Page 41 of Pure Magic
“If she brought you here, Adam, what makes you think leaving is the right course?” I’m never desperate. I don’t need anyone. That’s what I keep telling myself, but the pain in my chest has grown, and I wonder if my heart is going to explode.
He pulls me into his arms. “I’m sorry, Beth. The last thing I ever wished for was to hurt you. I…”
Though he stops short of saying it, I feel his regard. It makes no difference. He’s leaving, and I’ll probably never see him again. I put up a wall inside my mind, blocking him from me and me from him. If I hear more of his desire for a life with me, I’ll burst into tears, and I’m not that kind of woman. I’m strong. Pushing back from him, I step away. “I’m a grown woman, Adam. You’ve no power over me.”
Anger and sorrow are clear in his tight lips and soulful eyes. “I don’t want power, Beth.”
“Go then, and good luck to you.” I walk out of my room, stride down the hall, and down the steps. I’ll go to the river and think. There are too many people around the coven house to hear my own thoughts. Actually, there’s only one too many.
“Where are you running?” Minerva asks from the front door, where she’s standing as if she just stepped inside.
“I thought you and Jonah had gone home.” Minerva is my truest friend, but I want out of the house. I want out of my thoughts.
She walks to me, and takes my hand before drawing me out the door. “We were halfway out of the city when I realized what was happening. I made Jonah turn around.”
“What’s happening?” I don’t know if I can bear more worries right now, but it’s my duty to help my coven sisters. I squeeze her hand. “How can I help you?”
Leading me toward the river, Minerva smiles sadly. “It’s not me who needs help, Sara Beth. It’s you.”
I snatch my hand from hers. “I need nothing.”
Letting out a long sigh, she resumes walking and says, “Of course you do. It hit me as we were riding home, that Adam must leave here to avoid his sister until after the third day of March. He’s not the kind of man who would risk other witches’ lives no matter what we all vowed at the table. He’s going to leave. Am I wrong?”
“No.” It’s as if my heart is being ripped from my chest. My mother’s voice yells to protect the coven, while my head and heart long to be with Adam and protect him.
“You will let him go alone?” She walks faster as we near the river.
“I can’t make him stay. I’m not even sure he should stay. Maybe it will be safer for him after the date passes.” My throat clogs with emotion. Why would he ever come back to Windsor? He’ll go and be glad to have this place behind him.
At the bank, she turns toward me. “Go with him, Sara Beth. He needs you, and while you think you need no one, you need him too.”
The idea is too absurd. I laugh. “Leave? I’m high priestess. I have responsibilities. This coven is my duty, as is protecting the king, in case you’ve forgotten.”
With a warm grin, she takes my hands from on my hips and gives them a tight squeeze. “You will come back to your duty, and we will continue to protect the king. Jonah and I will move into the coven house until you return.”
“I can’t go.” Doubt creeps up my spine. Is it that I can’t leave, or that I’m afraid of what lies beyond the limits of Windsor? “I promised to watch over this coven.”
A friend since the cradle, she pulls me into a hug. “You are a fine leader, but you are hard on yourself, my dear friend. Adam MacNab will love you for a lifetime. Maybe longer. He’s leaving to keep you and the other witches safe. He’s leaving to save the world and the world beyond the veil. Would you let him make his way alone? Would you give him no support when he needs you most? It is not our way to wash our hands of trouble and let others take the risk. We face darkness with our eyes open and fight for right. Or am I mistaken?”
Is that what I’m doing? Would I let him leave alone out of fear? “If I left, you would lead in my stead.”
Minerva will take care of this town, its witches, and the crown. With a wide grin, she says, “Of course. Sylvia will help, as will the others. Jonah has gone to William to get two horses for you and Adam. Come, we should return and pack. It’s best if you leave tonight.” She grips my hand like a vise and drags me back the way we came.
“I haven’t agreed to anything, Minerva. I’m only considering the idea.” Somehow, though, the notion has lifted a weight from my heart. Fear of the unknown doesn’t sound so terrible if Adam is safe and by my side.
“You will. I know you, and you’ll not leave him to the wind. Even if you were not in love with him, you’d protect him. It’s the love that’s clouded your judgment.”
Feeling like a child being dragged home after a scolding, I jerk free and stop. “I never said that I love him.”
Minerva crosses her arms and narrows her gaze at me. “Will you lie to me now?”
“Love is not meant for Ware women. We have no use for men who’d bully us and tell us where to go and what to do.” My mother’s words fall from my lips with ease, and I feel her presence as a tingle at the back of my skull.
Minerva sighs and lifts her hands, palms up. “I loved your mother very much, Sara Beth, but what was good for her is not necessarily good for you. Witches are strong people. None of us require anyone else to make us complete, but I can tell you from my own experience, there is nothing like finding your perfect match. Jonah is the other half of my soul. I can’t tell you if it is the same for you and Adam, but I can see love in your eyes when he is near, and there’s no doubt he was in love with you at first sight. He looked as if he’d been struck by lightning when he walked out of the kitchen that first night. Honestly, he looked the same today at the meeting. He’d stay if he could, but he can’t. The question is, will you go and protect him as he protects you?”
She’s right of course. Minerva is rarely wrong.
“When did you start giving speeches?”
