Her eyes move to her red-headed friend, and there’s a small sparkle of light in them. “Rowyn showed up as I was about to have a panic attack.”
“I see you take after your great-aunt,” Sybil murmurs.
I’m the only one who hears. I bump my knee against hers, harder than she did. Mine is a warning not a comfort.
“Has it happened again?” Gale asks. “The visions?”
All four of the witches in her coven are silent, waiting for her answer but anticipate it. She actually looks a bit scared as she bites the inside of her lip.
“Yes, a few times. They’ve also started appearing in my dreams.”
Sybil and the others look at me with questions in their eyes. All I say is, “It’s true,” It must answer most of them from the witches’ shoulders drop in defeat.
“Now I have to ask,” Gale says, “what am I missing?”
With a sarcastic smirk—that is somehow the sexiest look I’ve seen of hers so far—Renata answers in a teasing voice, “Oh, Archer and I go way back.”
Not trying to hide my amused grin, I shrug and explain that to the man, assuming Renata’s coven knows as much as Sybil when it comes to this.
As soon as I’m done, Gale immediately says, “There’s a text in the basement somewhere about that. I’ll fin—”
“Dreams Between Lovers, dated February 1845?” Sybil asks. “Yup, we are completely caught up on that one.”
I watch Renata—the way a blush creeps up her neck to overtake her high cheekbones and the way she slowly scoots down in her chair, tryingto hide. If I was easily embarrassed, Esme and Clover’s snickering might make me act the same.
“Sybil Ever Vexley,” Gale scolds, but there’s paternal affection laced in his tone. “I don’t remember giving you a key to that section of the library.”
“Package deal—” she flicks her hand between herself and me “—remember?”
With a low, warm chuckle, he agrees, “Fair enough, my girl.”
There’s no disdain on Rowyn’s face at the nickname, which I appreciate, more so on Sybil’s behalf than mine. The isolation has always been harder on her than it has been for me.
Instead, his granddaughter asks what her friend is too shy to voice. “Can we see that one? And any others that we haven’t had access to?”
“That would require actually coming to the library,” I mutter, now trying to provoke Renata for fun. She rolls her eyes, but doesn’t take the bait.
“To be fair, Esme and I have been there plenty of times in the last month,” Clover muses.
Esme nudges her shoulder. “Lover Boy was not talking about either one of us.”
I’ll need to take some notes from the Love Witch because finally, Renata murmurs, “We’ll start going between repairs at the inn.”
“Thankfully,” Sybil teases, “we will have plenty of time to catch each other up on the finer details of this new coven.”
Renata doesn’t say anything. There’s a faint smile and a soft nod in Sybil’s direction as she takes a sip of her wine.
After Gale went inside, ready to lie down for the night, we all stayed to help Rowyn clean up. She tried to dismiss us, but Sybil and I have alot of practice pushing past that coming from a family of four Hearth Witches.
I was also hoping for a single moment alone with Renata before she leaves. There aren’t any official plans for when Sybil and I should move our things in. I have to follow both of their cues on this one. I have an inkling of doubt I’ll ever get her alone once we’re surrounded by five nosey witches and a temperamental ghost.
As the evening wears on and I’m alone on the patio wiping off the table, hoping that at the very least Sybil is inside making friends. She pretends she doesn’t need friends, and we have gotten used to being alone, but the desire was always there. She’s excited, and it’s a beautiful sight, especially coming out of a vision.
Behind me, the back door creaks open, and the shiver that runs down my spine is the only hint I need to guess who is standing behind me—close enough that I could turn around and pull her into my chest without moving a step.
Fighting every instinct I have, I don’t.
I don’t allow myself to look at her while I continue my mundane task and ask, “What excuse did Rowyn use to get you alone with me this time?”
