Page 13 of Secrets of the Eternal Flame

He wasn’t letting the subject drop. Before I could respond, my phone buzzed in my pocket. ‘Sorry, I need to get this,’ I said. ‘It’s Maddie.’

‘Saved by the bell,’ Ezra smirked.

‘Hey, Mads,’ I said as I answered the phone. ‘Is everything okay?’

‘Everything is fine,’ she reassured me. ‘Adele let me use the Flame to make some spelled ink.’

‘She did? That’s amazing!’ I said, grateful to finally have something to feel pleased about. ‘Can you start your business up again?’

‘Not exactly.’ She sighed. ‘I can’t actually sell anything because they don’t use their Flame for profit, and Adele said it would be wrong to let an outsider do that. But at least I can offer free tats to some of the people who need them the most, and hopefully, buy a little time until we get the Flame back.’

The way Maddie saiduntilwe get the Flame back made my stomach clench. She believed I was worthy enough to bond with the Flame and I hoped to hell that she was right. But if she was wrong, then what on earth would we do? It was one thing admitting to myself that I’d ruined myfamily’s legacy but another thing entirely to admit it to the whole town.

Besides, I wasn’t completely sure how the whole lineage thing worked. Could someone from one of the town’s covens take over the Guardian position? Maddie had effectively been babysitting the Flame but she hadn’t bonded with it; she hadn’t become the Guardian in my absence, she was more like a steward. And ifshehadn’t bonded with it in all that time, could someone else? Maybe it had to be a Stonehaven, in which case I’d have to wait until I had a child and hope thattheywould be deemed worthy.

I hadn’t even thought about having children yet, and there was no way I could have one purely to bring back the Flame. Children weren’t a commodity, and if I had one for that reason alone I’d be as bad as my grandmother.

I tried to clear my mind, to focus on the here and now rather than borrow trouble for the future. ‘Where are you all now?’ I asked Maddie.

‘We picked up Fraser from the bay – Eva had a romp in the water with him. Luckily, we had a dog towel and Fraser had a go-bag of spare clothes in the back of his car. We thought we’d stay at that hotel we used on the way up, the one with the weird stone statues in the garden. Are you two okay to head there?’

‘Sure.’ The weight in my chest that had faded during the motorcycle ride was returning with alarming speed. ‘I’ll let Ezra know. See you there.’ I went to hang up, but Maddie spoke again.

‘Bea,’ she said softly, ‘it’s going to be okay. I know you might not believe it, but it is. I can feel it.’

I smiled at her faith, but my heart remained leaden in my chest. ‘Thanks, Maddie. See you at the hotel.’ I tucked my phone in my pocket and turned back to Ezra. ‘Turns out I do want you to go fast again after all.’

He laughed. ‘Music to my ears. Let’s go, Trixie.’

Chapter Nine

Having completed our mission of meeting with another Guardian, now we wanted to get back to Witchlight Cove as quickly as possible. We woke bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and ready to roll at the ridiculous hour of 6am. Well, everyone else was bright-eyed: I was a zombie.

I slid into the passenger seat next to Fraser, who was driving, and Maddie sat silently in the back with Eva. Nour had opted to ride with Ezra on his bike. We’d agreed that there would be no detours to visit picturesque villages, no lazy lunches looking out at spectacular views. We planned to stop only for food or when one of us needed a toilet break. Even with no stops it would be a ten-hour drive but we hoped to be home for 6pm.

Fraser and I hadn’t had a chance to talk privately and the atmosphere was still uncomfortably tense. If this was our first fight, I wasn’t enjoying it all that much. Part of me wanted to apologise because I understood why he’d reacted so negatively to the idea of me giving away a partof my soul and bonding to something other than himself. The other, more stubborn part of me was annoyed that he felt he could dictate my actions. I’d been living alone, running my own life and business for over a decade, and having anyone tell me what to do instantly put my back up.

After a couple of hours of silence, Fraser flicked on some music. A haunting female voice was singing, accompanied by the strains of a harp. She must have been singing in Gaelic because I couldn’t understand a damn word, but I could understand the emotion in the song.

As she sang, the tension slowly eased from Fraser’s shoulders. Impulsively I reached out to lace the fingers of my right hand with the fingers of his left. He let me and gently rested our joined hands on the gear stick. His eyes were still sombre when he looked at me, but he offered me a smile. Feeling less fraught, I settled back and let the beautiful voice lull me to sleep.

After our lunch stop, I volunteered to drive for a while. In the back, Maddie had also taken advantage of the long drive to have a snooze but her cheeks had some colour in them, and she still looked well. I didn’t know how to broach the topic of her potential addiction to magic; maybe I’d talk it through with Ernie first. He’d have a better idea of what was going on.

The drive had been painfully long and a couple of miles from home we got stuck in a series of red traffic lights due to roadworks. Each time my impatience to get back and see if I could bond with the Flame grew stronger and I dug my fingernails into the leather seat as I tried to channel my frustration into something other than my magic. The thought that I might lose control like I had at Hallowburn had me wrestling with the rising heat I was feeling – but as we reached yet another red light I gave a harsh huff.

The red light exploded instantly and glass shattered and rained down on the road. Fuck!

Fraser slid me a glance. ‘Was that you?’

I bit my lip. ‘I think so,’ I admitted uneasily. The heat had gone, leaving that same hollow feeling in its wake.

‘It’s okay,’ he reassured me. ‘Don’t feel bad. Your powers are new so you’re bound to have some teething problems.’

‘It’s badass, is what it is,’ Maddie chimed in.

‘It’s not really badass when it’s by accident,’ I disagreed. But I didn’t know what the hell I was doing and the last time I’d used my powers willy-nilly I’d put Kaz into a coma.

Ezra’s motorbike drew up beside us and Fraser wound down his window. Ezra flipped up the visor on his helmet so we could talk. ‘Any chance this was you, Trixie?’ He nodded at the traffic light.

---