“For a time,” he answered. He’d gotten fed up when she continually ran out on him and was never at home. Except, he now understood and truly wished she would have told him then. Philip would have tried to shield her somehow, but short of taking her from every entertainment before it became too much, there was nothing else he could have done.
Why had her parents put Antonia through so much. He understood that they may wish to see her wed, but had it ever occurred to them to invite guests into their home so that Antonia did not have to leave? Yet, what kind of life would that have been, to be sequestered in a home, or in a park where she could distance herself from people?
He well understood why his cousins and their friend were helping Antonia find a veiling spell. It was the only thing that could free her from what she called noise.
“And Lady Antonia only liked you.”
“Calmness,” he answered. “She was attracted to the truth and calmness within me.”
His mother quirked a brow. “She was still attracted to you.”
“It was what I presented and nothing more,” Philip argued. Until they put these spells behind them, he could not think of the reasons why they shared an attraction before being linked at Nightshade Manor. Further, he was not going to tell the whole of what Antonia shared with him—that he blocked or lessened the noise—or his mother would see them matched as soon as the spell was broken.
“If we break this spell, will it also break what binds us?”
His mother nodded. “Likely, though a thin thread will always be there.” She shrugged. “Whether it is a thread of friendship, understanding, love or simply kinship, we will not know until it is over.”
“If the spell is not broken?” he asked.
“It will likely remain.”
“But I will be a wolf.”
“Tied to an empathic witch who cannot be in crowds.”
“This wolf state…” He’d asked the question before, but he needed the full truth from his mother. She would not lie to him. “Will it be permanent; in that I will completely change and never be a man again?” Isn’t that what happened to Lycaon? “Or, only at the full moon as we’ve heard in other tales.”
His mother looked him in the eye. “I wish I knew. I truly do. It helps the others to think that it is only for the full moon, but…”
“It could be seven years.”
She nodded. “So long as you do not partake of human flesh.”
“Then keep me in a bloody cage. Put bars on one of the alcoves in the cellar and toss in food, hire servants to clean my cage.”
“Philip,” his mother began.
He stood. “If it comes to that, you will lock me away. Promise me!”
Sadness filled her eyes.
“And nobody is to visit. I will not have anyone see me like that. And make certain that Simon is given the title of Chedworth.”
“It will only be for seven years,” she insisted.
“Do you know that for certain?”
When she said nothing, Philip had his answer.
“If I become a wolf, and it is permanent, I will cease to exist. Lock me away.”
His mother reached out to him.
“I am serious. My family should not suffer because I become a wolf. You must promise me!”
Tears filled her eyes. “I promise.”
Antonia read quicker than she had before. It did not take long after reviewing the brief description to know if the item would be of assistance before she moved on to the next journal.
