Page 32 of A Time of Witches

Guilt dragged at her with the weight of a millstone.

Because she knew the truth in her heart. If not for her, Henry would still be alive today.

His death had indeed been her fault.

Chapter Fifteen

Lilith

Lilith blinked her eyes open as the ribcage of a great beast bloomed into focus, the timbered support beams of the ceiling of Brackenmere Manor’s Great Hall. “What—?”

She tried to sit up and was rewarded with a flash of pain at the back of her head.

“Don’t sit up too quickly.” Asher’s large hand went to her shoulder, his touch surprisingly gentle. “You fainted and hit your head.”

She gently lay back down. “You didn’t catch me?”

“You weren’t close enough.”

She gingerly probed the back of her skull, where a lump was beginning to swell. “My hero.”

His mouth hitched up at the corner. Was that…almost a smile?

“Stay there a moment, yeah?” He pulled his phone from his pocket and a brilliant light cut through the dark, straight into her brain.

She flinched away.

“Shh,” he soothed. “I know it’s uncomfortable but look at the light.”

Ever the trusting lamb, she steeled herself against the pain and looked directly into the phone’s flashlight. Behind the penetrating glow, he studied her eyes.

The light mercifully clicked off.

“Now follow my finger.” He moved his forefinger side to side in front of her face, then up and down. “Good. Are you well enough to stand?”

“I think I’ll just keep lying on this dusty floor, thank you.”

He tilted his head. “Sarcasm will get you a cold night’s sleep.”

“Is that a threat?” Lilith allowed him to guide her into a sitting position.

“How do you feel?”

Oh, what a question.

Like she had just stepped into a time warp haunted by translucent memories of the past. Like she had no idea why she was even here, aside from a weird tingling birthmark. Like maybe she might have just seen a ghost.

Oh, and like this all might somehow kill her—make her cease to exist—whatever—at some point.

But ladies weren’t supposed to say things like that. Instead, she replied simply with, “Fine.”

Asher watched her in silent expectation, clearly skeptical of her glib brush-off. “Any feelings of unsteadiness?”

“No.”

“Would you like to try standing?”

Lilith almost nodded, but the throb in her skull had her murmuring her assent instead.