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‘You’ll never believe this,’ Celeste said wearily. ‘Blaise—he’s—’
‘Here!’ Sky let out a squeal and we all jumped as we realised Keely and Harley had arrived. Harley was arm in arm with Romy, and John was being gripped tightly by a grim-faced Keely. He looked absolutely petrified and no wonder. I’ve seen that expression on Keely’s face before and it’s enough to make the bravest man tremble, trust me.
‘Are you okay, Johnnie?’ I asked him, recognising the fear in his eyes all too well.
I was about to go to him to reassure him, but I was stopped by Iliana’s cry of, ‘Blaise St Clair! I hoped I’d never set eyes on you again.’
I think my mouth dropped open in shock as I stared at the mild-mannered John Ford, Romy’s pleasant and kind-hearted boyfriend. I’d had some interesting chats with him when we stayed at his and Romy’s cottage in Bartonbrook, and I’d really liked him. Were they seriously telling me that this man was the arrogant and devious Blaise St Clair?
‘Will someone please explain what’s going on?’ he begged, as Keely dragged him into a chair and stood, hands on hips, glaring at him. ‘How did I get here? Am I dreaming?’ He gazed up at Romy. ‘What’s happening?’
Romy seemed unable to speak. She was staring at him as if she didn’t recognise him.
‘Well, would you look at that?’ Killian breathed. ‘The man himself.’
At that moment another man appeared in the room.
Sky let out a cry of alarm, but we all turned to Hector in astonishment as he said, ‘Simon, I’m so sorry about this.’
‘Well, this is a bit of a mess, isn’t it?’ Simon, John’s best friend, shook his head and put his hand on an even more terrified looking Blaise’s shoulder. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked him gently. ‘You’ve had a terrible shock. Isn’t someone going to offer him a brandy?’ he added, giving us all accusing stares. ‘Even a cup of sugary tea would be something.’
‘I’m afraid the twins have behaved a bit impulsively,’ Hector told him, as Harley’s and Keely’s eyes widened with indignation.
‘Impulsively?’ Keely shook her head in disbelief. ‘What did you expect us to do? We just found out that our sister’s oh-so-perfect boyfriend is nothing of the sort. He’s an evil witch who’s caused nothing but trouble for centuries, and you expect us to just leave Romy there with him?’
‘Evil—evil witch?’ John’s voice was barely a whisper. ‘You’re all mad! Or I’m mad. Hell, I don’t know which would be worse.’
Oh, how well I understood his bewilderment and fear. Hadn’t I felt the exact same way when I first met the St Clairs and heard them blithely discussing witches and magic? This man might once have been the mighty Blaise St Clair, but right now he was John Ford, and he clearly had no idea what was going on and no point of reference to help him cope with it all. Despite everything I felt sorry for him.
‘You should have talked to me before you did anything,’ Hector said. ‘I could have explained all this to you.’
‘Wait,’ Harley said. ‘You knew? You knew Romy’s boyfriend was Blaise?’
We all turned as a smothered cry came from Celeste. We’d been so busy looking at the newcomers that we hadn’t noticed how distraught she was to be confronted by the man who’d caused her so much pain and misery.
‘Darling, I’m so sorry,’ Hector said, but Celeste leapt to her feet away from his grasp. Her eyes never left Blaise as she edged her way around the room towards the door, keeping as far away from him as she could possibly be.
‘I—I can’t,’ she gasped, wrenching open the door and running upstairs.
Belasko gave an angry cry and followed her, hopefully to bring her some comfort.
We all stared at the open door for a moment, then back at Blaise. He was deathly pale, and his dark eyes looked enormous behind his glasses. It was hard to believe someone who looked so inoffensive had caused so much trouble.
‘Simon’s right. Someone had better get him some sugary tea,’ Harley said, her tone softening a little as she clearly recognised the distress our visitor was in. ‘Then perhaps you, Hector, can explain to us just what’s been going on.’
‘And,’ Keely added angrily, ‘why you’ve allowed this monster to worm his way into our sister’s life!’
Chapter 3
Lowen
Rather than have to explain things multiple times, Hector decided that the best thing would be to summon the family back so they could all hear his explanation at once.
We agreed it was only fair, so while Castor conjured up some lunch for us all—even though no one was particularly hungry—Iliana and Sky duly went off to fetch Star and Raiden. Evidently, when they returned just moments later, they’d already been warned who they’d find in Castle Lodge, because there was no great cry of surprise from either of them. Their eyes, however, went straight to John, and Star’s hand flew to her mouth, proving, as if I needed proof, that he was indeed Blaise St Clair.
‘I don’t believe this,’ Star murmured. ‘What the hell are you doing back?’
John, or Blaise as I supposed he really was, seemed too dazed to reply, although he let out a cry of alarm when Paypacket, Star’s Egyptian Mau familiar, prowled menacingly towards him and gave him a ferocious hiss.
