Page 77 of A Time of Witches

Asher was already up with a cup of coffee when she and Dragon made their way to the kitchen. A smile hovered on his lips when he saw her and Lilith ducked her head shyly to hide her blush.

He’d almost kissed her.

She’d wanted him to kiss her.

“No need to make breakfast today,” she said. “I was thinking I’d head to the manor this morning, if that’s all right.”

His silence made her look up to find his brow furrowed before he nodded slowly. “Yeah—right, that’s fine.”

It was an awkward acquiescence, but she’d take it.

“And don’t forget your tea,” Aunt Jacqueline called from the table. “I trust you slept well?”

“And I trust you already knew that.” Lilith grinned at her.

Aunt Jacqueline laughed. “The cheek on this one!”

Before Lilith could return to her room, Dragon pawed at her ankles with the pouch of herbs dangling from his sharp teeth. The clever little guy.

She took it in her palm and the soft hum that had started after Mama’s death intensified.

“What’s that?” Asher nodded toward.

“Nothing you need to worry over,” Aunt Jacqueline said before Lilith could stammer out a nonsensical reply.

But Lilith scarcely heard them. The manor. She had to get to the manor immediately.

The urgency returned with intensity, tightening the muscles along the back of her neck, tugging her onward with purpose.

Was it the herbs in the pouch? Was this actually working?

Dragon cooed and pawed at her shoes.

“I think he’s impatient to go,” Aunt Jacqueline said with a smile.

Lilith hastily poured hot water into a Kindred Creatures tumbler with a couple pouches of peppermint tea to steep and waved a hasty goodbye as she followed Dragon out the door.

Outside, Lilith had to squint against the sun’s brilliance. Insects hummed around her, louder and louder, a crescendo that drowned out her footsteps. The lush fragrance of foliage mingled in an exquisite aroma of rich earth, making her almost heady with the perfume of nature.

Her senses were alive, her heart full with a sense of being exactly where she was supposed to be.

She had to walk very fast, because that skinny little cat navigated the terrain as if he’d been to the old building before. As if he, too, were pulled toward Brackenmere Manor.

The manor seemed larger somehow, the structure more imposing, the rot and decay less pernicious.

Lilith withdrew the iron key from her pocket, its weight suddenly more substantial than before, the touch of the metal sending the world into flat silence.

This visit was so much more important than previous ones. Before, she’d been curious, uncertain of what everything meant.

While she still didn’t know exactly, she now understood the price of her failure.

And just how little time remained.

Hands trembling, she unlocked the door and gave a nervous laugh. “How did you know the way here, Dragon?”

He squinted up at her like a sage old man.

She opened the door and set the key aside as if it burned her. The hum rushed back to her like a siren song, alluring and impossible to ignore.