Page 81 of Wild Scottish Fortune

Marie gaped at me, incredulous.

“We witches aren’t destined for a normal life, child. You’ll only know pain. Why don’t you come join me? On this side? At least we’ll have each other then, won’t we?”

Oh hell no.

I quickly sprinkled salt at my feet, praying that I made some semblance of a circle around me, and then rattled off the quickest circle protection spell that I could think of.

“I call on the East, South, West, and North to protect this circle I stand in.”

“A spell? What is this? You callthisa spell?” Marie threw her head back and laughed once more and I shouted when a small icicle dropped onto my head, splitting it open. A warm rivulet of blood seeped down my face, blurring one eye, and sweat broke out down my back.So much for a protective circle.

Reaching up, I wiped blood from my eye, and it dripped onto the protective bag that I had. I remembered the Green Lady’s words.There’s blood magick here, Orla. You’ll need to use your own.

My own blood to banish those who came before me.Could this be more appropriate? Finally I meet kin of mine, and I have to send her packing. How many times would the universe bash me over the head with the understanding that familywasn’teverything? Blood meant nothing if the heart cared only for itself.

Again, Goldie flashed in my head. Jacob. Grandpa Lou. Then Derrick, my head joiner. Fin. Sophie. Shona. And soon. Faces of people who I’d allowed myself to care for, even when I knew I’d lose them someday. Because even if everyone did eventually leave, love still mattered. And the hodgepodge family that I’d pieced together had somehow become the ones that I loved, deeply, and would always do so. For a woman who’d been given no roots, I finally understood that I had to grow my own.

Marie shrieked again. I needed to do something, quick, or I might not make it out of here alive. She was raging now, tossing icicles around the room, whirling with her hands outstretched to the ice-coated ceiling, her screams ricocheting around the ice cave she’d formed inside the cottage.

“Blood of my blood, mother of my own, the time has now come, to send you on home.”

Marie froze as light flashed, the ice shattering around us, the cottage restored to its normal state.

As in normal in the now. No fire warmed the grate, no furniture filled the room. Marie’s image flickered in front of me, like a television set with bad reception, and her eyes filled with sadness.

“My own blood…you, too, would banish me.”

“You seemed to have no problem hurting me,” I said, wiping the blood from my eye again.

“Foolish woman.” Marie’s grin stretched open, and I understood I needed to do more magick.

“It is with my blood?—”

“He comes for you.” Marie threw her head back and laughed.

“That I now shall send?—”

“He’ll never love you.” Marie danced in a circle, madness consuming her.

“Those who came before?—”

“Once he sees. He’ll betray you. Just as I was betrayed.” Her laughter shook the building, and I whirled as the door blew open, showing Fin standing there, his hand raised as though to knock. His eyes widened as Marie shrieked with laughter, and I turned back, needing to finish the spell before all hell broke loose.

“On their way out the door.”

Listen, it wasn’t the prettiest spell, but Miss Elva told me intent was everything. And my intent to move Marie on seemed to work, because once more, light flashed, and Marie disappeared from sight, her laughter lingering in the air, like dust particles caught in a beam of sunlight. I struggled to catch my breath. I didn’t want to turn and look at Fin. I couldn’t handle what was about to come.

Because I knew, as much as I knew that I could love my found family of hodgepodge friends, that he would leave me now that he saw who I was. I’d lied to him, all these weeks, hiding this power from him. And now he knew who I truly was. Trembling, I turned, wiping my face once more. I had to imagine I looked a fright, sweating and bloody, the soft burnt smell of magick used shifting in the air around us.

“What the hell?” Fin asked, crossing to me, and I stopped him, raising a hand.

“Don’t. I have to close the circle.” When his face shuttered, hiding his emotions from me, I wanted to weep. Quickly, I recited a short closing spell, muttering the words under my breath before I stepped from the circle of salt at my feet. Fin’s eyes trailed down to the salt and then back up to my face.

He looked amazing. As he always did. Polished and posh, and the most handsome man I’d ever seen. Both familiar friend and stranger, and I had no idea what to say to him. My mouth worked as the silence grew between us, as we both struggled to understand what had just happened. What I’d inadvertently revealed to him.

And how I’d lied to him by withholding this part of myself from him.

“Are you all right?” Fin gestured lamely in the air, nodding at my head, and I pressed my lips together. This distance from a man who would rush to care for me when I got a sliver. Now, he stood back, the distance both noticeable and as sharp as a knife slicing through my heart.

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