“Yeah.” Maggie sighed, looped her arm through Ellie’s, and started walking. “He lied, but… I still had fun. He’s actually sort of nice. Not that I’m staying, but if I did, I think we could end up friends.”
“No guilt,” Ellie pronounced. “Sometimes, you need to scratch an itch. That doesn’t mean anything, right? It’s like the rest of what we do here—forget and move on.”
Then Ellie looked over her shoulder and met Prospero’s gaze with a grin, as if she knew exactly where she was somehow.
Prospero smiled at her, not quite sure how Ellie knew she was there—or what Ellie would do when she discovered thatshewas going to be staying in Crenshaw whether she wanted to or not. She’d be angry, no doubt, but in time, she’d see that it was the right choice.
As long as I figure out how to keep us all safe.
Cassandra said Ellie was essential, and even if she weren’t, a selfish part of Prospero would want Ellie to stay no matter what.Get to know her. Get to kiss her.Prospero shoved those thoughts aside. Ellie needed to stay to save Crenshaw. That was the most important thing.
And her magic is remarkable.
Magic wouldn’t create a new house if it wasn’t critical that Ellie stay. So the key was figuring out how to make that happen. For starters, Prospero would do whatever she could. Be whatever she had to. She genuinely liked Ellie already, and if the way to make her stay was to offer things that Prospero swore she never would, so be it.
Maybe this Maggie person would be good to keep here, too, to ease Ellie’s stress. Friends were important.
Friends. A partner. A nice home.Prospero started a list of what was needed. She mentally labeled it as “List for the Care and Feeding of Ellie Brandeau.”
If Prospero had her way, she’d be doing her best to convince Ellie that her life would be better if she stayed here. Affection and desire were more of a basis to a relationship than Prospero had experienced when she’d first married. She already had those things with Ellie, so, really, there wasno harm in encouraging more. It was for the good of Crenshaw—and it wasn’t a hardship to romance Ellie.
Step 1: Seduce Ellie so she chooses to stay.
If Ellie didn’t choose to leave, she’d never know it wasn’t actually her choice to stay.
34Ellie
Maggie had tensed as they’d passed the forest, and Ellie considered telling her about the rift—and the big serpent she’d made—but why worry her if she wasn’t staying? Neither of them were staying in Crenshaw long enough for the bad water to poison them.
She’d been wrestling with her responsibility for telling other people.Who? The doctor? The headmaster?They knew.The other students? Which ones?If she told the wrong people and they reported her to the chief witch, would the Congress try to make her stay?Should I just stay to help?
Making that snake had been amazing—almost as good as kissing Prospero.
Ellie shot a look in the direction where she’d seen the Victorian witch. Maybe she had to take the initiative to have her sweeping romance. Maybe while she was there, she could… try.
Maybe being essential and having a romance without the responsibilities of a job and my aunt is exactly what I need.
She looked over her shoulder again and let her gaze sweep over the well-dressed witch. Those damn bone buttons were a temptation that made Ellie want to give in to any manner of bad ideas.
Maybe magic had an effect on libido.
Or maybe it’s just Prospero.
Ellie had liked her life in Ligonier. The farmhouse. Her grumpy “roommate.” Her job. The library patrons. A lot of people looked at their lives and found them lacking. The only thing Ellie wanted was a partner, a woman she could laugh and love with, a person who shared her joys and sorrows. On some level, she’d decided that she couldn’t find that.
Until I met Prospero.
Ellie kept walking, but she glanced back a few times, feeling a bit like a siren trying to lure Prospero toward her. It was working, too. Her stomach was squirming with a tangle of excitement and guilt. Common sense said letting anything continue to happen with the beautiful witch was a terrible idea, but common sense kept getting washed away by the memory of having Prospero in her arms.
Maggie leaned in and whispered, “Are we pretending not to see the woman staring at you like you’re her favorite dessert and she’s been on a diet for a while?”
Ellie let out a bark of laughter. “I think it’s a shame we won’t remember each other when we leave here, Maggie. I think we could have been great friends.”
“We can be friends until we leave.” Maggie grinned. “Let’s go to the pub and see if there’s some sort of witches’ brew to make the stench of this town more tolerable.”
“How are we to pay for it?”
“Bat our eyes and plead ignorance?” Maggie quipped as she fluttered her eyes like she was trying to dislodge fake eyelashes. “Buy a lost witch a pint?”
