Page 31 of Heart of a Witch
He pulled his pocket watch from his jacket, then inhaled sharply. “Thank you for your help, but I must ask you to go.”
My eyebrows knitted together. “Why…”
“I apologize, but now really is not the best time for you to be here. There will be a carriage downstairs waiting. My driver will take you wherever you need to go.”
“I can wait to see if he’ll—”
“No,” he snapped, then lightened his tone. “Now is not a great time. Please leave.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. Had I messed the whole thing up so soon?
I gave one last look at Corbin and sighed. “You’re a good brother, Elijah. I know what it is to have the burden of loving your sibling so deeply. He’s lucky to have you watching over him,” I said and walked out the door before he could see the tears in my eyes. Something about the exchange reminded me of Ember. She’d never have taken opium, but I had tried protecting her like he was with his brother—especially the days before she died. He had the same look in his eyes I recognized in myself. He was terrified.
I shrugged it off, hoping his wanting me to leave so abruptly was simply out of worry for his brother. I wished I could have stayed to meet Damian in person, but this may have been for the best, if even his painting had made me so mad. I had to regain my composure.
I spotted an invitation on a table as I left: a ball, in Elijah’s honor, for his birthday. I looked up. Perhaps Estia was rewarding me for saving the child’s life. I shoved it under my jacket and left through the double doors. I was going to get us three an invitation to that ball, no matter what I had to do to obtain it.
Eleven
Elijah
“Father.” I licked my dry lips, standing straight when he entered the room. He had a glint in his eye I recognized. “The witch hunt went well, I assume.”
He slammed his leather-bound journal on his desk, wisping dust into the air. “Yes. Where is your brother?”
“Bathing. We didn’t expect you for another hour.”
His eyebrow lifted. “Has he been drinking?”
I didn’t let a single breath falter. “No.”
“You’re too kind to him.”
Someone had to be. I allowed the hardness in my stare to say everything I couldn’t. “Are the other priests back too?”
“Some stayed behind.” He waved his hand dismissively. “They had unfinished business.”
I grimaced. “I’m sure they did.”
He walked behind his mahogany desk, and his leather chair let out a groan when he took a seat. He moved some papers, then tapped a finger against the wood. “I know you think me cruel.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t—”
“Don’t lie to me. I can always tell.” He exhaled slowly. “Everything I do is for your benefit, whether you see it now or not. When you’re older, you’ll understand.”
That lecture again.
“For Corbin too,” he said. “I have to be hard on him. We know what darkness plagues him. The residual magic from his conception lives in his blood.”
“He has never shown any powers, nor have you ever detected magic on him.”
“It’s dormant; I am certain. Regardless, if I were cruel, I would have sent Corbin away, but I didn’t. He is my son, and while I am tough on him, it’s for his benefit. I must keep him on the straight and narrow, to keep him on Zerheus’s path in the light, so he doesn’t follow another.”
I swallowed the response I wanted to shoot back, only because it would fall on deaf ears. I wished he could seehewas the one pushing Corbin down a dark path. He could have died yesterday. Our only saving grace had been the day delay in father’s return due to flooding, else he’d have seen how bad his son really was. “How many witches did you find?”
“Seventeen.” He smiled tightly.
I moved my gaze to the brown armchair in the corner. Above it was a gold-framed painting of my mother, him, and me when I was a baby. It was the only piece of the wall not made from shelves lined with leather spines of church books. “The club was indeed a black magic one then?”
