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“It’s natural. You never knew my dad. You connected with Grandma Hanna because you spent time with her as a child.”
Sunny nodded. Thank goodness she’d had the opportunity to be around Grandma Hanna. At least she was able to accept her secret inheritance because of the way Grandmother Hanna was. “I suppose so. If I hadn’t known any of my grandparents it would have been harder still.”
Her mother thought she was just talking about them as grandparents, but Sunny meant it particularly in relation to their magical gift.
They turned to wend their way back.
“The cottage looks great. You’ve really worked wonders with it.”
“I’m glad you think so. It needs a name. I was thinking of calling it The Nomad’s Rest.”
“I like it,” her mum replied, nodding.
Sunny was pleased. It worked more than ever now, since Cullen was a kind of nomad too. She just hoped it would remain his resting point for a long while to come.
She shivered, a draught reaching her again. She pulled her cardigan tighter. “It’s getting cold, we better go in soon.”
Her mother chatted on about their nomadic heritage, and Sunny was deep in thought, finding an odd connection with a history she’d never really addressed before.
Moments later another bitter chill descended. Sunny frowned.
Out of nowhere a black shadow swamped them. It came on quite suddenly and was gone just as quickly.
Sunny drew to a halt, her pulse racing.
She blinked and looked up, but saw no clouds.
Had she imagined it? She turned to her mum, meaning to ask if she’d noticed it.
Her mum seemed oblivious.
Sunny looked skyward again, squinting against the light. Had it been the raven’s shadow? The thought made her stomach knot.
“Talking of Marrakech,” her mum continued, “I do hope you’re going to rent out the cottage once you’ve finished the renovation, so you can come and live with us. It would do Ben good to have his big sister around, and your cousins are always asking after you.”
Sunny couldn’t respond at first, distracted as she was by that strange shadow.
“Bring Cullen with you,” her mum added, clearly trying to encourage her.
Sunny’s heart felt tight in her chest. Any time she thought about the future it happened to her, and now she’d witnessed the Raven’s shadow falling over her, a horrible sense of loss crept up on her.
Their thirty days would be drawing to a close soon.
“Visiting is always an option,” she eventually managed to reply. “Right now I can’t imagine living anywhere but Raven’s Landing. I have such good friends around me, and I love the landscape. I can work from home, in peace, with all this beauty around me.”
“I can understand that.”
They walked on, circuiting the house.
When they reached the front garden, Sunny was surprised to see Eben and Aveline walking past the cottage as if on a casual stroll. They waved as they passed by, but she saw concern in their eyes. Sunny returned their wave, and wondered if there was more to it. Had they seen the shadow of the raven too? In which case, she hadn’t imagined it. Members of the coven had—both as a group and individually—promised they’d be around to support her when the time came. Was Eben and Aveline’s presence close to the cottage a coincidence, or another sign? Had Celeste asked them to pass by, to patrol and report back? The urge to be by Cullen’s side was suddenly the only thing on her mind.
“We’d better go inside, see what the guys are up to,” she said as she hustled her mum indoors.
“What’s up, hun?” her mum asked, frowning, once they got inside the hallway.
Sunny stared at her mum silently, and then grabbed her in a hug. “Nothing. I’m just really...glad you came.”
What else could she say? That she was under some sort of curse from an evil witch who would tear her and Cullen apart without a second thought, for the sake of more power? That she was having to learn about magic she scarcely believed in? That she was in love with a man from another time, who might be gone in a heartbeat? So she stayed silent and clung to her mum, taking strength from their visit.
