Page 4 of Witchbane

She took another sip of her drink. ‘I don’t recognise you either.’

Aware she hadn’t answered my question, I tried again. ‘Are you visiting family? Maybe you’re with your cousin?’

She smiled. ‘No, Jem’s my friend. We’ve known each other since we were babies. He’s the one who suggested we come out today.’ She gave a brief laugh. ‘He thinks I should be more sociable.’

I agreed with her friend, relieved to have discovered he was that and nothing more romantic to her. ‘You often keep yourself to yourself then?’

She wrinkled her nose and shrugged. ‘I suppose I do.’

I was eager to know more but suspected she was not about to share her private life with me. ‘Is your family home far? Might I walk you home after the celebrations are over?’

She studied my face. I was unsure if she was trying to work out whether to trust me. She then turned and looked over her shoulder towards where Jem was laughing with friends, before facing me once again. ‘It’s not too far,’ she said thoughtfully as if making up her mind. Her expression softened. ‘I suppose it would be all right, but I’ll need to let Jem know, so he can follow us if he wants to.’

It was more than I had dared hope for and I beamed at her. ‘We should finish these to keep our thirst quenched for our walk back then.’

She laughed, her turquoise eyes twinkling with amusement. I wasn’t sure what I had done to deserve this perfect afternoon, but nothing had ever prepared me for feeling this way about another person. She was so unlike any other woman I had ever met, and I felt like the luckiest man alive to have her permission to walk her home and have time alone with her to get to know her better.

We finished our drinks. I took her tankard from her hand, our skin touching unexpectedly as I did so. My breath caught in my throat and I heard her breathe in. Our eyes locked and for a moment everything about us blurred. Music seemed muffled and all I could focus on was her beautiful eyes, widened in surprise, and the way her lips parted just a touch. I was in love.

I held both tankards in my left hand and took her hand closest to me in my right. I drew a breath to speak when I felt a thump on the side of my head. An apple fell onto the grass in front of me and along with it my hat.

‘You don’t belong here,’ a male voice shouted from somewhere in the crowd.

Gasps filled the air and I felt the coolness against my skin where the girl’s hand had been before she wrenched it from mine. For an instant I couldn’t discern what might have happened.

‘Your hat, Mr Le Cerf.’ The man selling the cider was holding it out for me to take.

I muttered my thanks as I took it, passing the tankards to him. I turned to speak to the girl again but instead of gentleness emanating from her unusually coloured eyes, I saw something else entirely. Hatred. Pure loathing.

‘That’s the Witchfinder’s assistant,’ I heard people begin to whisper.

I quickly covered my hair with my hat, aware she must have seen it. They all had done.

‘Please,’ I began, desperate to find a way to take things back to how they had been between us a short time before. ‘I don’t want you to think…’

I saw Jem turn from the woman he had been with and place his arm around my dance partner’s shoulder protectively as he glared at me. ‘Leave her alone.’

I was about to speak, but he pulled her away, leaving the other girl glaring after them.

I went to follow him, but the cider maker shook his head. ‘No point, sir. She’s not going to listen to anything you have to say. Not now she knows who you are. Best leave her be for both your sakes.’

I had no idea what he meant, but the tone of his voice was one of certainty. I watched her leave with Jem and realised I hadn’t even thought to ask her name.

Chapter Two

RUE UNDERWOOD

Beltane

Iheard him calling out for me to stop and was relieved when the voices of several women mockingly insisted I wasn’t worth his trouble and he should let me go on my way. My mind raced but I focused on putting one foot in front of the other as Jem led me away, eager to leave the area as quickly as possible.

As always, whenever someone was nasty or I saw something that concerned me, all I wanted to do was return to the relative safety of my home, Thistlebury Manor. We might have problems there, dark, troubling ones even, but at least I was surrounded by people who loved and wanted to protect me.

‘Come along,’ Jem said, linking arms with me and leading me to the cart. He took my hand and helped me get on before hurrying round to the other side. Seconds later we were on our way. ‘We need to get you home. I don’t like to think of him knowing where you live.’ He looked at me as we walked. ‘You didn’t tell him your name, I imagine.’

I frowned. ‘I wish I had now. At least then I would have seen the surprise on his face to know his father was my mother’s murderer. I might then have guessed his job if he had reacted.’

He gave me a doubtful scowl. ‘I can’t see how you can think that. Even if he did remember your mother’s name, though he hasn’t lived here for years, I’m not sure the way he looked at you could have alerted you to him being the Witchfinder’s assistant.’