Philip waited for her but said nothing. Further, he was calm.
Antonia stepped into the center, set her book on a small pedestal that had not been there previously. She also did not question where it had come from as she placed her candles and crystals around. She then settled before the book and withdrew the slip of paper where she had written the recovery spell and placed it over the page with the werewolf spell.
“You should join me in the circle, on the other side of the book and across from me.” He had been the one cursed so perhaps that magic would come back to her.
He did so without a word.
She then lit the candles and held out her arms on either side of the book, reaching toward Lord Chedworth.
“Please, take my hands.”
He did so and Antonia nearly sucked in a breath from the power of encouragement and trust, and caring.
Beneath was fear, which she had expected, but the anger from earlier was completely gone. Had he forgiven her?
She drew from the encouragement and allowed it to lighten her soul and weaved it into her intentions.
Antonia closed her eyes and focused on what she willed. She drew on magic from the past and the strength of Lord Chedworth. She centered her being on the one thing she needed in that moment, then looked down and read the spell.
Bring back the words once written beneath this page.
From ancient times to modern days.
Lift them forward, reveal them to me.
Antonia grasped Chedworth’s hands tighter and repeated the spell a second and third time. Three lines recited three times. She chose that number because that was the number needed to fully cast the spell.
Antonia let go of Lord Chedworth’s hands and moved her spell from the book, then glanced at the page where words had once been written.
Disappointment slammed into her heart. The page remained blank.
The disappointment within Chedworth matched her own. “I am sorry.”
“As am I.”
“I will fix this. I promise to do everything in my power to see the spell undone.”
“I know you will.”
How can he be so calm?
“If only…had I known…”
“You did not,” he interrupted. “I was there out of curiosity. This is as much my fault.”
She was grateful that he was taking some of the blame, but this was her failing.
The two were very much alone at the center of the garden beneath a clear, star-filled sky and crescent moon. Antonia looked into his cobalt eyes. There was no anger or hatred toward her.
Antonia reached out again and took his hand so that she could search deeper. “I do not understand how you can be calm,” she whispered. “But I also feel your fear.”
“Did you need to take my hand to know?” he asked.
Antonia frowned. This was the first time that she had needed to touch someone to know for certain.
“Yes. It has never happened before. Even when people try to hide from me, they cannot, but I could hardly feel your fear until I took your hand.”
“Perhaps the other spell is veiling them.”
