Page 71 of Potions and Proposals
She hurried off, but Rosie followed. Luckily, Emerson stayed behind to deal with the mess.
“What is going on with you?” Rosie opened the office door and stared at her best friend. “It’s not like Emerson doesn’t know about your elemental magic.”
“Nothing!” Lucy lied, turning on the printer. “It’s only water, and you know the coven don’t like us to flaunt our elements.” She had no idea what to print, but she needed to do something with her hands.
Rosie’s eyes narrowed.
“Fill this glass of water,” she said, handing Lucy Emerson’s empty glass.
A tense silence filled the space between them as she clutched it.
“I can’t,” she admitted, closing the office door. She didn’t want Emerson to hear their conversation.
“Why not?” Rosie demanded, taking the glass and putting it down on the desk. “Tell me what’s going on with you lately. You haven’t been watering the plants, and you’ve been avoiding me. Is this because I’ve been spending time with Emerson? You don’t approve?”
Lucy winced. She hadn’t meant to hurt her friend. Unable to hide it any longer, she inhaled deeply and explained about the spell, the wrong ingredient, and Benedict’s element, which she demonstrated by setting a piece of paper on fire. Rosie squealed at the demonstration and tossed the water from a vase of sunflowers over it.
“How the hell are you going to fix this? How could you keep this from me?! For weeks!” Her claws exposed themselves.
“Please try to calm down,” Lucy pleaded, careful to keep her distance just in case. They didn’t need a wolf roaming around the library.
Rosie shook out her hands, her manicured nails returning to normal, and waited for the answer.
“I’m sorry for not telling you, for avoiding you, but I promised Benedict I’d keep it a secret. I didn’t want you getting wrapped up in my mess,” Lucy said, pulling at the ends of her sleeves. “I’ve got to admit I feel a hell of a lot lighter now that you know.”
“Benedict hasn’t reported this to the coven?” Rosie asked, taken aback. “Is he blackmailing you? Is that why you’ve seen him so much recently?”
“No, nothing like that. Since it was the binding agreement that inspired my family’s stupidity, he believes he’s partially to blame; it was his mum’s idea in the first place.”
“That’s a small mercy. He could’ve done some serious damage,” Rosie said, sitting on the desk beside her.
“You can’t tell Emerson about this, as nice as he is,” Lucy pleaded. “He’s still a member of the Order, and we can only assume his loyalties lie with them first. They would love to hear that two of Foxfords founding families have got themselves into a right mess.”
“I’d never say a word – I only wish you’d told me sooner. When did this even happen? The coven meeting was the same night we went to the lake.”
Lucy nodded. “I came to find you after Grams and Mum had cast the spell.”
“And then later on… I tracked you to Matherson Manor.”
There was no point in keeping anything from her at this point. “One of the side effects is that our element draws us together. He found me half-naked, looking for butterflies orfireflies– doesn’t matter.” Lucy buried her head in her hands. “He made sure no one else saw me so indisposed.”
“Oh God, Matherson saw you naked?!” Rosie looked horrified, only to burst into laughter. “I don’t mean to laugh, but of all the people you could’ve run into—”
“Please don’t remind me.” She wished the tea had erased every moment from her memory. Then again, so much had happened since. She couldn’t even begin to explain her evolving feelings for him to Rosie.
“Luisa’s tea probably didn’t help.” Her friend turned her attention to the printer. “I’ll make new copies so Emerson doesn’t wonder what we’re up to. But please, no more secrets.”
“Agreed.” They shook on it as the printer buzzed.
“Any idea what you’re going to do about your elements?” Rosie asked, collecting the printouts.
“That’s why I held onto the grimoire. I had to make sure I wasn’t missing anything that could help us before I handed it over.”
“And did you find something?”
“There’s a curse-stripping potion that might help, but if it doesn’t work, the effects should wear off once All Hallows’ Eve passes, whether we’re bound or not.” Lucy decided not to go into details about the ‘perfect man’ clause.
“There’s still a couple of weeks to go before then!” Rosie gave her a reassuring hug. “To be without your element must feel like missing a limb.”
