Page 76 of Witchbane

She glanced behind her, then stepped into the room and quietly closed the door.

‘Theo, please listen to me.’

She wasn’t going to deny it.

I gasped, stunned. I glared at her, hurt beyond all measure. ‘Why?’

It was a ridiculous question. I knew full well why she had lied to me, but even so it didn’t reduce the pain my discovery gave me. She didn’t trust me at all. Maybe she was right not to?

Suddenly she was next to me, and I felt her cool fingers take my hands.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I never wanted to lie to you. I promise that if there was any other way I would have told you.’

I looked into her turquoise eyes. Was that how she had bewitched me? Why hadn’t I seen through her until now?

‘Theo, let me explain. Being a witch isn’t what you’ve probably been led to believe.’

I couldn’t listen to any more deception. Did she think I was stupid or did she simply enjoy playing with me, fooling me with her sweetness?

I snatched my hand from hers and moved away from her. ‘Stop. You have nothing to say that I wish to hear.’

I glared at her again, furious that the woman I loved with all my heart could be so utterly different from what I had imagined. Our eyes locked. My lips were drawn to hers and for a moment I felt compelled to kiss her. No. She was a witch. She had lied to my face.

Whether I liked it or not, Rue was the enemy my father had suspected after all. I hated that he was right about this. I had a job to do, and if I was a true Witchfinder’s assistant I should make an immediate arrest. I looked her in the eyes again and felt my heart break. The woman I loved could never be mine.

‘Theo, please let me explain.’

‘You’re a witch; I know that now. What else is there to say?’

‘But Theo⁠—’

I pushed her hand away, furious, devastated, broken. ‘No.’ I walked past her to leave the room, then stopped and turned. ‘And do not presume to use my given name again.’

She gasped. I didn’t wait for her to respond but left the attic before my resolve to banish her from my heart and mind dissolved.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

RUE

Istared at the open door, shocked by the intensity of his reaction. I pictured how he had stared at me, embarrassed that for a moment I had expected his mouth to lower onto mine in a kiss. I had hurt him, far more than I had ever imagined I could. My heart ached, now I understood better the depth of the feelings he had for me, and I wanted to cry.

I listened to his hurried footsteps as he descended the stairs to meet the other men. One of them asked whether they were already leaving, and he replied with uncharacteristic snappiness.

Why hadn’t he let me explain what it meant to be a witch and how wrong his assumptions were about us and our way of life? It occurred to me that if I hurried, I might reach him before he rode away. I ran out of the door and down the stairs, desperate to put things right between us, partly because I was terrified of having him as an enemy but also because I hated to cause him such pain.

I was halfway down to the hall, unsure where he might have gone, when I spotted my aunt at the foot of the stairs glaring up at me.

‘What’s taken you so long? And what were you doing up there?’ she hissed. I guessed it was her concern about the search that made her sound aggressive.

I ran down towards her. She grabbed my arm, led me towards the kitchen, then swung round to face me. ‘Well?’

I frowned at her. ‘You know why I went up there.’ If I was hoping to distract her by my rudeness I had failed. She was suspicious of me being up there with Theo but I had no wish to explain myself.

She peered at me, her head close to mine as she studied my face, her eyes pausing when they reached my lips. She gave a quick shake of her head as if arguing with herself then looked me in the eye once again. ‘You were a long time.’

I was? It had seemed to me to flash by. ‘Not that long,’ I retorted.

We looked up to the next landing, seeing Theo descending the stairs. He called for his men to hurry and follow him. I heard their footsteps running down to join him as my aunt opened the kitchen door.