Page 57 of Black Willow Witch
‘I don’t know. Why do you?’ With one hand, she used her athame to stir the potion as she added magick with the other. The water hissed, and more steam rose.
He silently watched as she went about adding this and that. Bark shavings. Lavender. Seed pods. A crushed petal. A dab of honey.
Every now and then, she’d sprinkle more magick into the mix as she again stirred it with her athame.
In some ways, she moved just like Millicent as she performed magick. There was no hesitating, no wasted motions. She was brisk, efficient and focused.
But in some ways, Emberlyn differed from her grandmother. Millicent had always worn a little smirk as she worked, always looked up to no good. There’d been some theater with her – dramatic flicks of her hand, speaking in tongues, letting her eyes roll back as she dumped this and that in the cauldron.
Emberlyn was poise and serenity, her movements so fluid they were almost sensual. She was totally in command, the sheer strength of her will spilling from her. Her magick came to hereasy, obeyed her every whim as if it adored and would never question her.
And right then, he saw the fundamental difference between how she and her mentor had operated. Millicent had directed her magick with arrogance and entitlement, like a tyrannical boss. Emberlyn brandished hers with confidence and care, ever respectful of this force she channeled as naturally as she moved her arms and legs.
She hadn’t only learned from Millicent’s successes, he thought. She’d learned from the woman’s mistakes as well.
It galled him that he hadn’t seen Emberlyn clearly until recently. Maybe it had been a case of self-preservation – if he considered her no better than Rosemary, he could fight wanting her. Because it was precisely the time she’d broken the mating tie that he’d started toreallystruggle to observe her in a negative light.
Whatever the case, he no longer had his guard up around her. Emberlyn wasn’t an open book by any means, but she was an uncomplicated person to be around. Balanced. Calm. Steady. Not a game player. And so fuckingcapable.
She handled everything with the ease of someone who had total confidence in her ability to get shit done. He’d never before met anybody so self-sufficient and competent. She didn’t need anyone – relied on herself. And she hadn’t let the assholes in the coven break her. Everything about her screamed that they’d failed with flying fucking colors.
On the subject of the coven . . . ‘You ready for the meeting tomorrow?’
‘Yup. Clarence seems certain that Gill’s fighting a losing battle. I agree with him. The question is what my family will try after that little plot fails, because I highly doubt they’ll drop the whole thing so soon. Especially when it’ll infuriate them that their case went nowhere.’
Pausing, she added two pinches of sea salt into the potion. ‘But enough of them – they’ll be taking up plenty of our attention tomorrow. Want to tell me why you had a face like thunder when you first arrived?’
Not really. But he heard himself say, ‘I just had to break up a fight between Logan and Neal.’
‘Ah. Your brother didn’t take the relationship well, then,’ she assumed, sympathy washing over her face.
‘It made him decide that he was done pining for CeCe. He would have let her and Neal be. But tonight, they both went to our clan’s bar knowing that Logan would be there. Things devolved fast. My brother is pissed that she’d want to hurt him that way. While I’m glad he isn’t going to keep pushing for a triad, I don’t like seeing him so wrecked.’
‘It must be disillusioning to realize someone that you love would resort to those measures to manipulate people into dancing to their tune.’ Jamming a stopper back into a bottle, she regarded him carefully. ‘You feel guilty. Why?’
Ripper felt his shoulders stiffen.
‘You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but don’t bother denying that I’m right.’
Ripper grunted. ‘The night we shared CeCe . . . I was hesitant. I didn’t think it’d be a good idea. We only ever shared women we didn’t care for. But I let myself get talked into it.’
‘And you feel that your brother wouldn’t be hurting right now if you’d just stuck to your guns.’ Pursing her lips, she placed the bottle back down. ‘I don’t know if that’s true. I mean, she didn’t justrunthe idea by you. She nagged you to agree. And when you didn’t, she tried some underhanded stuff to get her way. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s had the triad idea in her mind for a while. If that’s true, this might have happened in any case.’
Ripper licked his front teeth, mentally chewing over that. ‘You could be right. She said she’s accepted that a triad won’t happen. I’m not sure I believe that, though.’
‘And you came here hoping I’d cook you up a potion that would make her leave you alone? Well, I could. Though Paisley uses a non-magick method andswearsby it. She’ll hold a photo of an ex tightly while sending aLeave me alonevibe at it, and then she sticks it in the freezer.’
‘The freezer?’
‘Uh-huh. She says it works, so I guess you could try it.’
‘I might.’ He cocked his head. ‘Did Michael share you with anyone?’
She double-blinked, apparently taken off-guard by the question. ‘He pushed for it once. He was annoyed that I wouldn’t agree to it, but when the effects of the full moon wore off he was glad that it hadn’t happened.’
‘Who did he have in mind?’
‘One of his cousins.’ Staring into the cauldron, she waved her hand, and the potion stopped bubbling. She gave it one last stir and then nodded, satisfied. ‘All done. I just need to cool it down.’ A ribbon of magick swished around the pot, presumably cooling it.
