Page 125 of The Witch is Back

She looked away.

He put Hallie on the floor, watched as she stubbornly refused to leave his side. Loyalty. Bitterness soaked into him. “You didn’t even think it might be me when I ran?”

“You...you’d put in your note to Diana that you couldn’t marry me. Specifically.” She swallowed. “It hit my vulnerabilities and I didn’t think past that.” She looked up. “Why didn’t you do the mind-meld thing with your parents?”

“It’s not something people do every day,” he said somewhat caustically. “Some casters never wake up or the other person interrupts something in their mind and the caster wakes different. Not to mention it expends a great deal of power. Don’t worry though—” and this time he was definitely caustic “—I’ll still perform well at the Exhibition for you.”

She stroked Chester for a few seconds. “Does it help at all that we found a way around the Joining?”

“You mean when you lied to me just now and told me there were no more secrets?” Abruptly he felt wrung out. “You weren’t going to tell me.” He looked at her. “Still? After everything.”

She pressed her lips together. “Bastian...you’re leaving anyway.”

He found he did have energy for anger after all. “I’m leaving, therefore I can’t be trusted with the truth?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s... I just... What’s the point in baring our souls? It’s not like we’re...you know...”

“Getting married?” he forced out. “Spending our lives together?” Falling in love?

“But we’re not,” she pointed out quietly and his heart stopped. “We’re spending our lives apart, even if we’re married. What was the point in telling you everything?”

“Maybe because I fucking deserved it.” His voice shot across the room like a slap. “You don’t get to decide what I should know.”

“You’re right. It’s just... I needed to keep Sloane safe. All the lies, all the secrets, they all unravel and lead back to her. I had to put her first.”

“You thought I would reveal her to Clarissa? You know what, Emma.” He shook his head in disgust, climbing to his feet. “Screw you.”

“No.” She shot forward, dislodging Chester. “No, I didn’t. I don’t. Not really. But it’s just safer for her with less people knowing. And you’re leaving. Why bring you in on this when you could be unaware and better for it?”

Like he believed she’d done this for his benefit. “You don’t trust me.” He barked a laugh that was empty of anything. “My Goddess. You forced me to run in the first place and yet you don’t trust me.”

“I told you, I know you wouldn’t tell Clarissa...”

“It’s not even about that, though, is it?” he demanded. “You don’t want to trust me. You don’t want to let me in.”

She’d lost all color and her eyes were shiny, but she jutted up her chin. “You’re leaving,” she repeated.

His jaw hardened and so did everything else inside him. Goddess, he hurt everywhere and not even Hallie’s soft purrs helped. He lifted her to the bed, giving her a stroke with a hand he refused to acknowledge was trembling. “We have to go.” He didn’t look at Emma as he conjured a portal. “Can’t be late for our own Exhibition.”

CHAPTER 26

The Exhibition was a roaring success. Just as they’d practiced, Emma and Bastian had conjured a large seed forth from nothing, through which Emma had dramatically flash-grown a rose. With his mind magic, Bastian had created an illusion of a thousand roses as if Emma had grown many instead of just the one. Synchronized, they’d both used telekinesis to pluck the petals, one by one, off the real rose until they lay suspended in the air. The illusion roses followed suit with eight thousand fragrant rose petals hanging still before Bastian fired them upward to burst into a red firework that brought gasps and exclaims of delight. Applause had thundered, with many witches looking at Emma in a whole new light. No more “poor Emmaline.”

Emma could barely stir herself to care as she watched Bastian move away through the crowd. He hadn’t even bothered to say more than “you did it” before he’d walked away. He was back to being solemn Bastian, the one she’d re-met weeks ago. Tense, unsmiling except for the society smile she hated.

And she deserved it.

Her heart wept as she forced her own smile to the surface and accepted a stranger’s well-wishes. It was for the best, in a way, she told herself. At least now he wouldn’t be tempted to stick around. And she wouldn’t be tempted to share herself with him.

“Come with me now.”

Emma barely had enough time to focus on her mother before she’d caught hold of Emma’s upper arm and towed her in the direction of one of the private rooms.

She should’ve known a criticism of her performance would be forthcoming. Emma thought of breaking the hold, but her emotions were already wrung out. She could sit through Clarissa’s autopsy and then go home, curl under the covers and wait to see what happened when Bastian came back.

If he came back.

Her mother entered the Blue Room and pushed her toward one of the chairs. “Sit. And tell me exactly why Bastian isn’t at your side.”

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