by Tanya Milne
The Witch Born to Burn
Book Two in the Inferno Series
Tanya Milne
For my children, and the children of the world,
* * *
May you find the strength to never let the invisible chains of oppression hold you.
Copyright © 2019 by Tanya Milne
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
‘They say there is one true test for a witch. You throw ’em in the river. If they drown, their innocence is proved. If they float, they’re a witch and you take ’em out and hang ’em.’
The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent
Chapter One
The bitter winds flew in from the sea, lashing everything in their path. I tucked my hair into my jacket and dropped my head as we continued towards the end of the pier.
Getting Elijah out of the house for the first time in weeks since that night when he only just escaped Orpheus’s clutches was worth every second of the arctic blast, even if it meant watching him and Anna – the loved-up lovebirds – up close and personal, and keeping Noah company.
I glanced over at Noah, who seemed lost in his own thoughts. I had to admit that even though I’d groaned at the thought of spending a few hours with him, he was looking particularly handsome. He was rugged up in a thick blue jacket with the collar pulled up high, his blond hair had grown longer and his black sunglasses hid his eyes, which had hardly glanced my way.
Gone were his puppy-dog pleasing ways, and in their place was a cool distance. I wasn’t sure anymore where we stood, whether we were even friends. Ever since the Easter dance where I’d kissed Jet and then chased after Ezra, he’d understandably backed away. It didn’t seem to matter how many times I’d apologised for my behaviour; he wouldn’t warm up to me. I wondered, not for the first time, why he’d even bothered to come.
Elijah and Anna walked in front of us, their hands intertwined, as they had been every moment since Elijah had started his long road to recovery. Anna was laughing at something Elijah was whispering in her ear. My gaze flickered to my brother. His hair had grown longer, too, but not from design. He’d been too sick to get to the barber. For the last month, he’d stayed in bed and recovered from the most harrowing night of our lives, where we’d only escaped by using the magic potion – my first magic potion – to help his captors forget about the witches they’d met. Not only had his hair grown wild, but his face remained unshaven and his clothes had grown baggy on his frame too. Even now as he walked, there was pain in his every step – a pain he tried to hide with his smiles, jokes and warm affection – pain that I worried would never leave him.
My body heated just thinking what Orpheus Blackthorn had ordered done to Elijah – not only that night when he’d tortured him, physically and mentally, but also the scars he’d etched on his soul, possibly forever. The seeds of anger that mirrored the pain my brother felt sprouted and grew inside me like weeds, spreading their insipid branches through me, strangling my heart.
‘Watch it,’ said Noah, grabbing me and pulling me away from the edge of the wharf where I’d wandered, enfolding me in his strong arms.
‘Sorry,’ I said, my heart racing as I glanced down at the icy water far below, where I’d nearly fallen.
Slowly, he helped me stand and steadied me. ‘You okay?’ he asked, pushing his glasses on top of his forehead, his warm brown eyes scanning my face; God only knows what he saw.
‘Yes,’ I whispered.
‘You don’t look okay. You were walking all over the place and you’re as pale as a ghost.’
A witch, I corrected silently.
I glanced ahead for Elijah, but the lovebirds were well ahead of us and didn’t even know we’d stopped walking.
I opened my mouth to lie, but closed it again. I could never tell Noah the truth about who I was or what had really happened that night, but I didn’t need to pretend with him either.
‘I’m worried about Elijah,’ I said quietly, rubbing my mitted hands together. ‘Lost track of where I was walking.’
‘Oh,’ said Noah, a small smile on his lips. ‘He seems much better.’
I nodded. ‘Anna may have something to do with that.’
He stared down the pier towards them, a faraway glazed expression appeared on his face before he turned to me and smiled. ‘You shouldn’t worry so much. Everything is going to be okay, you know.’
Part of me yearned for the simple and safe life Noah offered. If only I could forget everything else, take his hand in mine, pull him towards me. But I stayed where I was. He was the day and I was the night, and even though we were out of the woods with Orpheus, who no longer suspected us of anything, I was a witch and would always be a witch.
‘So have you forgiven me yet?’ I said, raising an eyebrow at him.
A look of pain passed through his eyes. ‘Trying.’
‘I know I’ve said it a thousand times and I can say it a thousand more – I’m sorry, Noah. I came to the dance as your date. I don’t know what came over me…’
Noah let out a long breath and gazed up at the cloudless blue sky.
‘Jet, he doesn’t mean anything to me,’ I said.
The sound of Jet’s name made Noah’s forehead scrunch up. ‘I know he doesn’t mean anything to you,’ he said, his words sharp.
I gasped as I thought about the one person I was trying my hardest to forget. The one person I wanted but could never be with. Ezra. My heart stung just thinking of him.
‘We’re not together,’ I said, remembering the moment Ezra told me it was too dangerous for us to be a couple.
Noah watched me for a long moment. ‘You might be able to fool others, but you can’t fool me. You feel about Ezra the same way those two feel about each other.’ He glanced up at our siblings, who were kissing. ‘How I feel…felt about you. So, if I’m not jumping for joy every time I see you, you can see why.’
The truth of his words struck me hard. I waited for him to storm off and ignore me like he’d been doing every day at school. Instead, he crossed his arms and waited for me to respond. Lying was useless.
‘It doesn’t matter how I feel,’ I said. ‘Ezra and I are not together – will never be together – so right now, yes, it’s difficult. But in time…’
I stared across the blue water, where small whitecaps were in frenzy.
He placed his firm hand on my arm and I glanced up at him.
‘In time, can you forget him?’ he asked.
Could I forget the way Ezra kissed me? The way he understood me without me having to speak? The way he made me feel when we were together, when we were apart?
Noah stepped closer, slid his hands up my arms and pulled me close to him so there was nowhere for me to go. He wrapped his jacket around us, and within the space he created, I felt his warmth.
He dropped his head and whispered in my ear. ‘Can you forget him…for me? Can you?’
He kissed my ear, and heat radiated through my body.
‘Eva… I won’t be your second choice.’ He dropped his hot lips to my neck, and my body responded. His hands gripped my waist. I raised my head to him, and desire was written all over his face. ‘But I will wait for you…if you want.’
I wanted his mouth on mine, to take away my pain. I wanted to be claimed by someone who would look after me. I never wanted to think about Ezra, ever again. But I knew that I would think about Ezra. Until I didn’t crave him like I craved air, I could never be fair to Noah.
I pulled away from Noah, my eyes stinging. ‘I
’m not ready, Noah. Making you wait wouldn’t be fair to you.’
He narrowed his eyes and let out a low growl. ‘Will you ever be over him?’
‘I hope so,’ I said, remembering how I’d felt day and night since that night on the boat.
‘Then I’ll wait,’ he said.
‘No, Noah, don’t wait for me. Please. That’s not fair to you. I don’t know if…when I’ll ever be ready.’
‘I’m a patient man, for something I want. And I want you.’
Heat returned to my body – something I’d never expected to feel for Noah.
‘But no more Mr Nice Guy,’ he said. ‘Until you’re mine… And you will be mine.’
I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it again.
He smiled and slid his sunnies back on his head. ‘Now that we have that sorted, let’s catch up with the lovebirds. And Eva?’
I gazed up at this guy who was now waiting for me. ‘Yes?’ I said quietly.
He took my hand. ‘Watch where you’re going? I don’t fancy a swim in the arctic waters today, okay.’
He tugged me and we started walking, hand in hand, an unspoken promise between us; a promise that never in a million years had I expected to make.
I knew my face was blazing when we finally caught up to Anna and Elijah, who were waiting for us, silent and watchful. I risked a glance at Elijah, whose eyes were burning holes into me. Apparently, our little interlude on the pier had not gone unnoticed.
I pulled my warm hand from Noah’s. ‘Noah was making sure I didn’t fall in. I nearly did…fall in, but…you know. Look, it doesn’t matter.’
Elijah smirked and Noah laughed, but Anna came forth and took me by the hand, saving me. ‘I’m glad Noah was there to stop you falling in. That’s a long way down.’
I glanced at the water, wishing I could disappear within its depths, and saw something that made me gasp. Everyone turned to where I was looking.
‘What the…’ said Elijah.
There, bloated and floating in the boiling brew of an ocean, were thousands of dead fish. I gazed out further and further, my eyes meeting the same disturbing view. I’d seen dead fish before, but so many all at once, rolling around in the deathly waters where they’d swum, made my stomach churn.
‘What’s happened?’ said Anna, her hand clutching mine.
No one had the answer. No one dared to answer. In a small town where fishing was a big industry, this was a disaster. In a small town with an evil, power-hungry dictator, this was a catastrophe.
I glanced around the deserted pier and across to the town, where only a few brave people scuttled around in the cold. Once this news got out, there would be fingers pointed, accusations made – people would pay. I watched my brother, whose pink cheeks had faded to the colour of chalk.
‘We have to go,’ I said, my voice hoarse.
Anna and Noah exchanged looks. They didn’t know the full story of what happened to Elijah, and they never could. They had no idea what Orpheus Blackthorn was capable of. But Elijah’s haunted eyes told an entirely different story.
‘Let’s go quickly. Before anyone sees us here,’ said Elijah.
‘And don’t tell anyone what we’ve seen,’ I added.
Anna’s pretty face clouded over as she gazed at Elijah, realising that she didn’t know something he did. He walked to her and took her hand, but she dropped both of our hands.
‘Care to fill me in?’ she said.
Elijah’s breath became shallow, as though the act of breathing was hard. Every night since that terrible night, I’d stayed in my room reading about witchcraft, waiting for Anna to leave and our parents to go to bed. Then I’d gone down and sat on the end of Elijah’s bed. During those moonlit hours we’d talked – about how he was, about witchcraft and eventually about that night. At first it had been almost impossible for Elijah, but bit by bit, he’d opened up and told me the horrifying things that had been done to him. I’d lived through each and every moment, sickened to the core, but I’d made myself listen.
As the wounds he’d suffered turned into mine, I kept him talking until there were no more words to say, no more ways to interpret what happened and how he felt. Only then did I feel the weight start to lift from him. In my heart, I knew his pain hadn’t disappeared, but simply transferred onto me.
That’s why I knew how Elijah felt and why he couldn’t tell Anna what had happened. She might understand in her own way and keep his secret, but it would tinge her blessedly open heart to the flames of darkness.
‘Elijah, are you okay?’ I said, moving to hold up his slumping body.
‘What’s wrong?’ said Anna, alarm in her voice.
Elijah tried to smile, but it looked like a grimace.
I smiled at Anna and then explained. ‘He’s okay, just a bit much for his first outing.’
I lodged myself under one of Elijah’s arms, and Noah wedged himself under the other. Together, we walked back down the pier, the wind blowing at us from behind – this time carrying the salty, putrid smell of dead fish in its currents.
‘Didn’t think I’d see the day when you’d need your sister to help you walk,’ I said before laughing, everyone joining in.
‘Lot of things I didn’t think I’d see today,’ said Elijah, bringing an end to my laughter.
I glanced at Noah, who was smiling to himself like a satisfied cat after a large meal of mouse.
Oh crap! What. Have. I. Done.
Chapter Two
The last words I heard before I closed the front door were from my mother.
‘Don’t be long.’
It wasn’t what she said; it was how she said it. She didn’t say it as flippantly as she would have in the past. There was a trace of fear in her words. She meant every single one of them. In days gone by, I would’ve rolled my eyes and left her words on the doorstep, but not anymore. Not since Orpheus Blackthorn, the tyrant mayor of Melas.
‘I won’t,’ I replied firmly.
And I wouldn’t.
As I walked down the stairs and across the front path to the street, I noticed the autumn air was getting cooler and the shadows lengthening. I calculated I had about an hour to drop the cakes I held in my arms to the church and get home before curfew. That was plenty of time. Drop and go.
I still couldn’t believe I’d spent the whole of Easter Saturday baking for the Easter day fete. Baking was not my thing and attending an Easter day fete at church on Easter Sunday most definitely not my thing. I reminded myself that it was a small price to pay to stay on Orpheus’s good side. Thanks to the potion Orpheus and his team of police had drunk, no one knew we were witches, and so we were blessedly no longer suspected of anything.
As I walked along the quiet street towards church, my every step loud on the pavement, I recalled the family meeting we’d had as soon as Elijah was well enough. Knowing there was no way out of this godforsaken town that was effectively guarded by road and sea, we’d decided two things. First, Elijah and I would most definitely start learning the art of witchcraft, which had been denied us for so long, but in the safety of our home and taught by our parents. And second, we’d pretend we were the model family that even Orpheus Blackthorn couldn’t help but admire.
‘Hide right under his nose,’ my dad had said. ‘It’s often the safest way.’
It was the same advice our kind-hearted and astute neighbour, Violet, had given me when I was struggling with the decision about whether to learn my craft.
And so with the decision made, we’d set about creating the persona of the perfect, pious family. We changed the way we dressed, covered our skin with boring clothes, wore sensible shoes and no make-up, styled our hair and started actively volunteering at school and most especially at church. I bowed my head as though in prayer, all while remembering the latest spell or potion I was trying to master.
I shuffled the cake boxes that had grown heavy in my arms. I baked cakes now, and I smiled about it. I smiled all the friggin’ time and it was killing me.
Before I knew it, I was walking up the church steps, smile pasted on, ready to greet the other bakers, who were all told to meet at 4.30 p.m. – on the dot.
‘Well hello, dear,’ said ancient Mrs Miller with the massive mole on her chin as I made my appearance.
‘Hello, Mrs Miller,’ I said brightly. ‘And how are you this afternoon?’
‘I’m very well, thank you, Eva. Looks like you’ve been a busy baker.’
I forced out a little giggle. ‘Yes, well, nothing I like better.’
‘A young woman after my own heart. It was quite the test, wasn’t it, dear?’
My heartbeat picked up.
Test, what test?
I nodded, hoping that would be enough.
‘Which one of these made it the hardest?’ she said, walking closer and inspecting the box on top with the chocolate cake inside. ‘I bet it was this one.’ She inhaled deeply and gazed up at me. She was so close that I could smell her coffee breath.
‘I do love chocolate,’ I said, for once not lying.
‘And you didn’t get tempted to have a little bit?’ she said, smiling like a fox with its prey in sight.
That’s when I remembered. It was Lent and for all intents and purposes, I was not allowed treats until tomorrow, on Easter Sunday. I smiled, remembering the chocolate I’d licked from the bowl, the extra cake I’d made that we’d devoured for afternoon tea.
‘Well, I was a little tempted, but we all know what happens to people who give in to their temptation.’
‘Indeed,’ she said, raising an eyebrow. ‘Mr Blackthorn has very strong views on Lent, as you know, dear. Good to see that you remembered. Would hate to report you for not knowing your religious duties.’
I kept my smile in place, knowing how much she’d have loved the opportunity to dob me in. Orpheus had great incentives for dobbers, and with an increasing list of archaic and ridiculous rules for our town to obey, it was almost impossible to remember them, let alone comply with them all.
