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Zoë shuddered.
“I’ve tracked his history as far back as I could. He’s lived in many places, attaching himself to covens, learning their ways and adding to his skills, often leaving a trail of devastation behind.”
“The London scandal?”
He nodded. “There are similar stories before that, France most recently, Brazil before that.”
“So why are you different?”
“I didn’t properly learn or use my power until I was in my midtwenties, and I still do so reluctantly because my father was against it. This means that when I do use it, the magic is intense.”
Zoë stared into his eyes for the longest moment, absorbing what he said. Minutes before he’d been radiant with power and then it had all converged on her, making her afraid. Now, he was tender and caring, explaining things to her patiently, and that other aspect of him was a secret hidden at the back of his eyes.
Emotion built inside her as she considered what had brought them together, and what might ultimately tear them apart. She touched him, weaving her fingers with his, not wanting them to be so very different. “Is all of this because of Annabel?”
“No, this is about you and me, and the earth and the sky and the sun and the magic of the moment.”
He’d known exactly what she meant, and that made her ache for him. Wanting to believe him, but still unsure, she glanced away across the field. “Annabel was here, or in a place like this, with him.”
“The fisherman, or her master?”
“Irvine, the fishermen. They had a secret meeting place on the far side of a wheat field by an old oak tree. She felt regret, because harvest time would steal the place away from them.” She looked back at him. Just as this thing between us will be over when this week of mine and this investigation of yours are done.
She took a deep breath. “I felt it, as if I were right there. It was the most powerful vision yet. I think she really loved him.”
He stroked her cheek. “You’re not afraid anymore?”
She hadn’t said that. “Do you think I should be, after what Cain did last night?”
“I’ve thought about it. Annabel wants you to know what happened to her, that’s not Cain’s doing. If it was part of his bidding, why would he bother to have you fill in the gaps?”
“You have a point.” It seemed so odd, talking about some guy’s manic intention to use her body as a vessel for a dead person, and yet here they were, and somehow they were able to talk about it. “So, if it’s her doing, the visions, why do you think she wants me to know these things about her?”
“Good question.” He gave a wry smile.
She couldn’t help noticing the deep concern at the back of his eyes. “She and her lover had been here—or to a place very similar to this—many times before, but there was something strange about this one time. The man she was with, the fisherman, he was questioning her affection, and she was upset. Then someone else interrupted them. I didn’t see more than a shadow, but there was someone else there.”
Grayson’s eyebrows lifted. “Interesting. If someone found them their secret affair may have been revealed.” His beautiful gray-green eyes scrutinized her, his expression thoughtful. “Do you have any feeling about who it might have been?”
Zoë lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Maybe the fisherman’s wife, or the master of the coven. It could have been the minister, or one of the other women from the coven. Didn’t you say it was a woman who ousted her?”
He nodded.
Annabel had to know who it was. Did she know, and, if so, would she eventually share that knowledge?
“If it was the man’s wife,” Grayson said, “that would explain why she ousted Annabel as a practicing witch, revenge.” He shook his head. “It wouldn’t have been anyone who was a part of her coven. They were clever and secretive, tight-knit. They usually are, but especially so in this case. I can find out so little about them other than that they resisted all attempts by the local preacher to break them down.”
“What about the villagers?”
“The people who know about an active coven either accept it or live in fear, depending on where their bias falls.”
She wished he wouldn’t talk about the covens that way, reminding her that they were still about and how crazy Cain and his sidekicks had seemed the night before.
He had a faraway look in his eyes, and she could see how bound up with this mystery he was. “Did you only want me because of her?” There it was. It had forced its way to the surface and she’d blurted it out.
For a moment he looked confused by her question, and then he smiled. “I wanted you the moment I saw you daydreaming about the forest.”
There was a knot in her chest and it wasn’t going away. “But did you know then? Did you already know that I could help you with your research, when you saw me on the side of the road that first day?”
