Page 99 of Witchbane

He drew up alongside us and doffed his hat to me and then to Jem. He looked exhausted and angry.

‘We were coming to find you,’ I declared, deciding to get straight to the point of our journey.

He listened intently while I explained what I needed from him. Rather than refuse, or even try to argue, he simply nodded.

‘I’ve just left the dungeon where my father is interrogating your aunt.’ He swallowed. Evidently something had happened there to shock him.

‘He’s not hurt her, has he?’ I asked, clenching my fists.

‘I’ve warned him not to, but he clearly loathes her and I’ve no idea how long he’ll refrain from taking action against her.’ Warrior stamped one of his front hooves and Theo patted his neck. ‘Steady, boy. I was coming to find you and ask if there was anything you or your friends might be able to do.’ He looked awkward at making such a request.

I needed to make the most of his agreement to take part in the spell. ‘Then we should hurry back to Thistlebury Manor and meet up with the others.’

‘Others?’

I wanted to trust him but still wasn’t sure of him. If I could get him to the manor house, where Pierre and Jem would both be, as well as such members of the coven as Appoline had managed to gather, I would have all the support I needed if Theo should turn out to be the danger in our midst.

‘Yes, my grandmother and Pierre are waiting there, hopefully with a few of my aunt’s friends.’

I saw a dawning on his face. He smiled. ‘Rue, I’ve come to realise that the people who are supposed to be working for the greater good are the ones I should really be questioning. I’m happy to trust you and do whatever you need me to do.’ He looked behind him. ‘I’ve no idea if I’m being followed. We need to get to the manor as quickly as we can.’

I didn’t answer that I had also had an epiphany. Nothing could make me want to hurt Theo now, not even his father’s utter cruelty to my family. Just as his father had used my mother to avenge himself on Aunt Sorrel for not loving him, I had vowed to use another innocent – Theo – to pay his father back for what he had done. What a senseless and shameful thing to do. I wasn’t a child any longer. I now understood the repercussions of one person’s blind resolve for vengeance. It didn’t benefit anyone.

Theo had shown how much he cared for me by finding my father and bringing what was left of my family back together. His kindness had wiped out my need for revenge, and for the first time in ten years I finally felt liberated from my hatred of his father.

There were other ways to fight the Witchfinder’s evil without hurting a truly decent person and that’s what I would focus on.

Chapter Forty-Nine

THEO

Istood in the centre of a circle of witches, marvelling at how only a day ago I could not have imagined agreeing to something this strange. The attic was as it had been the last time I had visited, only this time I was trusting the women and their practices rather than investigating them.

Everyone seemed to know what they were doing. They spoke to each other, then repeated a chant. I was transfixed by Rue and how she concentrated on what was happening. She stood facing me wearing the ribbon I had seen in her bedroom that day. She seemed at ease with these women. It occurred to me that this might be the only time I would experience her private world of magick.

An older woman lit two candles and another approached Rue and me. Rue turned her right palm upward. The woman, who I now knew was named Appoline, took Rue’s hand lightly in hers and drew a small, sharp dagger across her skin, drawing blood. Rue didn’t even wince, but watched as Appoline held a tiny spoon against Rue’s palm to collect her blood before she dripped it neatly into a glass phial.

It was my turn. I raised my hand, turning it palm upwards, and looked at Rue. As I stared into those turquoise eyes that had bewitched me from the first time I lost myself in them, I hardly felt Appoline take my hand and run the blade across my skin.

‘Thank you,’ Rue mouthed and I knew that whatever else I did in my life, this moment would be a turning point for us both: the Witchfinder’s assistant giving his blood to the witch’s coven. Willingly.

Appoline took the phial containing our blood and inserted a small cork into it. She gave the phial a swirl, murmuring something I didn’t understand.

The witches closed their eyes and held hands. Rue stared at me before taking my hands in hers. Then she, too, closed her eyes. I did the same and waited, wondering what would happen.

The scent of lavender and roses filled the air, then something else I couldn’t identify for a moment. It was rosemary, I realised. I recalled from my Witchfinder training that witches favoured rosemary for protection. It was something we were expected to look out for among other herbs. I assumed the coven were trying to protect us from any evil my father might unleash at us.

‘Concentrate, Theo,’ Rue whispered, her voice barely audible above the women’s as they began to chant once more.

I pictured her wearing the blue ribbon, guessing it must have some significance to the spell. I thought, too, about my love for Rue, and longed for the freedom to love her openly and without risk to her.

I sensed a sudden change in the room’s atmosphere, and a sound almost like a woman’s sigh. The scent disappeared and Rue gave my hands a gentle squeeze. ‘You can open your eyes now.’

I blinked a few times to reaccustom myself to the light. ‘Did it work?’ I asked.

‘We do not know yet,’ Appoline said, her gaze taking in our hands still clasped together. ‘But I sense that it will.’

Rue let go of my left hand and turned to face the other women, who were now standing in front of us.