Page 82 of Potions & Prejudice
My throat closed in on itself, sweat breaking out over my skin. My heart pounded hard, and my chest felt tight.
“Elspeth?” Adelaide reached for me.
I shook my head, crossing my arms and doing my best to breathe through it.
“That’s not the plan,” I said through shaky breaths. “That was never the plan. This is temporary.”
“But it doesn’t have to be,” Adelaide said. “We are happy here, and no one is suspicious of us.”
Yet.
“So have you told Elm?” I asked, arms still crossed.
Adelaide swallowed.
“I hope when you do tell him that he is gracious and kind and supportive,” I said slowly. “But I think there’s a reason you haven’t told him, and it’s because you know there’s a risk.”
Adelaide’s brows bunched together. “There’s always a risk, Elspeth. There’s a risk no matter if you’re cursed or not. That’s love.”
I stepped back. “You love him?”
Mama smiled and patted Adelaide’s hand. “Of course she does. And he loves her too. I just know it. I see the way he looks at her.”
“I’m happy for you, and I hope you get everything you want, Adelaide, but that doesn’t change things for the rest of us. If you and Elm get married and you can finally access your magic, Prue, Auggie, and I will still be magicless.”
Adelaide’s face fell.
“Am I interrupting?” a low voice said, and I whirled to see Draven Darkstone standing there in our garden. I hoped he hadn’t overheard anything.
I was about to tell him that he was interrupting when Mama stood and bustled past me. “Not at all. Are you here to see Elspeth?”
Oh, for witch’s sake. Mama’s meddling was the last thing I needed.
“I am.” Draven didn’t take his eyes off me. “I thought you might accompany me on a walk?”
I stared at him, mouth agape. A walk. He wanted to take a walk with me?
“Elspeth was just saying how she wants to go on a walk. What a coincidence.” Mama clapped her hands together.
I glared at her. “I was not?—”
She grabbed my arm and practically shoved me at Draven. “Our Elspeth just loves her daily walks.”
I hated walking, and Mama knew that, but arguing with her would just make this situation more awkward than it already was.
Mama shooed us out of the garden. “Now you two have fun. Keep her as long as you’d like!”
“Mama,” I said through gritted teeth as she continued to shove us out of the garden.
“Bye bye now!” She waved as Draven took my arm and led me out toward the forest.
I sent one last backward glance at Mama that spelled murder, and she just smiled brightly and mimed for me to smile as well. I was going to kill her when I got back from this walk. I was trying to stay away from Draven, stay away from trouble, and now here I was, stuck with the man.
We walked in silence through the forest. Vines hung from the trees, and our boots crunched on fallen leaves. Plenty of leaves still peppered the branches, but winter would be here soon, and the trees would be bare.
I stepped over a thick green tuft of moss.
“You have quite the impressive garden,” Draven said finally.
