Chapter 6
Chapter Six
RUE
Ilowered each bag to the hall floor and, desperate to cool my hot, aching feet, slipped off my shoes. I groaned in pleasure as the cold tiles soothed my soles. Bliss.
The sun was shining through the large hall window onto the portrait of my father, Lord Thistlebury.
I usually tried to avoid looking at it because seeing those eyes I had once thought of as kind sparked emotions I didn’t like returning to.
Was he still alive? On the one hand, I hoped he was, but that would mean he had chosen to stay away from me for all these years and that was something I couldn’t comprehend.
How could you love someone as much as I recall him promising he did before kissing me on the top of my head, only to leave me when I needed him most?
‘What are you doing back here so soon?’ Aunt Sorrel hissed from the kitchen doorway, making me jump.
My hand flew to my chest as I tried to regain my composure.
She frowned, her eyes darting past me to look at the painting. ‘I wish your grandmother would remove that thing and put it into storage, or, even better, sell it, but she won’t hear of it.’
My heartbeat slowly returned to normal. ‘I was thinking the same thing,’ I fibbed.
She peered at me and I could tell she didn’t believe me. ‘Anyway, never mind all that. You haven’t answered my question yet.’ She looked at the almost full bags. ‘I would never have returned from my time at the market for hours yet. Your grandmother won’t like it, you know.’
‘I’m sure she won’t but something happened.
’ Unable to face him after giving in to his kisses weeks before, I was still mortified at running away instead of coldly telling him I had made a mistake and it would never happen again.
I had shown my immaturity, and it irked me to think he might now feel superior to me.
I was at home again now, though, and relieved. How weak was I that I couldn’t continue at my stall because I was embarrassed to see Theo Le Cerf?
She lowered her voice. ‘Whatever it was, you better hope she’ll understand you coming home with so much stock.’
I thought of my grandmother’s reaction and tensed. ‘It really couldn’t be helped.’
She frowned. ‘It’s done now. Anyway, we could do with your help.’
‘With what?’ I asked, noticing several hats and shawls hanging in the hallway. I recognised some of them. ‘The coven are here?’ I couldn’t hide my surprise. I hadn’t expected them to come to the house today and worried why a gathering had been convened. ‘Is Grandmother all right?’
I had known each of these women all my life and my mother had known their mothers and grandmothers, as the generations passed their wisdom down through the female line.
Aunt Sorrel raised a hand. ‘Don’t fret. Your grandmother is well. No, we’re here to cast a protection spell on one of the villagers.’
A sense of unease crept up through me. ‘Why? What’s happened to her?’
She took one of the bags and motioned for me to follow her through to the kitchen, where we would find the door to the basement and Grandmama’s spell room.
Once in the kitchen, she closed the door and lowered her voice. ‘Aggie de la Haye rounded up the others to come here when she overheard two men who were leaving the Witchfinder’s office saying something about him being on the warpath again.’
Trying to keep my voice from quaking, I asked, ‘What do you mean? Is he after someone in particular?’
She rubbed her forehead. ‘We suspect so. And you know how people can make up rumours about women like us.’
I nodded, knowing only too well. ‘So they are here to cast a protection spell on someone.’
‘Yes. Aggie was seen by one of the villagers she fell out with months ago.’
‘Seen doing what?’ I asked, hoping no one had thought to report seeing me dancing with Theo, then concluding that I would have heard by now if that had happened. One way to infuriate both the women in my life was to draw unnecessary attention to us.
‘Apparently casting a spell at midnight during the full moon a few days ago.’ She winced. ‘Up on the cliffs at Noirmont.’
I shuddered. ‘Poor girl. Aggie must be terrified.’
‘They both are.’ She shrugged slightly. ‘Let’s go down and say hello, then you can put these away after we’ve finished our gathering.’
My grandmother glared at me, spotting the full bags in my hands as I took them into the spell room, but kept her annoyance to herself.
I knew I would be in trouble as soon as the women had gone, but, relieved at the respite, quickly left the room and ran back up the few steps to the kitchen to wash my face and hands, aware she would want me to do so.
Why did Elias Le Cerf’s son have to come to the market today?
I mused as I dried my face. And how dare he act so familiar to me?
Still ashamed by my attraction to him, I ran down to the spell room and, dipping my finger in the ash from a spell I had cast after kissing Theo Le Cerf, I marked the inside of my wrist with my sigil.
As I made the mark with the remnants of the sage I had used for wisdom and clarity, and thyme to help with the grief I still held and to bring me courage to stand up to this man, I repeated the meaning of my sigil three times.
‘I am Martha’s daughter. I am Martha’s daughter. I am Martha’s daughter.’
Not that I could ever forget who I was, but some weakness in me had blanked out why I needed to remember why I could never be with this son of my mother’s executioner.
I pushed my shame aside and hurried back to join the others.
The room was silent as each of the twelve other women grounded themselves in preparation for the casting of the spell.
I didn’t know if other covens had thirteen women – twelve of us witches and one a high priestess – but I had grown up knowing that we had this number to represent the thirteen lunar cycles of each year.
I exchanged glances with Aggie and gave the trembling girl a sympathetic smile before joining the circle. Relieved not to be expected to put my shoes back on and relishing the coolness as the throbbing in my feet slowly abated, I closed my eyes.
I took a slow, deep breath and felt myself connecting to the earth. Once my energy calmed and I felt grounded I took my aunt’s hand and that of Clarice Coutanche, who in turn held Aggie’s hand to her right.
The circle complete, my grandmother stepped forward. ‘We come together today to ask our ancestors to watch over us and increase our powers as we cast a spell to protect our sister, Aggie de la Haye.’
We repeated her words.
Grandmama then anointed the white candle that had been placed in the middle of the circle with oil dripped from a small phial.
She took a pinch of herbs that I suspected were a mixture of rosemary for protection and a couple of cloves for banishing gossip and unkind lies.
She let them fall onto the candle as we focused our minds on the intention she had shared.
Taking a lit taper from a small pot, she lit the candle and began to recite.
‘What’s sent in darkness, turn to light.
Let no harm befall Aggie, no danger or spite.
As I will it, so mote it be.’
We repeated my grandmother’s words, chanting them over and over again. Clarice’s hold on my hand tightened with each chant, making me wince with pain. Finally, my grandmother raised her hands to quieten us. That done, she took a candle snuffer and put out the flame.
The spell cast, I left the women to talk with Aggie and went to the kitchen to help our maid Tilly prepare refreshments for the coven.
Once again my mind returned to that man, fury heating my insides.
I shuddered, feeling grubby to have enjoyed the sensation of his strong arms around me as we danced.
I only hoped I had managed to hide my shock, seeing him so impressive on his black stallion, and thinking back I wondered if maybe my panicked reaction was caused by my concern that he might know how much his presence had unsettled me.
Despite all that, I was grateful that he was unexpectedly distracted, long enough for me to make an excuse to my next customer and hurriedly pack up my phials and packets from my barely touched display.
My heart began racing again as I remembered making my way down a nearby passage between two cottages, and the steep journey via the shortcut up Crack Ankle Lane, terrified he had seen me leave and was following behind me.
Now, though, I was grateful for my narrow escape.
‘You all right, mistress?’
Tilly’s question interrupted my thoughts. ‘Sorry, Tilly,’ I said, noticing the pitcher of cool well water she was passing to me to place on the tray. ‘My mind was elsewhere.’
‘Is it to do with your reason for your early return home?’
She didn’t miss much. I nodded. ‘Yes.’ It was the truth, mostly.
‘It can’t have been easy carrying those full bags back up the hill in this heat.’
‘No.’ Even for June the heat was oppressive. ‘Unfortunately I don’t think I’ve ever sold so little before.’ The sun had been at its height on my way back and I was still hot despite washing my upper body in cool water when I arrived home.
I rubbed my back. It still ached, as did my feet; I’d been on them since just after seven this morning.
Tilly leant closer to me and lowered her voice. ‘I heard your aunt standing up for you to your grandmother when you were freshening up.’
‘That was kind of Aunt Sorrel,’ I said, understanding why my grandmother was annoyed with me.
The three of us had worked hard together in our spell room for the past week preparing everything I had been expected to sell today. We couldn’t afford to waste ingredients, and I knew I would have to find a way to sell them elsewhere to make up for the money I’d lost.
‘Grandmama only wants the best for us all.’ We had so little now and money was desperately needed to keep this vast, rapidly deteriorating house standing.
‘Rue,’ my aunt snapped from the kitchen door. ‘What are you doing? Hurry up and bring some cake and drink for our guests before you infuriate your grandmother further.’
I picked up the tray and Tilly lifted the one holding a fruit cake and plates, and we quickly followed my aunt out of the kitchen.
My only thought on seeing Theo Le Cerf riding by at the market – apart from not wishing to speak to him – was pity for the poor soul he was tracking down and about to arrest for sorcery.
I wondered if maybe that person was Aggie and was relieved we had put in place some protection for her.
I just hoped it was enough. If I had learnt little else growing up as a witch, I did know how imperative it was for me to be protective of my privacy.
It was another reason I feared Theo Le Cerf taking an interest in me.
I would never underestimate his father’s, or indeed his, powers.
Even that first time our eyes had met at my mother’s execution, the boy’s piercing blue eyes seemed to stare deep into my soul.
Now he was a man and more impressive than any other I had seen around these parts.
At over six feet in height, with those straight, broad shoulders and that white-gold hair that shone like a beacon, it was difficult not to be startled by his stature and good looks.
It didn’t surprise me that others stopped and stared at the impressive sight as he rode past on his stallion.
The power he could wield over me, both physically and through his job, terrified me.
Damn him. If I didn’t know him to be the Witchfinder’s son and opposed to everything about the practice of witchcraft, I would have guessed an enchanting spell might have been placed on him at birth.
He was the devil’s son, though, that much I did know now, and as far as I was concerned, beneath my contempt.
Beauty didn’t matter to me, I reminded myself, especially when it belonged to someone who earnt their living hunting down women like me and those I loved.
I wanted nothing whatsoever to do with him.
If only I didn’t need to return to work on market days.
Now he knew where I sold my wares it would be easy enough for him to come looking for me again.
The thought frightened me. However, necessity was a cruel mistress and without the little money I brought in when it was my turn to sell our products, together with my grandmother’s meagre payments from helping others with their ailments, and my aunt’s individual sales, we would not have survived.
Yet our home was disintegrating by the month, and if we were going to remain living here for much longer, it was more and more urgent to find a solution. Worryingly so.
I would mark myself with the sigil again tomorrow, and the day after. If I needed to be reminded about why I could have nothing to do with this man, then this was the way I should do it.