Page 81 of A Lady’s Guide to Witchcraft

Every year, when the nights turned hot, the fireflies came. And it never failed to amaze her. She followed their trail of lights as they darted in and out of the shadows. She counted twenty-seven before she turned to Ethan, but he was watching her, not the fireflies. “Aren’t you counting?” she asked.

“I don’t need luck,” he said quietly, eyes still on her.

“What do you need?”

“Careful, little thorn. Or I might answer.”

She couldn’t pretend not to know what he meant, but she did not press him either. The pull between them was alive, full of its own magic. He might have tried to warn her away earlier with his little trick, but he couldn’t pretend to be indifferent. Not fully.

And she had a few tricks of her own.

“I thought a captain would be more superstitious,” she said. “Don’t ships have all those rules? Don’t set sail on a Friday? Never kill an albatross?”

“Matthias hangs a hot cross bun in the galley to prevent fires,” he admitted. “And I have rules,” he added. “Those aren’t them.”

He didn’t elaborate.

“There’s nothing you do for luck? Pick four-leaf clovers? Make a wish on dandelions?” That was a favorite of hers. “Wear daisies in your hair?”

“How did you guess?”

“You seem the type. So frivolous.”

His mouth twitched with amusement. “Do I?”

She grinned. “I could make you a daisy crown. It would be very fearsome. King of the Iron Crows.”

“As fearsome as you?”

“Oh, at the very least.”

“Best not risk it. Not sure Haven could handle it.”

She sat at the edge of the pond when her hip began to protest the uneven ground. Ethan sat next to her, lithe and graceful. “Your hip is bothering you.”

She shrugged. “It comes and goes.”

“Did someone…hurt you?” The question was both gentle and rough. Patient but commanding. A dagger through the still night air. Pure Ethan.

She shook her head. “It’s always been like that. Sometimes it’s perfectly fine and then other times it does not like to stay in its place. The doctors all say the joint is weak, or loose.”

“And the witches?”

“No spell for this kind of thing. It is what it is.”

“Hmm.” He didn’t say anything else, not for a long moment, until he added, “Look up.”

She did as he asked, expecting his dragon to be showing off, or a swallow to be diving for insects. But it was only the night sky, on fire with stars and magical in its own way.

“I count stars,” he said. “My mother told me they would bring me luck when I was a boy.”

“She did? Oh, I like that. It means I don’t have to wait for the fireflies. Sometimes I need luck in January too.” She slid him a sidelong glance. “Where is your mother now?”

“She died a long, long time ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“My father left soon after, but that was for the best. I hopped on the first ship that would have me.”