor, but that should be in short order.”
“How long?” Trent asks, looking at June.
Bellamy says, “If she can do what her mother could, three hours or so. No more.”
His gaze remains on June.
June blushes. “You will hold on tight, won’t you?”
A smile tugs at his lips. “I’m guessing I’ll have to.” He glances back to me. “Do your magic.”
Once Trent is focused back on the horses and the road, the carriage rolls on faster.
“You may have to close your eyes,” I tell Bellamy and June.
Jonah takes my hands and our knees touch as we make a deeper connection. His mind finds mine. “I’m here. Now what, my sweet Mina?”
“Stay with me.”
“Always.”
His earth magic bubbles beneath the surface like earth forming into mountains. I call to it with my fire. “Earth and fire, water and air, let laws not hold back the path there. Open safe passage to the end, let us fly and physics bend. With my magic twined with his, bring this party speed and haste. No obstructions for to see. As we will, so mote it be.”
Jonah says the last with me.
The carriage shakes.
From the driver’s seat, Trent calls, “Oh, heaven!”
Like a bullet shot from a revolver, we course down the road as if the wheels never touch. The scenery outside speeds by in a blur.
June screams then closes her eyes.
Gripping the sill, Bellamy laughs. “You’ve done it, little one.”
I’m half amazed and half terrified. The spell is meant to avoid any other carriages, people, animals, trees, but what if I’m not good enough?
“You’re perfect, Mina. Never doubt it,” Jonah says close to my ear to be heard over the whizzing noise of our travel. “I only hope Orin doesn’t have a similar spell.”
Since I’ve never seen anyone besides my mother use this magic, I doubt Orin, or his demon, are familiar. “They are moving much more than one carriage if they’re coming to war. If he has such a spell, I’ll be surprised.”
Still, the demon’s skills are unknown to us. We know he can dematerialize from a room but doubt he can’t go far. When he tried to kill the Windsor coven on his own in the summer, he left in this fashion when he knew he was beaten. He likely reappeared a few blocks away. We had our own wounded to deal with and didn’t give chase.
At that point, only William had the skills to fight him. “Jonah, I think you and I together may have enough to deal with the demon in Orin. William will help. The entire coven will fight and die if necessary to keep the king safe.”
He tightens his hold on my hand and sits back while we zip through the countryside toward Windsor.
For a while, it seems as if time is standing still while we move like winter winds through it, but then the sky lightens. A few moments later, the sun comes up and burns off the clouds of the night before.
In the distance, the castle is a speck but getting bigger by the second.
Trent bangs on the front of the carriage. “We approach.”
Finding Jonah’s steady heartbeat alongside mine in perfect harmony, I call for an end to the spell. The carriage rolls to a normal speed.
Trent leans to the window, his smile as wide as a child’s. Hair standing on end and cheeks ruddy, he looks a bit like a wild man. “There’s something I’ll not be wanting to repeat anytime soon.”
“I rather liked it.” Bellamy claps happily.
June leans her head on Bellamy’s shoulder. “I’m a bit queasy, but at least we’re here.”
Even though it was my spell, I’m also out of sorts and grip Jonah’s hand to steady myself.
The streets of Windsor bump us around, but nothing looks amiss. The shops are open, and people are out and full of life. At the front of the coven house, Trent pulls us to a stop.
Jonah jumps down and puts the step down. He hands me and Bellamy out, but Trent jumps in to help June, who blushes at the attention.
“What do you sense, Jonah?” I take his arm.
Patting my hand, he smiles. “I only sense light. I think we’re safe for the moment.”
The coven house door flies open, and Sara Beth runs out. She looks from me to Jonah and frowns, then drags me into a hug. “Oh, how I’ve missed you, dear friend.”
Jonah’s trepidation might have seeped into me as the hug from Sara Beth eases my mind. All is well in Windsor for now. “I’m happy to be home, but there is much to tell and do, and not much time.”
Sara Beth pulls back. She looks at the party. “And introductions to be made. Come inside. The great mother and Trina are here.”
Caelum jumps to the carriage window and takes flight. She circles above us.
Trent calls to us, “I’ll go to Sir William with the carriage?” He looks from Sara Beth to me.
“Yes. Collect them and tell them what’s coming.” I’ve been gone three months. Esme’s child grows inside her. She may not come.
Jonah’s strong hand presses to my shoulder. “One problem at a time, Mina. Just breathe.”
At once, I’m calm. He’s right. I can’t control what my friends will do. I must trust they know what’s best for them.
Sara Beth glares at me. “Are you attached to this…man?”
Looking for understanding within Sara Beth may be impossible, but I try to draw strength from my love. “There is much to tell.”
From within, Prudence Bishop’s ancient voice calls. “Bring them in, Sara Beth. Standing in the street like thieves is no way to behave.”
Not even as high priestess does Sara Beth ever disobey Prudence Bishop. At over two hundred years old, the great mother knows more than we may ever imagine. She is a treasure to our coven.
As soon as I see her seated in the center of the room near the hearth, I kneel before her, and throw myself into her arms. Tears roll down my cheeks. “Great Mother, I’m so happy to find you well.”
She pats my back. “Child, I’m well. You’d know if I had moved on. My spirit would celebrate on high with Goddess. However, thus far, Goddess does not call me, and so here I am.”
“I am glad.” I kiss both of her cheeks.
Prudence chortles. “I am not. However, it is what it is. Now, introduce your man and new friend that we might make them welcome. Then tell us what brings you home so early and without a letter to precede you.”
I stand and offer Jonah my hand. With his firm grip in mine, I say, “This is Jonah Allen, who you sent me to, Great Mother. He and I have the blessing of Goddess.” I force myself not to look at Sara Beth. “Jonah, this is Prudence Bishop, the great mother, and Sara Beth Ware, the high priestess of Windsor coven.”
Jonah bows to each and then kneels before Prudence. “Your letters have meant so much to me, Great Mother. I would have been lost without you all these years.”
Taking his hand, Prudence leans forward and kisses his forehead. “I knew your mother well in my younger days. She shouldn’t have abandoned you, but Johanna was always bullheaded. Powerful magic is not the only gift worth having.”
Finally, I look at Sara Beth. Her frown leaves deep creases around her mouth. I will not be cowed. “Jonah has magic. It is not of the traditional sort, but without him, we would not be here.”
Sara Beth frowns, but she stays silent on the subject. “Who else have you brought?”
June has her hands wrapped around her waist and her head lowered.
I step forward and put my arm around her shoulder. “This is June Wharton. Orin and the Kent coven are pursuing her. I have made her my family and sworn to protect her.”
“You make a great many decisions better left to me, Minerva.” Sara Beth’s anger tightens her words.
“I do what I know is right. Am I wrong that you sent me to Kent because you trust my judgment?”
Sara Beth is good at controlling her temper, but I’ve known her a long time. It seethes beneath the surface. “I sent you to evaluate an applicant to the coven and find out when Orin would return.”
“I have done both, and in the process, gained a lover and a sister.” Despite my brave words, my resolve falters. If the coven won’t accept Jonah, and I stay with him, where will that leave us? Do I live in exile for the sake of love?
Trina clomps down the steps. She stops on the bottom one and grins. Youthful and pretty, with brown hair and eyes that shine, Trina is far happier and more alive than when I left Windsor. “I’ve made a nice meal. You all must be famished.”
Bellamy sighs. “I thought you’d never ask. I’m certain we’re all done in from such a trip. We left in the night and what a show of magic Minerva performed to get us here.”
“In the night?” Sara Beth looks from Bellamy to me. “You mean you left last night? How did you get here so swiftly?”
With Jonah’s help, Prudence stands. “I think a better question is why they needed to arrive in such haste?”
“May I help you up the stairs, Great Mother?” Jonah offers his arm as if Prudence is a queen.
Taking his arm, Prudence grins. “How did you become such a gentleman, child? I can see why our Minerva is taken with you.”
“A bit more than taken, I hope.” He smiles back, and they follow Trina and Bellamy up the stairs.
Heat floods my cheeks and nerves quiver in my belly.
June also goes up.
Arms crossed over her chest and her dark hair pulled up in a tight bun, Sara Beth looks ready to burst with anger. “You would choose this man over your coven?”
My stomach churns, but I’ve known Sara Beth since the cradle. She’s powerful and has risen in our ranks, but I’m not afraid of her. “Do you plan to make me choose?”
“I know nothing of him other than his mother is powerful, and he is not. An apothecary, really, Minerva?”
Not without my own temper, I step close until I’m inches from Sara Beth. “Right now, this coven has much bigger challenges ahead than my love life. I will thank you to focus on why I used magic to bring us here in such haste. Your fear of men in the Windsor coven will have to wait. Right now, we need to talk, and we need Jonah Allen if we’re going to survive and protect England.”
Chest rising and falling with deep breaths, Sara Beth gives me one tight nod and stomps up the steps.