Page 14 of Witchbane

Grandmama then anointed the white candle that had been placed in the middle of the circle with oil dripped from a small phial. She took a pinch of herbs that I suspected were a mixture of rosemary for protection and a couple of cloves for banishing gossip and unkind lies. She let them fall onto the candle as we focused our minds on the intention she had shared. Taking a lit taper from a small pot, she lit the candle and began to recite.

‘What’s sent in darkness, turn to light.

Let no harm befall Aggie, no danger or spite.

As I will it, so mote it be.’

We repeated my grandmother’s words, chanting them over and over again. Clarice’s hold on my hand tightened with each chant, making me wince with pain. Finally, my grandmother raised her hands to quieten us. That done, she took a candle snuffer and put out the flame.

The spell cast, I left the women to talk with Aggie and went to the kitchen to help our maid Tilly prepare refreshments for the coven. Once again my mind returned to that man, fury heating my insides. I shuddered, feeling grubby to have enjoyed the sensation of his strong arms around me as we danced. I only hoped I had managed to hide my shock, seeing him so impressive on his black stallion, and thinking back I wondered if maybe my panicked reaction was caused by my concern that he might know how much his presence had unsettled me.

Despite all that, I was grateful that he was unexpectedly distracted, long enough for me to make an excuse to my next customer and hurriedly pack up my phials and packets from my barely touched display. My heart began racing again as I remembered making my way down a nearby passage between two cottages, and the steep journey via the shortcut up Crack Ankle Lane, terrified he had seen me leave and was following behind me. Now, though, I was grateful for my narrow escape.

‘You all right, mistress?’

Tilly’s question interrupted my thoughts. ‘Sorry, Tilly,’ I said, noticing the pitcher of cool well water she was passing to me to place on the tray. ‘My mind was elsewhere.’

‘Is it to do with your reason for your early return home?’

She didn’t miss much. I nodded. ‘Yes.’ It was the truth, mostly.

‘It can’t have been easy carrying those full bags back up the hill in this heat.’

‘No.’ Even for June the heat was oppressive. ‘Unfortunately I don’t think I’ve ever sold so little before.’ The sun had been at its height on my way back and I was still hot despite washing my upper body in cool water when I arrived home.

I rubbed my back. It still ached, as did my feet; I’d been on them since just after seven this morning.

Tilly leant closer to me and lowered her voice. ‘I heard your aunt standing up for you to your grandmother when you were freshening up.’

‘That was kind of Aunt Sorrel,’ I said, understanding why my grandmother was annoyed with me.

The three of us had worked hard together in our spell room for the past week preparing everything I had been expected to sell today. We couldn’t afford to waste ingredients, and I knew I would have to find a way to sell them elsewhere to make up for the money I’d lost.

‘Grandmama only wants the best for us all.’ We had so little now and money was desperately needed to keep this vast, rapidly deteriorating house standing.

‘Rue,’ my aunt snapped from the kitchen door. ‘What are you doing? Hurry up and bring some cake and drink for our guests before you infuriate your grandmother further.’

I picked up the tray and Tilly lifted the one holding a fruit cake and plates, and we quickly followed my aunt out of the kitchen.

My only thought on seeing Theo Le Cerf riding by at the market – apart from not wishing to speak to him – was pity for the poor soul he was tracking down and about to arrest for sorcery. I wondered if maybe that person was Aggie and was relieved we had put in place some protection for her. I just hoped it was enough. If I had learnt little else growing up as a witch, I did know how imperative it was for me to be protective of my privacy. It was another reason I feared Theo Le Cerf taking an interest in me. I would never underestimate his father’s, or indeed his, powers. Even that first time our eyes had met at my mother’s execution, the boy’s piercing blue eyes seemed to stare deep into my soul.

Now he was a man and more impressive than any other I had seen around these parts. At over six feet in height, with those straight, broad shoulders and that white-gold hair that shone like a beacon, it was difficult not to be startled by his stature and good looks. It didn’t surprise me that others stopped and stared at the impressive sight as he rode past on his stallion. The power he could wield over me, both physically and through his job, terrified me.

Damn him. If I didn’t know him to be the Witchfinder’s son and opposed to everything about the practice of witchcraft, I would have guessed an enchanting spell might have been placed on him at birth. He was the devil’s son, though, that much I did know now, and as far as I was concerned, beneath my contempt. Beauty didn’t matter to me, I reminded myself, especially when it belonged to someone who earnt their living hunting down women like me and those I loved. I wanted nothing whatsoever to do with him.

If only I didn’t need to return to work on market days. Now he knew where I sold my wares it would be easy enough for him to come looking for me again. The thought frightened me. However, necessity was a cruel mistress and without the little money I brought in when it was my turn to sell our products, together with my grandmother’s meagre payments from helping others with their ailments, and my aunt’s individual sales, we would not have survived. Yet our home was disintegrating by the month, and if we were going to remain living here for much longer, it was more and more urgent to find a solution. Worryingly so.

I would mark myself with the sigil again tomorrow, and the day after. If I needed to be reminded about why I could have nothing to do with this man, then this was the way I should do it.

Chapter Seven

THEO

After receiving my orders, I returned home to a peaceful evening with my mother while my father spent a few hours at the castle apparently working on paperwork. I wasn’t sure if that was what he had been doing, but it wasn’t my place to ask and even if I had, I knew he would never answer me, insisting that the information was confidential.

Now, after a relatively decent night’s sleep, I was eager – although nervous – to carry out my first investigation. I made for the village of Thistlebury; it was only up the hill from Stanthorpe and just a short ride away. This was the first time he had put his trust in me to do his bidding and I had no intention of showing my incompetence. But what to do next?

I had been away from the island for so long that I had lost touch with the few friends I had made as a child. I thought back to those carefree days before the execution of Lady Thistlebury, when my friends began to shun me. I now realised that part of the reason my mother had insisted on sending me to live in Norway was her concern that I could become the target for villagers, or at least their children, taking their resentment out on me because of my father’s part in the death of a well-respected woman. I imagined that, as it had been for me, that was probably the first time any of them fully understood the role of Witchfinder.