The pointed look the dowager gave the younger woman was enough to have her backing down before her own secret was spilled.
Sadie wondered how quickly Madeleine had figured out that Abigail was pregnant. Probably in much less time than she, Pippa, and Nicholas had taken.
Jane, at least, didn’t seem to care what Sadie’s power was beyond her affinity for water. “Could you show me how to brew that healing potion? From what Helen said, yours is much more potent than anything I’ve ever made.”
“Of course.” Sadie looked at the clock on the mantle. “But not today. I’m due to meet Nicholas by the spring in a quarter of an hour. He said he had something he wanted to ask me.”
Sadie bit her lip and did her best to look both excited and nervous. Her act convinced Jane, who squealed. “Oh, I bet he’s going to propose! We all know you’re his choice. This is so exciting!”
Jane’s genuine joy surprised Sadie. She had thought the witch was suffering from enough of a crush on Nicholas that she’d be devastated to hear he might propose to another woman.
Abigail’s reaction, on the other hand, was exactly what she had expected.No! He can’t propose to her! He has to marry me! Me! You promised. We have to do something. Now.
The demon’s reply was an evil hiss.Kill.
Yes. We’ll follow her to the spring and drown her before Nicholas gets there. Then I can comfort him.
Yes, kill.
It took everything Sadie had learned over the years to not betray her reaction to these thoughts. Abigail was insane. Maybe the demon had poisoned her thoughts; they seemed worse than Sadie remembered from early in the month, but the jealous and rather delusional seed the demon had worked on had been there all along.
Sadie stood up and fluffed her skirts. “I should head out now. I don’t want to be late.”Nicholas, they took the bait. Get moving, I’m leaving now.
Be. Careful.
I will. I promise.
Sadie only made it two steps toward the door before Madeleine beckoned her over. She stood and took both of Sadie’s hands in hers and smiled. “I am so happy for you, dear.” Still holding Sadie’s hands, Madeleine leaned in close, as if she were placing a kiss on Sadie’s cheek. “Do I need to distract Abigail?”
“Thank you.” Sadie said loud enough for everyone to hear. Then quietly, “Please don’t. We need her to follow me.”
“Be careful, dear. I don’t want to lose a daughter-in-law before I even have one.”
It surprised Sadie that the dowager hadn’t figured out that the implied proposal was only a ruse to draw Abigail and the demon out. But now wasn’t the time to explain. Sadie squeezed Madeleine’s hands and left the room.
???
How far areyou now?
Nicholas slowed his pace, terrified the demon would attack Sadie well before they reached the spring. He hated that he had to remain out of sight, where he couldn’t throw a ward around her. It didn’t matter that the demon itself couldn’t harm a human; Abigail would gladly do its dirty work.
I’m at the bend in the path, and Abigail is staying far enough behind that she won’t reach me before I’m at the spring.
Despite the fact that Nicholas had asked the same question essentially every thirty seconds since Sadie made it out of the manor, she still didn’t sound annoyed when she answered. If anything, he’d call her mental voice indulgent.
Coming up to the spring now. Are you hidden?
Yes.Much as he hated it, they needed the demon to get close to the portal before it realized this was a trap, and that meant staying out of sight. But Nicholas had used his time carefully while he waited for Sadie to get to him. He had layered invisible wards everywhere. There would be no accidents resulting in someone drowning in the spring. He had covered the surface with a physical ward. Any sticks or rocks that looked like reasonable weapons were similarly locked behind his magic. The only place free of wards was the area around the portal, the tear between the realms ready to absorb the demon.
From his hiding spot, Nicholas saw Sadie come into view. She stopped a pace away from the spring, presenting the perfect target for the demon. He threw another ward up behind her so she wouldn’t even trip if Abigail attempted to push her into the water.
A few minutes later he heard the crunch of dry leaves and twigs. Sadie played her part perfectly, smiling brightly. “Nick—” she cut herself off as Abigail came into view. “Abigail? What are you doing here?”
“We need to have a talk, Sadie.”
Nicholas threw up a physical ward—invisible—and Abigail walked directly into it.
“What—?” She patted along the edges of the ward, quickly discovering she was trapped in a bubble of his magic.
