There was that undertone of disappointment again.I pinched the bridge of my nose—but pretended to wipe it when Ma looked at me.Any sign of exasperation would immediately prompt a lengthy lecture.
“Maddox is a guard.”Who should’ve been staying with Edmund right now.I threw him a glare over my shoulder, but he didn’t seem to understand.
“Why do you need a guard?Did you commit a crime?”Ma asked.
“No!”
“I don’t understand, Giselle.All these months you disappeared without so much as a letter, and now you show up out of the blue with two strange human men.What are you trying to do?”Her voice rose in pitch.“Have you come to ask your father and I permission to marry?”
“Ma!”I protested.
The mere thought of going to her for romantic or matrimonial matters was enough to make me gag.
I was tempted to turn around and run straight back to Beatrice’s shack, but my legs wouldn’t cooperate.Ma wasn’t even restraining me, yet I was following her home like a good daughter, even though she had made it clear that I wasn’t one.I looked heavenward at the pitch black, non-existent sky.I should’ve never accepted this assignment!
“Christabella didn’t tell me you were back,” Ma continued.“I’m assuming she knows everything.”
“She doesn’t,” I lied.I didn’t want Chrissy to be blamed for keeping my secrets.
Eventually, our house came into view, along with the shadowed branches of the large oak tree that loomed behind it like a massive crown.My home certainly wasn’t as big as a Deliberan estate, but it was easily twice the size of most cottages in the village, sporting two stories and ten rooms, shaded by the branches of the first tree planted in Witch Village—the First Oak.
Outside, it looked cozy and comfortable enough.Inside, there was so much pressure I hardly had room to breathe.
“Come in and eat,” Ma said as we stopped beneath the portico.“You can explain everything to me and your father.We both deserve to know what you’ve been doing and where you’ve been.”
I wanted to tell her no, but I held myself back.The consequences of that would be disastrous.I didn’t even think Maddox’s presence as a third party could shield me from Ma’s wrath.
“Fine,” I said.
Since I was already here, I might as well pay Christabella a visit.
As if summoned by the thought, Christabella burst through the mahogany door.“Gigi!You’re here!”
I squinted as a blade of warm light cut through the shadows of the porch, no doubt due to Christabella’s witchlights inside the house.My eyes adjusted.
“Cute dress,” I said, a smile spreading over my face despite my mood.“I like the tulips.”
She brushed her hands over the yellow tulips I had once embroidered along the bodice of her pinafore.“Me too,” she said cheerily.“Hi, Ma!”
“Christabella,” Ma said, her face softening.She took off her scarf and stepped inside.
I hesitated at the threshold.The scent of home was one of smoked tea and herbs and linen.My throat closed up in spite of myself.“I left my things back at Alexander’s,” I said.“Can I go back and get them?”
Ma glared.“You’ll go nowhere until we speak.Besides, everything you need is right here.”Her eyes narrowed as she looked over my shoulder, where Maddox was still lingering like a lost kitten.“Send that boy away or invite him in.I don’t care.”
Ma whirled down the hall into the kitchen.
Shaking my head, I turned to Maddox.“You should go back to Beatrice’s shack.You’re supposed to be guarding Edmund, not me.”
“I know.”He paused.“How long are you going to stay here?”
“Hopefully no more than a day,” I muttered.
He hooked his thumbs into his belt, looking very out of place standing in that blade of light surrounded by the greenery of my front yard.“Should I wait for you to come back?”
Anxiety churned in my stomach at the thought of leaving Edmund sick and alone.But Beatrice was a competent healer.There were perhaps fifty herbwitch remedies to help with fevers, and no one I knew had ever passed away from one.It was unlikely Edmund would be the first.
Right?
