Witch rose, p.9
Witch Rose, page 9
“If you ever hear my Aunt Lilith talk about the solstice, she thinks it’s a time for focusing more on the dark side than the light. We always have a debate over who we should worship and how. After years of squabbling, we came to a compromise; we now worship both light and dark equally.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“All it really means is double the amount of candles, double the number of colored lights and ribbons, and double the amount of tasty food. That way, everyone is happy, and everybody gets to worship whichever goddess or demon they wish to.”
“That must be something exceptional to be a part of,” said Gabriel.
Bryony smiled. “Mom did ask if we wanted to bring anybody this year.” She bit her bottom lip and looked into her cup.
“And are you planning on asking anyone to accompany you?” That strange fuzzy feeling descended over Gabriel as he studied Bryony.
“I don’t think so,” said Bryony. “Anyway, I’m not here to talk about the solstice. I wanted to see how you’re feeling.”
“I feel decent, considering there is a nasty poison creeping up my arm. But the verdict is not great,” said Gabriel. “I had some more tests done by Jacob. He’s identified most of the elements of the poison, but there’s one he’s struggling with.”
“Perhaps I can help,” said Bryony. “Although poison isn’t my speciality. Aunt Lilith could help. She’s been poisoned a dozen times.”
“That’s quite an achievement,” said Gabriel.
“Well, Aunt Lilith is a bit like Ivy. Until you get to know her, she can appear scary from the outside. That’s why people target her.”
“And once you get to know them both, they’re charm personified?”
Bryony shrugged. “We all have our complications.”
“I’d like to come with you,” said Gabriel.
“Where?” asked Bryony.
“To your family’s solstice celebrations.” Gabriel took a sip of his tea and grimaced. Everything he ate or drank tasted strange to him. “It would be nice to meet them all.”
“You already know my family,” said Bryony.
“Only to say hello to on the street,” said Gabriel. “But I mean, if you wanted to invite me, I’d be happy to come along.”
Bryony reached over and touched the back of Gabriel’s hand, her fingers warm where she’d been clasping her cup. “It would be nice to have you there, but it’s not appropriate.”
“You could try, just once,” said Gabriel. “I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve asked you out. You must know how I feel about you.”
Bryony retracted her hand, a sad smile on her face. “I know you think you like me. And I know you think you want to take me on a date, and get to know my family, and be a part of my life. I also know that none of that is real.”
“You mean your family curse,” said Gabriel.
Bryony blinked at him. “The curse?”
“I’ve been looking into it. I hope you don’t mind.”
“No. You know about it?” Bryony’s blue eyes widened. “Who have you been talking to?”
Gabriel placed his cup down. “No one in particular. But you know what Old Sarum is like. And your family curse is an unusual one. That makes it a source of interest to other magic users.”
“So you know why we can’t date,” said Bryony. “Not that I’m saying I want to date you.”
“Well, I really want to date you,” said Gabriel.
“No you don’t,” said Bryony. “In reality, if the curse wasn’t in place, we would be nothing more than friends. That’s a part of its twisted, horrible brilliance.”
“You mean that strange feeling I get when I’m around you?”
“What strange feeling is that?”
“I’d never noticed it before,” said Gabriel. “But Eddie said he felt fuzzy around you. And it’s the same for me.”
“I make you feel fuzzy?”
“Yes, you do.” Gabriel smiled. “The only thing I see clearly when I’m near you, is you. Everything else hazes out into an unimportant background.”
“Which isn’t normal, is it?” Bryony sat back in her seat. “You see, if it weren’t for this curse, you wouldn’t be interested in me. You wouldn’t have asked me out thirty-six times.”
“Are you keeping count?”
“No! Well, maybe.” A blush traced across Bryony’s cheeks. “There’s a particularly cruel twist to the curse that only I’m experiencing. Have you noticed all the flowers and gifts that arrive at the Love Cauldron?”
“Sure, I’ve noticed.” The irritation in Gabriel’s voice was clear. “You have a lot of admirers.”
“Because of the curse,” said Bryony. “Part of the power of the curse is that some men fall in love with me as soon as they see me. It’s as if whoever used the curse, is determined that I will be the one to fall in love. By getting the men around me to fall at my feet, it’s giving me lots of opportunities to find true love.”
“I don’t believe it’s the curse doing that,” said Gabriel. “It’s not your fault you’re such a lovely person.”
Bryony gave him a tired smile. “You said it yourself, you feel odd when you’re around me. That’s not normal. If you genuinely liked me, you wouldn’t get that feeling. Therefore, I have to assume, you only like me because of the curse. In normal circumstances, you wouldn’t be interested in me. So it’s not right for me to pursue any kind of relationship with you.”
“That’s not true. I would be interested in you,” said Gabriel.
“But how do you know that?” asked Bryony. “You can’t be sure your feelings are real.”
Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose. “I do sometimes feel out of control when you’re around me. When Josie’s body blew up outside the store, all I cared about was keeping you safe.”
“And that is part of your job, to keep people safe,” said Bryony. “But you should have been looking out for everyone’s interests, including your own.”
Gabriel sagged into his seat. “And I wasn’t. I was only looking out for you. Could it really be the curse making me feel like this?”
“I wish it wasn’t. I do like you.” Bryony’s gaze went to the ground. “It’s not so easy for me, you know.”
“It would be, if you weren’t interested in me too,” said Gabriel. “And are you?”
“Gabriel, you’re lovely,” said Bryony. “Why wouldn’t I be interested?”
“So why not test out the boundaries of this curse?” asked Gabriel. “If this poison isn’t removed from me soon, I’m not going to have much time left. Why don’t you make my last week a happy one and agree to go on a date with me?”
“I think that’s called emotional blackmail,” said Bryony. “Not the best way to start a relationship.”
Gabriel ran a hand through his hair, knowing she was right. “Are you not even prepared to try one date?”
“There’s no point,” said Bryony.
“But what if there is,” said Gabriel. “What if the curse doesn’t work the way you think it does?”
“You do know what happens if any of the Thornheart women fall in love?”
“Somebody dies?”
“Yes, somebody dies.” Bryony crossed her arms over her chest. “If I fall in love, Ivy dies. And I’m never going to lose my sister over a man.”
“Has the curse ever been tested?” asked Gabriel. “Have you lost any of your female relatives to it?”
“Of course it’s been tested,” said Bryony. “But only unintentionally. I’ve lost seven family members because of this wretched curse. I am not going to be the witch to add another one to that list.”
“I didn’t know you’d lost people,” said Gabriel. “I’m sorry for that. It must be hard to lose family in such a way.”
Some of the tension seeped out of Bryony. “It’s hard to lose family however they die. It took us a while to figure out what was going on. But now we know, none of us are ever going to risk another family member for love.”
“Can’t you break the curse?”
“Don’t think we haven’t tried,” said Bryony. “But we need to know who cursed the family in the first place. And we’ve never been able to figure out who it is. All we know for sure is they must still have their own family members alive to keep the curse active. Curses fade over time, as you know, but every year, at midnight on Beltane, we feel the curse run through us. It makes us all sick for a couple of days. Whoever it is, they’re managing to keep the curse going.”
Gabriel nodded, realizing he had never seen any of the Thornheart women at the Beltane festival in Old Sarum. “Surely one date won’t hurt.”
“It’s too much of a risk, for both of us. We could go on a date together and get on well. The curse activates, Ivy dies, I fall in love, and then you have the real me revealed to you and you don’t like what you see. All I’ll be left with is a dead sister, a family who hates me, and a broken heart when you leave me.”
“When you put it like that, it doesn’t sound like a good deal on your part,” said Gabriel.
“It’s a terrible deal for all of us Thornhearts,” said Bryony. “But we haven’t given up hope on finding a way to reverse the curse. But until we do, I can’t consider dating anybody.”
“Is it the same with Ivy?” asked Gabriel. “Is that why she’s always so grumpy?”
Bryony smiled. “Don’t let her hear you describing her as grumpy. And it could be, we deal with the curse in our own way. And she’s protective of me. Ivy doesn’t want to see me come to any harm. It’s a big sister thing.”
“Would it be better if I didn’t come to the store anymore?” Gabriel’s heart clenched as he forced the words out of him.
Bryony’s expression fell. “It would be easier for both of us.”
“But you don’t want me to stop coming by, do you?” asked Gabriel. “You know, I think I —”
“Don’t say it.” Bryony stood up. “I’d better go. I was only here because I wanted to see how you are doing and how much progress you’ve made with breaking the poison. I didn’t mean to say all of this to you.”
“I’m glad you did.” Gabriel stood and took hold of Bryony’s hands. “Let’s assume there’s no curse, and it’s just me and you alone in this room. I want to tell you how I feel.”
“There’s no point,” said Bryony. “Because what you’re saying to me isn’t real. You’ve admitted that yourself.”
“Forget there is a curse, it’s just you and me, and we’ve met each other, and I think you’re amazing. And I want to tell you that I—”
A hazy image of Eddie appeared to one side of Gabriel. “I hate to interrupt, boss. But we’ve had a call come in to the station.”
Gabriel dropped his hold on Bryony’s hands and sighed. “What’s the emergency?”
“Lizzie Green is dead.”
Chapter 13
Bryony gasped as she heard the news about Lizzie’s death. “That can’t be true.”
Gabriel turned to her. “What makes you say that?”
“Well, I was just, I mean, she’s so young.” Bryony didn’t know how much to reveal to Gabriel. She knew he wouldn’t like it that she was snooping into an active investigation.
“Looks like another poisoning,” said the image of Eddie. “We’re going over there now. She was found at her cottage in the Magical Forest.”
“I’m coming with you,” said Gabriel.
“No can do, boss,” said Eddie. “Jacob’s got you on bed rest.”
“I’m Jacob’s boss,” said Gabriel. “And I’m coming with you.”
“Angelica is here, and she is your boss. You might need to sneak out. She won’t like you disobeying her orders.” Eddie raised his hands before blinking out of sight.
“I didn’t know Angelica was due to visit,” said Gabriel to himself. Angelica Blaze looked after a dozen Charm Police bases across the South of the country. She was a fierce, super smart angel who was not to be messed with.
“I’d better go, it looks like you have work to do.” Bryony hurried to the door.
“I still want to talk to you,” said Gabriel. “We need to clear things up. Just in case this poison can’t be dealt with.”
“Don’t think like that,” said Bryony. “You’ll get an antidote and everything will be fine. I have to go.” She yanked open the door and almost ran out of the station, keen to get back to Ivy and let her know what she’d heard. Lizzie Green was dead! How did the poisoner get to her? She would never have touched any flowers after they’d had their conversation.
Bryony dashed through the Love Cauldron door and over to the counter, where Ivy stood, Spike at her side. A timid looking female elf stood in front of Ivy and was peering intently at two different vials.
“I’ve got some terrible news,” said Bryony to Ivy.
“Is Gabriel dead?” asked Ivy. “That wouldn’t be terrible news as far as I’m concerned.”
“Be serious,” said Bryony. “This is about what happened to someone we visited recently.” She looked over at the elf, not keen on revealing their secrets to an audience.
“Have you chosen yet?” Ivy asked the elf.
“I can’t decide between the peppermint or the eucalyptus scent,” said the elf.
“Have both of them,” said Bryony. “We have to shut the store for a few moments.” She bustled the elf to the door.
“But I’m not sure which scent I like,” said the elf.
“Try them both,” said Bryony. “A gift from me.” She opened the door and gestured for the elf to leave.
“Okay. Well, thanks.” The elf tugged on one of her pointed ears before walking away.
Bryony slammed the door shut and turned the latch. “Lizzie Green is dead.”
Ivy raised an eyebrow. “She wasn’t stupid enough to accept a bunch of flowers?”
“I don’t have any details. I was at the station when the call came in about her being dead. They said it was poison.”
“So she’s also a target,” said Ivy. “This is interesting.”
“It’s scary,” said Bryony. “When we were there, she hadn’t been poisoned. A few hours later, and she’s already dead. Whatever the poisoner is using, they’ve upped the dosage to make the poison more effective and faster acting.”
“It does sound like it,” said Ivy. “Unless Lizzie was hiding something from us, and didn’t want to reveal she’d already touched some poisoned flowers.”
“I don’t think it’s that,” said Bryony. “I believed her when she said she hadn’t received anything. And why would she hide that information from us?”
“How was she poisoned?”
“I didn’t find out. It must have been something she drank or was inserted into her blood for it to act so fast,” said Bryony.
“Stick out your tongue,” said Ivy.
“Why do you want to see my tongue?”
“Because you drank her tea and ate two of the tarts she gave us,” said Ivy. “You may have been poisoned too. I want to see if your tongue is black.”
Bryony immediately stuck her tongue out.
“Well, there’s no sign of poison,” said Ivy, after staring into her sister’s mouth for a few seconds.
“But she’s not the poisoner,” said Bryony. “And her tarts were delicious. You missed out.”
“You don’t feel ill at all?” Ivy's stomach did that annoying twisting spasm it did every time she thought Bryony was under threat.
“I feel fine,” said Bryony. “Someone must have slipped the poison to Lizzie another way.”
They both jumped at the sound of someone knocking at the store door.
“We’re closed,” shouted Ivy.
Bryony turned to the door and felt the color drain from her face. It was Chad Thunder, Gabriel’s second in command at the Charm Police. This could only mean trouble.
Chapter 14
Bryony hurried over and opened the store door. “Is everything okay with Gabriel?”
“Everything’s fine,” said Chad. “I wanted to see the two of you on a Charm Police matter.”
“What’s this about?” Ivy stalked around the counter and walked to the door.
“Lizzie Green has been found dead,” said Chad, his blue eyes intent on the girls.
“What’s that got to do with us?” asked Ivy.
“The two of you have been reported going to visit Lizzie shortly before she died,” said Chad. “I need to take you to the station and get your statements. You may have been the last people to see her alive.”
“Or possibly the witches who poisoned her.” Ivy tilted her chin as she glared at Chad.
Chad nodded. “That’s also a possibility.”
“We can’t shut the store, it’s a busy time for us,” said Ivy.
“It was shut when I arrived,” said Chad. “Listen, I can make this easy. Come to the station, answer a few questions, and then leave.”
“What if we don’t want to take the easy option?” asked Ivy.
“Then I’ll arrest you both under suspicion of murdering Lizzie,” said Chad. “And I don’t want to do that.”
“No, you don’t.” Ivy stepped closer to Chad, her fists clenching and purple magic sparking from her skin.
“We’ll come with you,” said Bryony swiftly. “We only went to visit Lizzie because we wanted to make sure she was safe.”
“Save it for the station,” said Chad, keeping his attention fixed on Ivy. “The car’s outside. Come with me.”
Ivy and Bryony reluctantly followed Chad out to the car and climbed into the back.
“You don’t have to answer any questions if you don’t want to,” muttered Ivy to Bryony. “We aren’t under arrest.”
“I know that,” said Bryony. “And we’ve got nothing to hide.”
“Seems like the Charm Police think we have something to hide.”
“I hope you ladies aren’t cooking up a cover story,” said Chad as he drove the car back to the station.
“We’ve nothing to cover up,” said Ivy.
“I know. But we need to be thorough,” said Chad with a sigh. “I don’t seriously think either of you are involved. We’ll take your statements separately just to make sure everything tallies up. With so many people being poisoned, we have to be careful.”
