‘What else did you do?’
‘I, um.’ A blush stole up his neck, rose to his cheeks. ‘I went to the pharmacy to pick up a few things.’
A tiny bit of tension left my shoulders. Aster hadn’twanted me to pick up something medical for him. It was reasonable he’d kept that to himself. But that only explained one of his lies.
Willing him to tell the truth, I asked, ‘Then what did you do?’
‘I visited Frank.’
I stared at Aster. His heartbeat was steady and strong. ‘What did you do with him?’
‘We chatted about the island and my project.’ Aster tugged at his shirtsleeves, pulling them over his knuckles. ‘Have I passed your inspection yet?’
‘Did you talk to Frank about anything else? Anything in particular?’
Aster paused. Before he spoke, I knew the next words out of his mouth would be a lie. ‘Nothing important.’
I tightened my grip on the powder, swallowing away the lump in my throat. I couldn’t get emotional. I needed to be strong. I needed to protect the family I had left.
‘I think you’re lying,’ I whispered.
‘No, Cal.’ Aster finally broke my command and tripped a few steps towards me. ‘I promise I’m not.’
If I had fallen in love with this man, then the stutter in his heartbeat would have broken me. I couldn’t believe I’d done it again, had let someone close who would lie and take until I had nothing left.
‘Stop lying to me,’ I growled, and threw the powder at his face.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
ASTER
For the second time today, I threw my hands up to protect myself from the bad-times dust being pelted at me.
I recovered a lot quicker this time and dropped my arms to my sides. The powder that hit my shield fell harmlessly to the floor. The concern I’d felt on entering the cabin converted to annoyance. ‘Why the fuck is everyone throwing stuff at me today?’
Callum stared at the powder. ‘You’re a witch?’
The annoyance converted to joy. ‘You know about witches?’
Callum’s face contorted into an expression I never wanted to see again in a thousand years. It was like I’d taken everything he loved and passed it through a blender then presented it to him in a ceremonial cup.
My joy converted back to concern. A normal human being might get emotional whiplash at this point, but I was used to running a gamut of emotions in less than a minute.
‘It’s not a problem. I can barely do anything with it.’
Callum’s eyes blazed and he took a step back. ‘Stop lying to me.’
‘I’m not lying,’ I countered. I wanted to poke him in his beautiful chest, but everything about him screamed to stay away. I ignored how much that hurt. ‘I mean, I’m normally useless. Only flowers listen to me. It’s since I came to Doughnut that I’ve been able to do anything vaguely impressive like shield.’
At Frank’s, I’d even conjured magical lightning. I’d never thought I’d be able to do something like that. I wasn’t ashamed to admit I shed a few manly tears of wonder.
I’d wanted to tell Callum about it, but I’d long resigned myself to my witchiness being a secret. Dad told me attitudes to magic were different to what they used to be, but I had to be careful who I told. Not even Lukey knew about my measly magical skills.
I wanted to tell Callum about all of it, but even though he knew about my powers, my excited ramblings would have to wait until he wasn’t looking at me like I’d just kicked his favourite puppy. Or goat-baby.
He heaved a shuddering breath. ‘You need to leave.’
It took me a second to process what he’d said. By the time a counterargument produced itself in a brain cluttered with new magical knowledge, Callum had disappeared into the bedroom. I almost tripped over Tim and Albert as I rushed over, to find he’d lugged my suitcase onto the bed.
