Page 120 of Hexed Up

“There was a problem with the original potion.”

“There wasn’t a problem with the original potion,” I say. “It bewitched Horatio into loving me.”

“Just walk me through that day once more,” Damien instructs me.

“Why?”

“Humour me.”

I sigh and explain exactly what I’d been doing, how far I’d got in brewing the potion, how I’d gone about doing it, all the different ingredients I’d added, and what had happened right up until the point it exploded and Horatio had inhaled a great big lungful of the love potion fumes.

“So you never added the moth wings?” Damien points out.

“What?”

“The moth wings. You never added them.”

I sink back into the sofa and close my eyes, recalling step by step what I’d done that day. My eyes snap open.

“I was just about to add the moth wings when my doorbell rang, and then the potion exploded.”

“The moth wings are a key ingredient,” Damien says. “Without them, the potion simply doesn’t work.”

I stare across my living room at the man sitting in my armchair, and my mouth falls wide open.

“The love potion didn’t work,” I say.

“The love potion didn’t work,” Damien confirms.

I jump up to my feet and glower down at the man in front of me. “You made all that stuff up – about feelings and needing to be near me! You lied to me!”

“No, Molly. No, I didn’t lie.”

“But the potion didn’t work, Horatio. So of course you lied,” I say, my voice rising as anger begins to build in my stomach, drowning all those nuisance butterflies. “Was this all just a game to you? A way to get me into bed?”

He’s a serial seducer. There are women coming in and out of his flat all the time. Am I simply another conquest to him?

And while this had all been a game of cat and mouse to him, I’d lain awake nearly every night worrying about the ethics of messing about with a man under the influence of my potion. I’d been pulling my hair out about the possibility of being found out by the witching authorities. I’d even gone as far as making a mental list of the things I’d pack in my bag for a stay behind bars.

Horatio jumps to his feet too.

“I didn’t lie, Molly. I’ve never lied. I have feelings for you. Ihadfeelings for you. I’ve always had feelings for you.”

I take a stumbling pace away from him, peering up at his face in utter astonishment.

“What are you talking about, Horatio?”

“Molly, I’ve been in love with you for months. Months and months and months.”

“No,” I say slowly, shaking my head. “That isn’t true. You hated me. I drive you round the bend, remember? You’re always knocking at my door with complaints or nagging at me when we bump into each other in the hallway.”

“I was just trying to find an excuse to talk to you.”

I stare at him, completely lost for words. All the thoughts are scrambling in my head, everything I thought I knew rearranging itself.

“You were horrible to me because you wanted to talk to me?”

“I didn’t think I was being horrible, Molly. I’m sorry for that. I just wanted to talk to you.”