Page 35 of A Spell for Midwinter's Heart
Fingers, followed by lips.
She did her best to banish the thoughts, as it would not do to have a telltale pink flush in her aura sending the hounds her way.
In the center of the room, Birdie held court, regaling the room with stories from the coven’s history.
“I remember the first time your mom took part in a circle,” said Birdie, eyes dancing.
“Oh, please don’t tell that story,” begged Liliana, her whole body shaking with laughter, hands splayed across her face. She was lying spread out on the floor—more relaxed than Rowan could remember her looking.
Well, ever.
“I’m already telling it, nothing to be done,” said Birdie, settling back in her seat with the casual satisfaction of knowing you were about to thoroughly humiliate a person. Drew cackled and rubbed his hands together, the only other person who knew what was coming. “Now, I will remind you all she was only ten.”
Liliana grabbed at the rug, making as if to pull it over her entire body so that she might vanish into the floorboards.
“That’s young to join, but your great-grandmother convinced us all she was mature for her age—which was, admittedly, true.”
“She was always ratting me out,” said Drew.
“Because you always needed to be ratted out,” Liliana shot back.
“Stop trying to get me off track from the story,” said Birdie with a shake of the finger. “It won’t work. Back then, we took off more than our shoes when we gathered as a coven—we went skyclad.”
She waggled her eyebrows, and Stephan glanced at Zaide. “By that, she means buck naked.”
Zaide’s mouth dropped open, and Birdie let out a boominglaugh before continuing her story, “Lili understood the concept of going skyclad, but the reality was…more than she was prepared for.”
“What’d you do, Mom?” asked Stephan with a shake of his head.
Liliana covered her face with her cardigan and spoke through the fabric. “I screamed. Then I ran. And I refused to come back until everyone had put their robes back on.”
“She hid in a tree!” said Drew.
“Couldn’t get her to come down for nothing,” said Birdie, laughing so hard tears streamed from her eyes.
When the laughter subsided, Drew looked at Birdie and asked, “Wasn’t that the same night the guy showed up?”
The question chased the mirth from their faces. Naomie glanced between them and asked, “What guy?”
“A former neighbor of your family,” said Birdie. “He…took issue with our spellcasting.”
“What’d you do?” asked Zaide.
“Mom pulled every thought from his head,” said Liliana, her voice flat, “and commanded him to go home by the quickest route available.”
“You mean…magically?” asked Zaide.
“Yes.”
An awkward silence followed. Finally, Zaide broke it, murmuring, “I didn’t think that was allowed.”
“Well, it’s not as if we have a tribunal,” said Birdie. “We simply have the Charge of the Goddess, and the personal responsibility of judging whether our actions serve the highest purpose.”
“We also have the Rede,” said Liliana. Her cheeks had flushed, and her voice had taken on a ragged edge, the same way it did whenever they discussed Madeleine’s more controversial magical choices. “Do no harm. And Grandma Ruby agreed with me. Mom did harm.”
Ruby Midwinter, Rowan’s great-grandmother, had led the coven for many years, until she passed and the coven chose Liliana to lead them next. They almost always chose the witch who stood in the north, the witch aligned with earth.
The reliable one.
