She paled the more he spoke. Was she now afraid of him as the dryads had been?
“Lord Chedworth, I have a question for you.”
“I have nothing but questions.”
“Yes, well, I need to know where you were the night of the New Moon.”
He cocked his head and stared at her. Why did it matter? Except, Lady Antonia stood stiff, her hands clasped before her, and if he was not mistaken, she may be holding her breath.
“I went to the Mermaid’s Kiss with Jourdain and Amcaster.”
“When did you return?” she asked.
“Before midnight.”
“Then what did you do?”
Did he admit that he had spied on them, even though it had not been well done of him?
“I followed you and my cousins and Lady Samantha into the gardens, but I did lose you.”
“Why?”
“I was curious, though having lived with witches my entire life, I am not certain why.” Except Lady Antonia had been with them.
“After you lost us, did you return to the house?”
“No,” he answered again. “I came across you in the center.”
“What were we doing?”
He frowned, still not certain why that was important. “You were reading from a book, not that I could hear you.”
Lady Antonia closed her eyes and blew out her breath. She then dropped her chin. “I am so very sorry,” she whispered.
This was all her fault. But worse, she did not know how to fix it.
“Why are you sorry?”
Unbidden tears came to her eyes. He was going to hate her, and she couldn’t blame him. “We were discussing spells for animals and that I wouldn’t cast one.”
“Why?”
“There is a wolf…”
“A wolf?”
“Yes. I met him in the forest.”
“A wolf?” he questioned in disbelief. “There are no wolves in England.”
“There is a pack in the forest, and I met the alpha. He wanted to be human.”
Philip just gaped at her, and his emotions of disbelief were almost a balm to the fear and anxiety that had been radiating off his being earlier.
“You were going to do such a thing?”
“No,” she quickly answered. “At least, I did not feel right doing so even though he asked, and I was explaining to your cousins and Lady Samantha…”
