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“No time.”
“Nathanial Goodman! Come out! We know you are harboring the witch. It is time to come out and pay for your sins. Confess! Tell the world how the harlot seduced you and forsake the devil’s whore.”
Once again Nathanial is wrapping me in as many layers of clothing as he can before throwing the door open to the lit torches of the people on his lawn. The one banging on the door, the preacher Reverand Amos Good backs up a little bit when Nathanial steps out. He is a big man but even Nathanial can’t take on the whole town.
“I know not what you are talking about, Amos. There is no woman here. Only my sister’s teenage son sent to me for lifting too many skirts in his own town.”
I keep my head down and try to adopt the image of a teenage boy. Half the time I hold my breath and pray. This isn’t just about me anymore. Now I have something more to live for. Nathanial.
“This…boy is staying with you?”
He nods.
“Tell us boy, and be mindful God can always tell liars from those who speak the truth, is your uncle harboring a female in his home?” I take a deep breath and recall the glamor spell I learned from my grandmother, one of the easier spells to work. It draws energy from others and shows them what they want to see, but the image can be manipulated by a very crafty witch to show what the wearer wants them to see as well.
“My uncle harbors no female. One of the many reasons my mum sent me to his home, sir.”
He pushes the hood back to take a better look at my face. I look at the man and hold the image of the youth in my head, taken straight from the image I’ve gotten from Nathanial's mind.
The man looks with squinted eyes before turning his back on us.
“You are welcome to come in if you want. It is cold and the night is dark, Amos. Stay a spell with us.”
“No. I know she is close. I can sense her. I won’t stop until I’ve hunted her down and watched her burn before my very eyes.”
He moves back into the inky night and the others follow behind. Beside me, I sense Nathanial exhaling deeply for the first time since we heard the bootsteps of the Reverand on the stone steps outside the house.
He turns to me once we are safely locked behind the closed door. “How did you do that? You looked just like…”
“I’ll tell you later. Now I think it’s best if we both ready ourselves to leave. That is…if you’re sure.”
He pulls me into his arms, our bodies brush against one another and the heat he always seems to give off sinks into my cold lonely soul. “I have never been more sure of anything in my life, my love. You are my witch, my love, my life. And one day you will be my wife.”
His mouth drops to mine in a kiss sealed with a promise of a future not shaken by the uncertainty of what is to come but steady and true in the love we share with each other.
Nova
When we finally come back it’s not as passive observers but as an echo of the past. Nate’s mouth is on mine and our tongues are twining around one another. His hand is still over mine and mine is still touching the stone tree behind his bed, but our mouths have taken on the actions of Deliverance and Nathanial.
When we draw back from one another the first thing I'm aware of is how quiet it is, how absolutely still everything is. His hand stays where it cups my cheek as he looks at me with the brightest blue eyes I have ever seen. His thumb runs across my bottom lip slowly before he takes his hand away.
I try to lighten the mood by giving a little chuckle, “Gee, I hope that doesn’t happen every time I touch something in your house. It could start getting really awkward.”
Not that the kiss we just shared wasn’t the very definition of the word. He gives me a soft half-smile. “I don’t know. I find I’m not hating the outcome so much when it means you end up in my arms.”
Chapter Fourteen
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Nate
She blushes and looks away from me. I place my finger under her chin to bring her face back up so I can look at her cheeks tinted a sexy pink. I reach behind her and pull the blankets back on the bed.
“I would love to find out what else we could touch and where it might take us,” she widens her eyes and runs her tongue over her bottom lip before trapping it in between her teeth, “but you need rest and I want to make sure you’re alright before we get into anything to…strenuous.”
“But…I thought people with concussions weren’t supposed to sleep.” Her face reddens again. “Not that I want to…I mean, it’s not that I don’t want to, either. I…I’m going to shut up now because anything I say is not going to come out right.”
I cup her face in my hands making sure not to touch the bandage on her forehead and bring my lips to hers in a light kiss. “Tonight is for rest.”
