“A few days, ever since…” Kelly’s eyes blazed, her body language changing from pleading to recalcitrant. “Since I saw you doingwitchcraft. Since I realised I didn’t know my sister any more.”
I glared at Jane. “You swore you wouldn’t say anything to her.”
“She figured most of it out on her own, Maeve,” Jane said. “She was upset. I was angry at you. You asked me to keep her occupied. One thing led to another. I didn’t tell her anything. I kissed her instead.”
She reached across to Kelly, clasping her hand in a familiar gesture that made red spots appear in front of my eyes.
“So all those shopping trips and private lunches, you two were sneaking around behind my back?” I demanded.
“Like you’ve been sneaking around with Flynn? With Corbin?” Kelly shot back. “That’s called hypocrisy, Maeve. I learned all about it from you, remember? From all those lectures you used to give about the evils of organised religion. ‘You don’t need religion to be a moral person’ you said. I guess Stephen Dawkins didn’t have anything that matched Corinthians 6:18 – Flee from sexual immorality. You’re the biggest hypocrite of all!”
“That’s not true. I?—”
But Kelly wasn’t listening. “You don’t own Jane’s affections or feelings. At least she listens to me. At least she hasn’t been lying and sneaking around and hurting the people she supposedly loves.”
“I was trying to protect you!” I yelled, balling my hands into fists. Fresh, angry tears rolled down my cheeks, mixing with the sticky plum juice. “I was trying to save your precious Christian fucking Corinthians 6:18 sensibilities from finding out that I can do magic and that I’m fucking all five guys!”
Oh shit.
Did I say that?
Jane gasped.
Yup. I said that.
I squeezed my eyes shut so I didn’t have to see Kelly’s face. I couldn’t bear to see what my love looked like when it was turned into disgust.
I spun on my heel, opened my eyes a crack, and fled the room.
Corbin caught me in the hallway. “What happened in there? You were yelling.”
Rowan and Arthur stood behind him, looking at me in concern.
“Kelly and Jane is what happened. They were kissing.”
Corbin smiled. “Like, sexy kissing? Wow.”
Behind him, Arthur grinned.
“You can wipe those stupid looks off your faces. Yes, they were kissing, okay? Like it meant something.”
“So your sister has feelings for someone of the same sex? Why is it that a problem for you?” Corbin’s eyes looked dangerous.
I gripped his shoulders, digging my fingers in to accentuate my point. “It isn’t that. Youknowit isn’t that. It’s the fact that she didn’t tell me. This is a paradigm shift for Kelly. She grew up believing that homosexuality was a sin. And now she’s kissing a girl and she didn’t even come to me to talk about what that means.”
“You mean, the same way you couldn’t go to her about us?” Corbin said gently.
I opened my mouth to yell, but all the fight whooshed out of me like a deflating balloon.
Shit. He’s right. The way I feel now is exactly how Kelly’s been feeling ever since she arrived. And if I add that to whatCorbin was saying before, about her being jealous…maybe I get it.
I’ve been a total bitch, and a hypocrite.
I have to make this right.
I tore myself from Corbin’s grasp and raced back to the Great Hall. “Kelly, wait, I’m sorry?—”
But there was no one there. Jane and Kelly and Connor were gone.
