Page 3 of The Witch's Spell
“Open it up,” Harrison says around a yawn, “and let’s find out.”
Chapter 2
Aurora
I FIND A FEW WAYS to procrastinate: making tea, having a blackberry cookie, sweeping ash from the hearth. Finally, Harrison meows firmly at me to sit down and open the damn thing.
“Fine,” I grumble. Then I take a seat at the kitchen table, tea steaming in the winter sunlight. The letter sits in front of me, still unopened. The paper is edged in gold, the parchment thick.
Even their correspondence glitters with wealth. It’s easy sometimes to forget that Rowan comes from a noble family.
Harrison hops onto the table and wraps his tail around his paws. I’m glad to have his company; I didn’t realize how nervous I’d be about this.
Lifting the silver letter opener, I sweep it through the wax seal, then open the envelope, revealing the parchment folded carefully inside. My fingers tremble slightly as I pull it out and unfold it.
“Whatever she says,” Harrison says softly, “it’s going to be all right.”
I meet his eyes and nod once. Then I start to read.
Miss Aurora Silvermoon,
I hope this letter finds you well.
Lord Highcliff and I were delighted to receive your correspondence, and we graciously accept your invitation to join you in Faunwood for Yule. Thank you for thinking of us, especially amidst the many joys and changes happening in your life.
A child brings its own kind of hope and an opportunity for new beginnings. And while beginnings can be frightening, they can also be a chance for things to take root in a new and exciting way.
I look forward to meeting the woman who has claimed my son’s heart and would not deny a chance to take part in this new life, to perhaps find something in it that is worth the effort of understanding and forgiveness, however difficult.
Lord Highcliff and I will arrive as gracious guests, with no expectations and the utmost respect for the life and home you have built. Some things are not easily healed, but that does not mean they cannot, in time, be mended.
I look forward to meeting you and to seeing my son again after so many years apart.
Regards,
LadyMirella Highcliff
The letter shakes in my hands. Across from me, Harrison meows.
“Well?” he asks, tone apprehensive, green eyes looking both curious and cautious. “What did she say?”
My heart pounds in my chest, and a few tears blur my vision. I scrub them away with the back of my hand before meeting Harrison’s eyes.
“Lord and Lady Highcliff... They’re both going to come,” I whisper. “They’ve accepted. After all these years, Rowan will be reunited with his family once more.”
Now I just have to tellhimthe big news.
And I can only hope he takes to it kindly.
Chapter 3
Faolan
AFTER AN HOUR OR SO of felling and chopping the trees Alden deems acceptable, I strip out of my cloak and tunic, burning up from all the intense work. Alden arches a brow at me, my bare skin steaming in the cold air, but doesn’t say anything.
We’ve just felled another tree, and I’m working on delimbing it. The axe catches the winter sunlight and gleams as I swing it. It lands true. One by one, the limbs of the dead tree come away, until we’re left with the mighty trunk.
“What killed this one?” I ask.
