The Witch's Consorts: The Complete Series Read online

  “What’s that meant to accomplish?” Philomena asked, cocking her head.

  I stepped back with a breath that came easier. “I’m not sure,” I said. “I guess we’ll see.”

  The leaves on the oak outside my bedroom window rustled with the rising wind. I drew my feet up under me on the armchair where I was curled up with a book. After dinner, I’d told Dad and Celestine I was heading right to bed, but instead I’d started unpacking my library.

  The built-in shelves around the room were only half full. I’d gotten sucked into one novel along the way. The rest could wait.

  “I’m sure that story can’t be half so exciting as mine,” Philomena said where she’d flopped down on my bed. She was slightly prone to envy. One of her very few faults, she liked to say.

  “I don’t know,” I teased. “It’s pretty good. Maybe I’ll have a new favorite.”

  She stuck her tongue out at me.

  “Oh, very lady-like.” I waggled the book at her. “Haven’t you always said that a girl needs a little variety?”

  “In men,” Phil said. “Not novels. And even when it comes to men, I did settle down with one in the end.”

  “I’m pretty sure that library you snuck into for your trysts had more than one book in it.”

  She huffed, but she was smiling. “Well, perhaps.”

  “Anyway, this is the only way I’m getting any variety of men,” I said.

  “Which really is a shame. You could be the talk of the ton.”

  “There isn’t a ‘ton’ anymore,” I pointed out.

  “You know what I mean, Rose.”

  I did. There was a reason that for all my diverse literary interests, about half of my collection was romances both historical and modern. I was three months shy of twenty-five, and I’d never even kissed a guy. On the lips, anyway.

  That kind of intimacy was supposed to be reserved for my consort, to kindle the spark inside me that would bring me my power. But I was hoping that Derek and I could generate other sorts of sparks once we were finally allowed to get down to it. The witching men were discouraged from much physical intimacy with any witch until the consorting was complete. We women would have a lot less incentive to settle down if we were getting our spark lit wherever we wanted.

  Until our time ran out, at least.

  “I can have plenty of fun still, when the time comes,” I said to Philomena, and waved the bad boy billionaire romance I was racing through again. “This is research as much as entertainment.”

  “Hmm,” Phil said as if she wasn’t totally convinced. To be fair, I wasn’t either. The couples in these books always seemed to be blown away by their attraction just looking at each other. Derek, well… He’d been the most appealing of the options I’d had. So I would make the best of it. This was real life. Passion could take time to kindle.

  It wasn’t as if I had a lot of choice in the matter.

  Thinking about that, about seeing him tomorrow and starting the preparations for the consort ceremony, made me feel twice as tired as I’d been from the drive. I set down the book on the arm of the chair and turned off the lamp.

  “All right, you got your wish. I’m leaving Claudia and her domineering lover behind for the night. Now shove over.”

  Phil scooted over to the far end of the bed, where she sat primly propped up against the headboard. I crawled under the feather duvet and buried my head in the pillow.

  The tension inside me unraveled with each slow inhale and exhale. I was drifting away when a branch of the oak tree rapped right against the window. The wind must have picked up even more.

  Then the rapping came again, more insistently. My heart skipped. That wasn’t a branch.

  I sat up and turned to the window. The pale moonlight outside caught on a hovering face—and the line of my white ribbon pressed against the glass.

  Chapter Two

  Rose

  As I stared at the window, my heart lurched again, harder this time. Then a smile slid across the face in the night. Its eagerness struck a chord of recognition in me.

  I’d left a message, and that message had been answered.

  “Well, this is certainly an exciting turn of events,” Philomena said as I climbed out of the bed. She squirmed with anticipation.

  “Shut up,” I said—only in my head, of course. You look crazy if you start talking to your imaginary friends in any way other people can hear. There really wasn’t any way to turn off Phil. I’d spent so long picturing her with me that she popped up automatically now.

  The figure outside the window leaned back when I approached, taking my ribbon with him. He was perched on one of the oak’s branches.

  I pushed up the pane. Cool night air washed over me, seeping through my thin pajamas. My pajamas with cute little black cats printed all over them. Witch humor, okay?

  Rather than let myself get embarrassed about my clothes, I focused on the guy outside my window. “Hello.”

  The guy’s smile had grown wider. “Rose. You’re really back. I mean, I knew you had to be when I saw this.” He held up the ribbon. “But I couldn’t help checking to make sure.”

  Up close, I could make out the rest of his features better. Tawny waves framing an angular face, clean-shaven. A slim frame I could tell was tall even when he was crouching. It was too dark to distinguish the color in his light eyes, but they’d be a soft gray-green.

  I’d actually known two boys who fit that description, way back when, but only one who’d approached every situation with upbeat enthusiasm. “Kyler?” I said. His name felt rusty on my tongue. It’d been too many years since I’d last said it.

  Ky outright grinned. “Bonus points for correct twin identification even after eleven years.”

  His balance wobbled. He dropped his hand with the ribbon to brace himself against the trunk.

  Tree-climbing hadn’t been one of Ky’s strong points even when we were kids. I reached to detach the screen. “Here, come in.” Dad didn’t go overboard with security, but there’d still be a few guards patrolling around the grounds. Better if Kyler didn’t fall out of the tree, and even better if we weren’t caught at all.

  Ky scrambled in. I went to turn on the lamp. “Close the curtain,” I said. The light would draw attention too.

  “Oooh,” Phil said. “A secret midnight interlude with a handsome stranger. I didn’t expect our grand adventure to begin quite this quickly.”

  “It’s not midnight,” I told her, silently and obtusely. “And he’s not a stranger.”

  The handsome part, well…

  Kyler Lennox had grown up a lot from the 14-year-old boy he’d been when we’d last roamed the estate grounds together. In both inches and presence. Now that he was standing straight, he had at least half a foot in height on me, and I wasn’t exactly petite at five foot seven. His eyes shone with the cheerful energy I remembered, but there was a little more gravity to his gaze than there’d once been.

  He ran a hand through his tawny hair, looking sheepish and excited at the same time. My gaze couldn’t help following the way his arm flexed against his fitted button-down. He might have been slim, but he was clearly not a weakling.

  And now that he was here, as if he’d stepped straight out of the past into my bedroom, I had no idea what to say. I crossed my arms over the chest of my kiddy pajamas. My pulse was racing.

  This was what I’d wanted, wasn’t it? To bring my old friends, the boys I’d spent so many hours with all those years ago, back to me somehow? But I hadn’t expected them to come quite so fast.

  “You saw the ribbon,” I said, for something to say.

  “Yeah. I go for a cycle around town most evenings, usually swing by the estate,” Ky said. “Out of habit, I guess. It’s been so long I wasn’t really expecting anything.”

  My throat tightened. “Yeah,” I said. “I… I wish I could have come back sooner. Or at least gotten in touch somehow. The way things were in the city…”

  He nodded, no sign of anger or resentment in his expression. Only sympathy. “Your dad and your stepmother kept things pretty strict.”

  “Mostly my stepmom.”

  “If you want to talk about witches,” Philomena inserted with a mutter. I ignored her.

  “We should be back pretty much for good now,” I added. “I’ll probably end up traveling around some, when work calls for it or just for a break, but—I’m my dad’s only direct heir. The estate will be mine as much as his soon.”

  But I couldn’t completely explain the reasons for that. The one thing I’d never talked about with my boys was my magic. I groped for a change of subject. “What are you doing these days? As far as work goes or whatever?”

  “Putting my internet obsession to good use.” Ky wiggled his fingers as if typing. “I took computer science at the state college, and now I do IT work for pretty much every company that needs it in town. Which still isn’t a whole lot of them, but it keeps me busy enough.”

  That news didn’t surprise me at all. Ky had loved his computer as much as I’d loved my books, always turning up to our gatherings with some new fact he’d stumbled on while researching every topic that caught his interest. Some things hadn’t changed.

  “Are the other guys still around?” I asked. “Do you see them much anymore?”

  I hadn’t seen any of their parents yet to know for sure their families were still in town. The group of us had fallen in together because all five of the boys had at least one parent who worked on the estate. Ky and the rest had gotten in the habit of rambling around here in their free time, and then I’d gotten into the habit of rambling with them.

  “Most of us,” Ky said. “But we don’t really hang out anymore. Except me and Seth, because, you know, family. But everyone’s moved in different directions.” He p
aused. “And Gabriel left, a few years ago. I’m not sure exactly where he headed off to. He hasn’t been back since.”

  “Oh.” That news sent a jab through my chest. Gabriel had been the one who’d pulled me into the group, who’d bound us together in his easy way. It didn’t surprise me that the other guys would have drifted apart without him here.

  “With a reaction like that, I definitely need to hear more about this Gabriel fellow,” Philomena said.

  Kyler peered at me a little more intently. “But you’ve been okay? Things went all right in the city?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was boring a lot of the time. I may be even more of a book addict than I was before.” I restrained the urge to glance Phil’s way. “Mostly just studies and meeting people my father thought it’d be good for me to know.”

  Magical studies. Witching people. I wondered how much Ky could fill in those blanks. We might not have talked about magic between the six of us, but the Hallowells had always taken on plenty of unsparked employees for the everyday running of the estate. People whispered. Rumors passed around town. That was how it went.

  And the second-to-last time Ky had seen me, my stepmother had used her magic on him and the other boys, if only briefly.

  “I’m glad to be back,” I went on. “It’s really good to see you. I’d love to see the other guys again too, if there’s some way I can get in touch with them…”

  “I have all their numbers,” Ky said, motioning to the outline of his phone in his pocket. “You can call or text me any time.” He shot me that bright grin again.

  I opened my mouth and then closed it, hesitating. My phone was in my purse, over there by the armchair. But— “I don’t know if that’s the best idea. It’s probably better if my stepmother doesn’t know I’m talking to you at all, considering. And I wouldn’t put it past her to be monitoring my phone records. We’ve got this whole family plan thing…”

  Ky shrugged, as if that was barely a setback. His expression turned mischievous. “I can pick you up a prepaid if you want. Something she doesn’t even know about.”

  “I like this fellow!” Philomena declared. “He knows how to scheme.”

  “He’s always been a smart one,” I agreed with her silently. And then to Ky, out loud, “That would be great. Are you sure getting it to me won’t be a problem?”

  “I got here the first time easily enough, didn’t I? But why don’t we all meet up in town. If you can make an excuse to head over there. I can get everyone together tomorrow—we’ll have a little reunion.”

  My voice caught. It took me a moment to force out the next words. “I—Tomorrow probably wouldn’t be the best. My fiancé is arriving, so I should be here to show him around.”

  Ky barely moved, but his eyes flickered and his voice dropped just slightly. “Your fiancé,” he repeated.

  I bit my lip. It shouldn’t matter. I’d never been more than friends with any of the guys. But for the six years in which we’d explored every inch of this estate together, building forts and stealing apples from the orchard and all our other childhood adventures, they’d been the closest friends I’d ever had in my life, then or since. Now Derek would have to come first.

  That didn’t mean I should have to cut everyone else I cared about out of my life, though.

  “Yeah,” I said. “That’s why we’re back. To prepare—we’re going to be married in a couple months. But when that happens, my family will have to start respecting me as an adult, finally. And since they can’t be bothered to in the meantime, what they don’t know won’t hurt them. I could find a reason for a stroll into town the day after tomorrow.”

  “All right,” Kyler said. “How about noon, then? If you go to the Bluebell Café and get a table on the back patio, it’s on the same alley as my dad’s hardware store. We can cut through there and join you without anyone being the wiser.” His eyes twinkled.

  “That should be perfect.” Having a definite plan made my spirits lift. But— “Your dad owns a hardware store now?”

  Ky’s expression turned suddenly awkward. “Well, you know, there was less work while your family wasn’t in residence— It’s turned out well. He mostly lets his employees run the store and he does repair work and minor construction jobs around town. He likes the hands-on work.”

  Of course. That made sense. I couldn’t expect the world to stay exactly the way it’d been when I was thirteen. People had to move on. Like I had, at least in part.

  “I’m glad he’s happy,” I said. “And I’ll definitely be on that patio at noon in two days.”

  Ky gave a bob of his head in acknowledgment. He paused, and then stepped toward me, offering my ribbon.

  “I think you should hold onto this,” he said. “In case you need us, and you can’t reach out any other way. Tie it to the gate again, and as soon as any of us sees it, we’ll come wait for you—by the stone bridge on the stream. That’s deep enough in the woods that no one should notice us there.”

  My gaze slid to the small carrying case packed with necklaces and bracelets—and the five ribbons of different colors that had been braided together with this one. The gift the boys had given to me right before Dad and Celestine had carted me off to the city. “I still have the others. I’ve always held on to them.”

  “But the more you have, the better prepared you’ll be.”

  He smiled as he said it, but the concern behind those words—and all the good reasons he had to be concerned—hung between us. I took the ribbon from him, my fingers brushing his. The feel of his warm, dry skin and my awareness of his presence now that he was standing just a couple feet away left my nerves jangling.

  He was really here. One of my boys. And what a man he’d grown up into.

  “Okay,” I said, looking at the ribbon instead of Kyler. “I’ll remember that. Thank you.”

  “Always, Rose,” he said.

  The urge ran through me to cross that short distance between us and wrap my arms around him. To hug him with every shred of my gratitude that he was here, that he still cared, that he was bringing me back to the others. But I held myself in place, that exhilarated sensation still racing through me.

  I couldn’t say for sure it was only gratitude I was feeling right now. I wasn’t supposed to be feeling anything else.

  To my combined relief and disappointment, Ky backed away. “I’d better let you get your sleep,” he said. His tone softened. “It’s really great to see you again, Rose.”

  When he’d disappeared back out the window, I sat down on my bed. My heart was thumping again. Sleep? Maybe sometime next century.

  “Was that one of the childhood friends you’ve told me about?” Philomena asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Hmm.” She shuffled her feet against the duvet. “Are you quite certain he was only a friend?”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “I think I can tell the difference.” But that statement felt like a lie before I’d even finished saying it. I sucked in a breath. “Maybe, toward the end, there were some feelings developing that were a little more than friendly. But none of us ever acted on them. I couldn’t have acted on them. A witch isn’t even supposed to be friends with the unsparked. So it doesn’t matter.”

  “It seems to me you’re already breaking that rule at least a little. And I haven’t got any special spark.”

  I smiled at her. “You’re different,” I told her. “And I only want to see them again the once, to know they’re all doing okay. Maybe, when I’m lady of the house, I can change the rules a little.”

  As I snuggled back under the duvet, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d just told at least one more lie.

  Chapter Three

  Kyler

  In the bright sun shining over the town square, my late night rendezvous with Rose felt even more unreal than it had when I’d headed home last night. But it definitely hadn’t been a dream. I’d held that ribbon in my hand. I’d scraped my thumb clambering up that tree.

  “So you can make it, right?” I said. “Tomorrow at noon, coming in through the hardware store?”

  Beside me, Jin nodded languidly, which was kind of how he did almost everything. “My schedule is pretty flexible,” he said with a grin. The grin was languid too. His dark eyes had lit up a bit when I’d explained the reason I’d called this little meeting at the fountain in the middle of the square, but he seemed awfully chill about the whole “Rose returning home” news.