“You would not dare be so short-sighted as to make a deal with the devil.”
“Yet, you did.”
“I outwitted him!”
“Did you? It seems he still has you in his snare.”
Again he grips my face, his fingertips digging into my cheeks. He stares at me with desperate longing. I am shocked to witness the struggle within his eyes. Is he so fearful that I will deal with Lucifer that he is desperate to release me?
With a terrifying howl, he sharply pivots away from me. His powerful form dissolves into a roiling green mist that seeps through the cracks around the door and vanishes.
Exhaling with relief, I press my palms to my face, feeling the tender spots where his fingers pressed. The bruises heal rapidly since I have drunk fully.
Lowering my hands to rest beneath my breasts, I wait in anticipation. If my suspicions are correct, I will soon see the face of my first great love.
A smile lifts the corners of my lips when I feel the tentative approach of the spell. As I suspected, it was waiting for Vlad to depart. This is yet another sign that this spell was cast by my sister. Ágota had regarded Vlad as the greatest threat to my life when she had been taken from me. She would have been wise enough to weave the spell so it would avoid Vlad’s detection.
Closing my eyes, I await the moment when I will see my loved ones once more. How swiftly I have become enamored with these forays into the past.
“It is a mistake to love anyone with such swirly handwriting,” Ágota says. “Albrecht is so pretentious.”
I open my eyes to see my sister leaning over my bed. In her hand is a letter with a familiar seal.
Sitting up, I glare at her. “Can you just once hand over a letter from Albrecht without forcing me to wrest it from you?”
Tapping her lips with the edge of the letter, she appears to consider my question, then says, “No.”
“Ugh!”
I scramble out of the bed to chase her across my bedroom. Balázs’s black cat, Valentini, swats at me in irritation for waking him. Ever since our journey into the Carpathian Mountains, he is often near my side. Valentini is an arrogant cat that often perches in spots where he is in my line of sight so he can purposely ignore me. This was his choice, not Balázs, I discovered. The Grandwitch was surprised to discover one of his familiars had taken a liking to me.
Ágota breaks the seal while scurrying up the wall to perch on the rafters over my head. I leap at her ankles, but miss when she deflects me with the wave of one hand.
“Dearest Erzsébet, the time has come for us to be joined in marriage. My father has sent instructions to your father...” Ágota falters. “What?”
Picking myself up off the floor, I gape at her. “You are lying.”
“No, I am not. I thought father said he had delayed your marriage until you were twenty.” Ágota drops from the rafters with a thump and hands me the letter with a disapproving scowl.
Concerned that our newly-reformed coven is weakened, Balázs decided that I should stay on the estate until he was certain that Fülöp is content to rule over our previous home and not strike against us.
“That is what he also told me.” I am torn between my desire to be with Albrecht and my idyllic life with Ágota, Balázs, and the coven. The last six months have been lovely on the estate.
Twisting her mouth into a scowl, Ágota paces around me in a circle. “I was so arrogant as to believe I could negotiate with the fey. There must be some hidden clause within the marriage agreement that father cannot defy.”
Wirich, Albrecht’s father, was certainly devious in his dealings. I am not bothered by it since I am more than willing to marry Albrecht, but it has vexed Ágota and Balázs. The White Woman of the Wood is one of the most powerful fey in the world, so they do not dare try to renegotiate the terms of the marriage agreement. The White Woman of the Wood is the protector of the mortal branch of her family and has a keen eye for vengeance if slighted in any way.
“Ágota, I am glad to marry Albrecht, but I will miss this place ever so much.”
I pluck Valentini from the bed covers and he meows in protest while I cover his face with kisses. Wandering over to the window, I gaze past the courtyard to the green hills in the distance while stroking the cat’s chin. The cities of Buda and Pesth rest along the shores of the Danube and one of my favorite adventures is to visit the markets with Ágota. On lazy days, we take long walks around the estate and eat ripe grapes off the vine.
“Erjy, it frustrates me to no end that I was so foolish. If not for my arrogance, you could spend more time with us before departing for your new life. You are too young to marry. Especially for a witch!”
“Some mortals marry at seventeen,” I remind her. “Are we not pretending to be mortal?”
I do not remind her that I am only half a witch. We are still hiding my parentage from Balázs. It is best
he does not know of my human ties to the world.