Page 90 of A Time of Witches

She closed her eyes and tilted her face to the moonlight, empowering her with the harmony of nature. A gentle breeze stirred her hair, tickling her cheeks, but she kept her eyes shut, focusing on the world around her.

Something cold and wet touched the top of Lilith’s foot.

She blinked her eyes open to find Dragon nudging her.

He turned and slinked over the grass, his coat gleaming like a raven’s wing in the muted light. They continued into the forest, navigating over tree roots and thick clusters of ferns.

Bracken.

A common foliage in England often used to ward off witches. The thick flora created living barriers to skirt around.

Lilith almost laughed as a frond tickled over her ankles and left her skin humming from the contact.

After a lifetime of Mama telling Lilith to wear shoes when she didn’t want to, she’d have thought her feet would be tender. But the rough ground seemed gentle. The forest was alive around them, and the partial moon glowed like magic in the vast, inky sky.

A canopy of foliage came into view, the path seemingly blocked by a wall of hanging branches of what appeared to be weeping beech trees. A honeyed vanilla fragrance filled the air.

Lilith slowed down, but Dragon plunged ahead through a gap in the branches.

Ducking, she followed him into a clearing framed in a tangle of honeysuckle bushes, their vines lush with yellow-white petals, the air heady with their unique floral perfume. All this was housed within the protective circle of weeping beech trees. A supernatural strength pulsed within the grassy clearing as the moon’s glow flared, flooding the clearing with sacred light.

In a world filled with bustle and noise and chaos, this place was peace. It was beauty.

It was home.

The thought came to her, unexpected and with a finality that settled inside her.

Moonlight to ease your weary mind and quiet your uncertainty.

“You knew what you were doing,” Lilith teased Dragon.

He tucked his paws under himself and squint-blinked at her in that wise old man way he did.

She had been exhausted before, but now energy radiated through her.

Energy and desperation.

If she did this, she would be accepting her legacy.

Life would never be the same again.

That at some point, she must have a daughter to pass her legacy on to.

She hesitated, flinching from the idea of motherhood, hating that it still scraped against everything natural within her.

No, there must be no reservations.

And she wasn’t like Mama.

Again, she thought of the journal, how Mama went through so much of her life feeling like something was missing. How empty that must have been. And how sad to constantly seek ways to fill that unrelenting void.

The weight of Lilith’s lifelong anger eased somewhat.

This was what she needed. To yield to her gifts, to let her hurt go.

Lilith closed her eyes, lips lifting in a soft smile, giving her whole self, sacrificing whatever was needed for this beautiful gift.

A slight hum at her back pocket made her start. Without thought, she withdrew the rose quartz.