Page 44 of Witches and Wine
The Priestess stopped threading and massaged her hands. “They’re known for their inquisitive nature and, interestingly enough, are associated withtricksters.”
“Tricksters?” I half smiled and stroked Riley’s fur. “Because he likes to steal things?”
The Crone moved closer to me, dissecting me with her cloudy gaze. “More like their ability to outwit predators.”
My throat tightening made my magic pulse against my skin. “Dionysus isn’t a predator. Not to me.”
A smile crested Cressida’s face. “Curious how you immediately assumed that’s who I was referring to.”
Agitation over the entire situation, the confusion of finding out I’m a witch, that my mother was a witch, and the growing bond I’d felt in my bones with Dion had my power sizzling up my spine. Bowls rattled on the table, the firelit sconces flickered, and the flame in the hearth lashed out, catching a pile of herbs on fire.
The Crone didn’t look away from me as she slapped her hand over it, squelching the flame into dying embers. “Do you see now why I said your magic is swaying the god’s mind?”
Riley nuzzled his head under my chin, attempting to soothe me. “Then help me control it. If Dion and I are destined to betogether, then I want to know that it’s him who chooses me, not because he’s—” I paused, watching my ivory magic wisp in sparkling tendrils around my fingers. “—bewitched.”
“I don’t know, dearie,” Cressida tapped her longer fingernails together, shifting her glance away from me. “Such a power as yours may have no desire to be controlled.”
Haughtily, frustratedly, I marched forward until only the table separated me from the Crone. “How can you say I’m powerful when I don’t even know how I rattled the bowls or manipulated the fire? It was acting off my emotions.”
“Precisely.” The Crone smiled and used her hand to brush away utensils and a sprig of something, revealing a piece of parchment with a crescent moon illustration. “Because you’re a moon witch.”
My powers responded by swirling through the room, blanketing anything in its path with misty vapors and glitter that disappeared in its wake.
“I don’t know what that means,” I whispered, staring at the lunar drawing on the stained parchment.
The Crone patted my hand, her older skin so translucent I could make out every vein. “You will with time. Is coercing the attention of a wealthy Greek god such a bad thing? Even if you can’t undo the spell?”
“Can’t undo the—” I yanked away from her touch. “Why would I be okay with that? I don’t want to manipulateanyone. Especially him.”
The Priestess pounded the table, making me and Riley jump. “You’re a witch. It’s what we do. It’s in our nature.” Regaining her composure, Cressida flattened her silver hair against her cloak. “Such are the burdens when our kind fall in love, my dear.”
Love.
Tears filled my eyes, and I blinked them away, Riley using his fur to soak them up once they dripped from my chin.
This wasn’t fair to Dion. Shit. This wasn’t fair tome.
“You’re supposed to be my mentor. You’re supposed to help me navigate this,” I croaked, my words crawling from my throat like a desperate, pathetic plea.
“What do you think I’m doing? You’ve already had your first lesson, dearie.” The Crone flicked her wrist at the door, making it burst open. “Off you go. You know what you must do.”
Whatmust I do? I became more confused now than I was before deciding to come back here.
Numb and dumbstruck, I exited the Crone’s hovel, staring at my magic still making infinity symbols around my knuckles.
My phone buzzed, and I fished it from my purse, frowning at the barren spot where the cottage used to be, the building now having disappeared. I ignored the name glowing on the screen and put the phone to my ear.
“Hello?”
A masculine chuckle sounded. “You’d think you would have your clients saved in your phone.”
Shaking my head from the haze clouding my mind, I peeled the phone away long enough to see the name Apollo. For whatever reason, I’d been expecting to hear my sister’s voice on the other line. “Apollo, sorry. I’ve got a lot going on. What’s up?”
“I can call back later.”
Riley curled around my neck, using his tail to make lazy strokes up and down my cheek.
“No, it’s fine. I need to work, trust me.” Following the trail leading out of the woods, I entered town, not knowing where to go. Home was the last place I wanted to be.
