“Hiding it fromus?” Laurel dropped back onto the settee beside her.
There was no other explanation for what Poppy had seen. Before she could say as much, however, Bella stomped her foot in the threshold. It was now the third time she’d been sent to retrieve them.
“Poppy and Laurel! Everyone is waiting on you!”
“Poppy is faint!” Laurel snapped. “We’ll be there in a moment.”
“Oh!” Bella rushed toward the settee. “Are you all right?”
Poppy brushed her youngest sister away as she closed her eyes, wishing to see her vision once more. What hadn’t she seen? What had she missed? “I’ll be fine. Please just make excuses for me. I’ll retire early.”
“I’ll help her to her chambers,” Laurel said. “Then I’ll be right there, Bella.”
Poppy let Laurel take the grimoire from her and then help her to her feet. Together, they slowly made their way toward her bedchamber.
Once they reached her doorway and Poppy felt it was safe to speak, that no one could overhear them, she whispered, “He hid the letter in his desk.”
“Who is it from?”
Poppy shook her head. “Does a sea dragon and trident mean anything to you?”
“No.”
“Me neither,” Poppy heaved a sigh. “But we’ll find out. I’ll retrieve the letter while the rest of you are at dinner. We’ll read it together tonight.”
Laurel agreed with a nod. “Just do be careful,” she said as she handed Poppy the grimoire. “Don’t get caught.”
“Make sure Papa doesn’t leave the dining room.”
* * *
Poppy satin the middle of her four-poster, cross-legged with the ancient spell book in her lap. The translation into English was rather helpful, but the incantations themselves were still in Welsh. It had taken her and Laurel a bit of time to work out the protection spell, but they had managed it. Still, it seemed learning Welsh would come in handy. She wondered if there was a spell for learning the language and got to work looking for that very thing.
After an hour, she felt it was relatively safe to slip from her room and down to her father’s study, undetected. Dessert would be served soon and then after-dinner port would keep Papa occupied.
She felt a bit like a thief as she reached her father’s private domain. The letter, however, was for her and Laurel. Papa had no right to keep it from them, no matter who the sender was.
She found the door was locked which was curious as she’d never known him to lock it before. The fact that it was so made her even more determined to gain entry.
“Aliese!” she uttered her new favorite word and then smiled to herself when the sound of a satisfying click came from the door.
Witches could be master thieves if they were of a mind.
Poppy pushed open the door and slid inside the unlit study. She silently made her way to her father’s desk and tugged at the drawer she’d seen in her vision.
Locked.
Again.
She used the old magic word once more to open the drawer and then quickly rummaged past the ledger and her father’s papers until her fingers found the letter she’d seen so clearly in her mind.
Poppy pocketed the missive, closed the desk drawer, and then slid from the study back into the corridor. Her fingers practically itched to break the seal on the letter to discover what Papa was keeping from them, but…
Well, she had promised Laurel that she’d wait for her. Poppy had a feeling it was going to be the longest wait of her life.
* * *
Alec shouldn’t have missedPoppy at dinner. He should have been relieved that she had taken a tray in her chambers, but he had missed her just the same. In her absence, however, he did get quite the feel for her family.
