His tears refused to subside and she knelt down, gripping the arm of the chair. “What about Gloria?” she finally asked.
“She’s sick.”
“Thank goodness,” Ariana breathed, hurriedly correcting herself when his sobs increased. “I mean, I thought you were going to say…”
“No one can do a thing for her. It came on suddenly, like a fit. Nothing like that has ever happened before. You’re our best healer, you know you are. Everyone else has tried. She just lies there breathing but can’t move or speak or open her eyes. I know about your house here, I learned it as soon as I landed. I know you have other things weighing heavily, but please come back and help her.”
“Of course I’ll come and do what I can,” she said.
She was proficient at healing spells but Gloria wasn’t young, even though she seemed as healthy and strong as an ox most days. She barely saw the woman sitting, let alone lying helplessly. As if he were in the same room as them, she heard Cousin Dexter’s voice warning her about how Nick had murdered her. Or was going to murder her. It made her head pound.
“Nick’s on his way to Italy,” she said, answering the voice only she heard.
Milo mopped his face with the cloth and nodded, still choking a bit on his tears. “He’d be no help anyway,” he answered bitterly. “You’re the one we need right now. Please, Ariana, we must hurry.”
It was the fact he didn’t call her Your Majesty, or Lady, or any other ridiculous title that decided her. Milo and Gloria were the first witches she’d met when she went looking for others. They were the ones who’d been with her since she’d started her grand plan for a coven. They knew her. Knew she wouldn’t let them down.
“Yes, we can leave right away. I just need to tell my friends.”
An idea bloomed in her mind like a perfect rose. She’d bring them with her. Surely someone amongst her powerful crew would know what to do about Maria. If they could fix her and return her to her family, perhaps have Milo do one of his famous memory spells on them, that would be one major problem solved. She didn’t know why she hadn’t thought of it immediately instead of agreeing to follow them up to Scotland with their tails between their legs. At least Owen wouldn’t be skinned for what happened to Maria. He’d be so grateful if she could fix that for him. They could get back to normal, whatever that might be.
“Wouldn’t it be easier if I popped us round to Gloria at the mansion, then pop you right back here?” he asked. His tears were gone, but he still looked worried. “I can do it quick as a wink.”
She frowned at him, shaking her head, already heading toward the door to inform Owen and Maria that they needed to get ready to leave again in a hurry.
“You know the quick spells don’t work on me, and besides, I need them to come with us. There’s a, er, problem that I need the others to help me sort once I see about Gloria.”
He grimaced and grabbed her arm. “I’ve got a new quick spell. Just cobbled it together with Jordie. Should work on even the most stubborn folk.”
“Well, all right, but let me get Owen and Maria first. You can try it on all of us, but I tell you we’d use this time better to gather a carriage to get us back to the mansion, then back to our time from there.”
His grip on her arm tightened and what had been worry and fear now looked like anger on his face. He reached out his finger to her forehead.
“Please, Your Majesty. This is how it has to be.”
He pressed the tip of his finger to her brow. Before she could argue or pull away, a sharp pain shot through her head and down her spine. She didn’t feel her eyes close, but everything went black.
Chapter 16
Ashford closed his eyes and tried not to flinch against his beloved Matilda’s shriek. She so very rarely made such a noise and as much as he hated it, he knew she had every reason to be leveling all her wrath at him. He put his hands soothingly on her shoulders, which he knew was a bad idea, but truly wanted to soothe her.
He felt lucky she only jerked away and didn’t throw the old crystal lamp she was eyeing at him. Just in case, he moved between her and the lamp. With wild eyes, she repeated her question.
“Ashford, say it again, because I’m sure I couldn’t have heard you right. What did you do?”
A wave of exhaustion made him sit in the nearest chair, even though it made him look like he wasn’t taking the situation seriously. All he wanted was to get back to trying to locate Ariana. He should have kept his mouth shut until… he shuddered, afraid to think where things might lead. He prayed things couldn’t get worse. But he hadn’t kept his mouth shut and now he had to pay the price for that.
“I burned down the house.”
“Belmary House,” she said. “That house.”
“Well, not this one, darling.” He regretted it instantly and held up his hands. “I’m sorry.”
“For what? Burning down our home or being a jackass about it?” Tears glittered in her eyes but he could see they were from rage.
He wasn’t proud of it but he was relieved to see something there other than desolation. For a moment he was glad he’d confessed.
“Both, I suppose. Listen, Matilda. It had to be done. Nothing we cared about was left behind, no one was in it. And now the curse is finally ended.”
He’d doused the place from top to bottom in oil and used up the sticks of dynamite he’d swiped from a trip to the early twentieth
