Page 2 of Heart of a Witch
“I’m not going.” Corbin crossed his arms over his chest. “I hate it there.”
I glanced at the bedroom door, which was slightly ajar. I wrinkled my nose. I could still somehow smell the ash from the dead witch on my skin. Shaking it off, I cleared my throat. “Please don’t do this, brother. You’ll only give him more reason to hurt you again.”
His brown eyes glossed with tears. He looked so much like our mother, Zerheus rest her soul. I was the spitting image of my father, having inherited his ash-blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin.
“No.” He kicked against his bed frame. “You can’t make me go.”
I knew this was going to happen, when he’d left Saint Baltazar’s School for Boys and started the prestigious King’s Crest Academy. “You need to give it time. It’s only your second day.”
“The others think I’m weird.”
“You can always put them in their place.”
He recoiled. “I don’t like to do that. I’m not like you… or your friends.”
I sighed. “Fine. The next time someone calls you weird, come and find me, and we’ll set them straight.”
His frown faltered. “I’d rather not go.”
“You must.” I ran my hand through my blond strands, tidying my hair to the side. “Just try to act more… normal around the other kids.”
“All I did was bring Edward out in our etiquette lesson. He wasn’t harming anyone.” He pulled an earthworm from his bag.
I closed my eyes, praying for patience.
“My teacher threatened the cane.”
“Of course she did.” The brown worm curled up in his palm. “Leave him home today.”
“If Damian finds him, he’ll kill him.”
I scowled. “Don’t call him Damian! He’s our father, and if you can’t address him properly, then at least call him sir.”
“Why do you defend him? He does it to you too.”
“Not as much.” My mind flashed with a memory of the sting of leather against my back. Squeezing my eyes shut, I let out a tense breath. “Don’t give him reason any more than he already has to punish you. He only wants us to behave.” I tried to reason with my brother, but the words felt wrong in my mouth. “We should go before we’re late.” I straightened my suspenders, then attempted to flatten a wrinkle in my shirt. “Remember, Corbin,” I said. “You’re a Shaw. You’re town royalty. Don’t let anyone talk down to you. You’re better than them.”
We bade good-bye to our housekeeper before stepping into our carriage. I rested against the plush green and inhaled the smell of horse dung. “They need to clean that up.” I made a face. “It’s like we pay them to stand around and do nothing.”
Corbin wrung his hands. “You sound just like Father sometimes, you know.”
I rolled my eyes. “I do not. I’m just saying, there was a pile of it before we got inside.”
“Who cares?” He shrugged. “Anyway, where did you go last night?”
A shiver snaked up my spine. I masked it with a stretch. “Nowhere important.”
“You’re lying.”
I kicked my legs up onto the empty seat space next to him. “It doesn’t matter where I went. Just be glad you didn’t have to go.”
“But—”
“Enough talk now. I have a headache,” I lied, then rolled my shoulders back and closed my eyes. The wheels bumped along the cobblestones, jolting us as the stallion dragged us up the high street. I’d tried everything to get rid of the smell of the witch clinging in my nose, to no avail. Whenever I closed my eyes, she was all I could see.
Sleep had been brief last night, between dreams of my mother screaming her last breath out and the witch who’d caused her death. Seeing one burn last night brought back memories I wished would stay buried. Even though the memory of my mother faded, I still felt her absence every day. So did Corbin.
I looked at my brother and sighed. He was living proof that witches were demonic creatures, and last night, I’d almost felt sorry for one. The realization of it made my skin crawl. Witches posed as humans—a dark trickery, appearing to cry, love, laugh, and feel like we did. They did it to entangle us, so they could hurt us. Like they had my mother. My dream served as a reminder of why I hated them in the first place.
