Page 82 of A Lady’s Guide to Witchcraft

“How old were you?”

“Eight.”

“Eight years old?” She sounded as scandalized as she was. When she was eight years old, she was building twig houses for snails and trying to catch fireflies and then releasing them immediately when she felt bad for putting them in a jar.

He shrugged one shoulder, faintly amused at her outburst. “My father was gone, thank God, and I loved the sea and that was good enough for me.”

It made sense for a boy who had power over water. She still hated it on his behalf. He ought to have had birthday cakes and holidays at the beach and someone to make him tea when he was cold.

“And then Granny Gallows claimed me and it wasn’t so bad.”

“Who is Granny Gallows?”

“She was an ornery old weather witch who could make any man cry at ten paces. She bullied everyone. She would have bullied the king if she’d met him.”

Briar smiled at the image and the softness to his tone when he spoke of her. “I’ll make dandelion wishes on her behalf,” she said, and then instantly felt silly. He did not need her prayers. “I never met my father,” she added. “He died a year after Petal and I were born, but my mother liked to tell stories of how he rode into the village on a gold Pegasus. Or how he called all the bluebirds from the sky on her birthday.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure any of them are true.”

“My father tossed me in the well on my birthday because he made a wager over my powers. Keep your stories. They’re not harming anyone.”

“That rat. Where is he now? I have a lovely tea blend in mind, just for him.”

Ethan did smile then. “If I can’t murder Aster, it doesn’t seem fair that you get to murder my father.”

“I suppose,” she grumbled. “But I could make his nose bleed stinging nettles. Or give him violent stomach cramps.”

“If my mother never managed to murder him, I’m not sure anyone could,” he said wryly. “She was not an easy woman, but she did her best by me.” He frowned. “I haven’t spoken about any of them in years.”

She slipped her hand into his because she understood perfectly well that sometimes families were complicated. You could love them and still find it easier to be on your own, all while your chest cracked with the grief of missing them.

They stayed like that for a long moment, lying in the warm grass, the stars glittering above.