“He killedhimself.”
“Rose—”
My jaw clenched, my eyes going hot. “He gave his whole life to my family, to the estate, and then we just cast him aside. Andthen…”
“Rose.” Seth set his solid hands on my shoulders and looked at me until I raised my eyes to meet his. “It isn’t your fault. You had nothing to do with it. I promise you, Gabriel never blamed you for it for a second. Even in the middle of it—you know, it was his idea for us to go try to find you in Portland a couple summers after youleft.”
“You did what?” I said, momentarily distracted from my horror. They’d come looking forme?
Seth chuckled, glancing away. “Well, it didn’t go exactly as planned. The bus we took broke down right at the city limits. And then for some reason we couldn’t get a cab to stop for us. We started to walk, but we all got this feeling that we really shouldn’t be there… It was strange, but at the time, we started to worry we might get you in more trouble than we’d realized if we kepttrying.”
His gaze slid back to me with a hint of a question. A feeling they really shouldn’t be there. That sounded like the sort of magic a witch might use on the unsparked, to stop them from realizing there’d been any magic placed on them. Had Celestine found some way to block them from the entire city? No, that would have been too much effort. But she must have had someone keeping an eye on things who’d noticed them heading out, and made some hasty temporarypreparations.
Had Dad known aboutthat?
“I never knew about that either,” Isaid.
“I didn’t figure you did. Look, Rose…” He squeezed my shoulders—gently, despite the power I could sense ran through those brawny arms. “I came over here because I wanted to tell you that I didn’t mean to give the impression that I don’t want you around. It really is great that you’re back. All of us think so. Gabriel would too if he were here. But the last thing I want to do is to bring problems your way just by seeingyou.”
My heart squeezed as I gazed back into his solemn gray-green eyes. “I know, Seth. I do. I promise, I’ve been staying out of trouble for the last eleven years—I’ve got plenty of practice. And if I slip up, it won’t be yourfault.”
“I’d rather nothing happened that had to be anyone’s fault,” he muttered. He released my shoulders, his hands grazing the sides of my arms just briefly as he dropped them. “Are youokay?”
I dragged in a breath. My mind was whirling, but that wasn’thisfault. “Yeah. I will be. Thank you for telling me thetruth.”
“Don’t blame yourself, or I’ll wish I hadn’t.” He gave me one of his rare smiles, warm as the sun’s first peek from behind the clouds after a long rain. “You look after yourself, allright?”
“I always do,” I said breezily, but as I stepped out of the house, my pulse was racingagain.
“Well,” Philomena said, appearing on the lawn, “if there’s more where that came from, I’ll be first onboard.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Let’s go get thosedecorations.”
* * *
Coming up on the estate’s front gate, my legs balked. I hadn’t been gonethatlong, but the thought of Celestine catching me and deciding she wanted a little more information about my whereabouts made my gut clench. Especially after the stories I’d just heard fromSeth.
Well, there were easy ways to avoid notice. When we were kids, the boys had shown me the spots it was easiest to scramble over the wall. Once I was on the grounds, she’d have no way of knowing when I’dreturned.
I circled the estate to the east, following the wall. There. The old hawthorn tree was still hunched where it’d always been, one of its lower branches brushing the stones. I tucked my purse securely behind me and clamberedup.
As I reached for the top of the wall to haul myself up and over, that unwanted voice again reached ears. Damn. By trying to avoid Celestine I’d run right intoher.
I set my hand against the hawthorn’s trunk to catch my balance, planning on dashing back to the gate. Then the words her cool voice was saying made mehesitate.
“But it can be done? A binding component can be incorporated in a subtle enoughway?”
I froze, perched on the branch. The voice that answered my stepmother was familiar too. I’d know that rough and raspy tone anywhere—Master Cortland, one of my formertutors.
“It will take some more research before I can answer definitively. But yes, I believe it should bepossible.”
“Excellent. Then get to work on it, and report back to me as soon as you have thoseanswers.”
“I’ll attempt to be prompt, LadyHallowell.”
Their footsteps faded away. My fingers curled against the grittystone.
A binding component? Incorporated into what? She was talking about a magicking, obviously, but for whatuse?