A Coven of Her own

by Saskia Walker

  He watched her set it down and then grabbed her hand, leading her out of the house.

  After the heat of the day, the late evening air was cool against her naked skin. The hum of insects and sounds of the night resonated somewhere deep in her mind, but most of all she was focused on him, on how magnificent his body looked in the moonlight, strong and sure as he stalked through the grounds with her in tow.

  They passed quickly through the gardens and into the orchards beyond, where the moonlight falling between the leaves cast eerie patches of light to mark their path.

  Sunny reached out to nature as they went, thrilling as she felt the natural world respond. The trees dipped, as if a breeze had directed them just to her and her lover, and the sounds of wildlife in the undergrowth grew more resonant, as if the creatures were drawn to them, instead of scurrying away.

  Cullen led her deep into the heart of the orchard, where the oldest trees stood and the first of the planting had taken place, many years ago. There, the lines of trees radiated out from an old stone marking the centre spot.

  “Do you think this is the magical heart of our home?” She touched the stone reverently.

  “I’ve been thinking that myself, while I’ve been tending the orchard.” He glanced around at the trees, starkly outlined in the moonlight. “Fate has brought us together here on this land, Sunny, for the eternal circle of nature.”

  He was so right.

  He drew her up against a tree and into his arms. His eyes were wild in the moonlight and she breathed deep, her heart racing, the atmosphere heavy with the scent of the undergrowth and of their desire.

  His hands moved over her, down over the curve of her belly and around her hips to her buttocks. He molded them in his hands, lifting her easily so she was crushed against him, his erection solid against her belly. She whispered his name and her core clenched with need.

  “We must offer it up to the earth for the sake of a good harvest.” His voice was husky. “Feel nature all around you and let it be inside you. Trust in what Celeste said,” he added when he saw the misgiving in her expression. “I heard it many times before, in my world. It’s nature’s way, you’ll see.”

  With that dark, suggestive smile he was giving her, she wasn’t about to argue. She moved against him, kissing his chest, tasting the salt from his skin, absorbing the rhythm of his body into her own. Somewhere nearby, she heard creatures rustling through the undergrowth, but it only added to the strange mysticism of the experience. She let it enfold her, breathing deeply the scents of the earth and echoing the distant sound of an owl in her soul. “I can feel it,” she murmured, her body pulsating with desire.

  He took her roughly, turning her to face the tree, spread-eagling her, pushing her up against the tree trunk with his hands and moving her against it with his first deep thrust.

  He drove again, and again, filling her completely, moving her entire body. She moaned into the night and the night answered, the stars brightening and the branches at the edge of her vision lifting on the ebb and flow of the night air. Nature was all around them, and alive within her. Cullen was strong at her back, and inside, mating with her, fierce and elemental.

  She pivoted against the tree, offering herself to him, eager to be marked with his rising sap, riding his thrusts with abandon. His hands roved, claiming every part of her body for the earth. Sensation spiraled through her. Their mutual victory cries filled the air. She felt herself sexually bared as she’d never been before, a creature at one with nature. When she came, her entire body shuddered.

  “Open your legs wide,” he panted, “we must give it up to the earth.”

  It felt strange, but so right and true. “Yes,” she whispered, clutching at the tree, her breasts studded with rough bark, her thighs slick.

  He whispered words of love to her and stroked her arms where they were pressed up against the tree, until their bodies grew cool and the evening mists wisped up around their bare feet. Then he turned her in his arms, looking at her in the moonlight.

  “Pleasured, my love?”

  She was trembling. It had been aggressive sex, and more, it had been somehow sacred. “Yes, pleasured, lots of pleasure.”

  He pulled her closer for a cuddle, then led her by the hand back to the cottage.

  Once they were in the kitchen, he filled a basin of water from the tap. Mellow with pleasure and happiness, Sunny watched. He’d done this strange ritual before after they’d made love.

  He put the dish on the floor next to her feet, then dipped a cloth into the bowl. Dropping to his knees by her feet, he began to wash the insides of her legs, rinsing the cloth out each time, returning to cleanse more of her skin. He washed between her legs, causing her to laugh. She grabbed his shoulders to steady herself, looking down at him in the soft light. “Why are you doing this?”

  “To assist you. I don’t want to leave you at all, you know that.” He stared up at her beseechingly. “I don’t wish to leave you with child, if I’m not here to support you.”

  A fist tightened around her heart, her mellowness sliding away as the reality of the situation settled on her. “Oh, Cullen...”

  She sat down on the kitchen chair and pulled him closer so he knelt between her legs and she could wrap her arms around him. “That’s the most adorable thing you could’ve ever done for me, but there’s no need to wash me for that reason.”

  “Why not? A woman must wash in order to avoid being with child after coupling, or so I understand it.” He frowned. “That’s why I tried to assist you with the task.” He looked at her with deeply troubled eyes. “Is it different for women in your time?”

  “It is. I take a little tablet each day, medicine from the doctor.” She suddenly wished she wasn’t taking it. “It’s to help me with my monthly period, but it does mean I can’t get pregnant.”

  She felt incredibly sad about it, and that’s when it struck her—above all, she wanted him to stay. Next to that, she wanted to have a child with him.

  “Does this take away the possibility forever?” he whispered. “Because, if so, that’s a tragedy. You would make a wonderful mother.” He cupped her cheek in his hand.

  Sunny felt her lashes grow damp. She hadn’t even realized she was crying. They were happy-sad tears, though, and she shook them away. “I could stop taking the tablet tomorrow. Of course, you’d have to put up with my mood swings.” She laughed.

  “I would put up with anything to be with you and have a child with you, my love.”

  Perhaps it was the strange light, perhaps there was another reason, but she caught shadows in his eyes, and under the crags of his cheekbones. She sensed in her heart why. He was worrying for her. “You really don’t want to leave me, do you?”

  “No, lass. This is a strange world, but there is more than enough to anchor me here. You, above all. That would be enough. Yet I know the place, I see the familiar bumps in the land. I am like a stranger in a foreign land, but you are my guide, and I would do anything to be your protector henceforth.” He took her hands to his lips and kissed her across the knuckles of each hand. “Would that I could wed you, Sunny Chambers, make you my wife and keep you safe, always.”

  Sunny felt as if her heart would break if he were taken from her.

  She looked away, at the moonlight coming in the window. She could see the shapes of the trees beyond, in the orchard where they’d made love, and she knew every year from this year on, the apples on the trees would be symbolic of their love, and their union. “I’ll do anything I can, I promise, to keep you here with me, if that’s really how you feel.”

  “I want nothing more. Should I be forced to return to my time, I may as well be on that hell bound ship my dear friend Nathaniel signed me up for.”

  “Don’t say that. I’m never going to let it happen.”

  “I truly believe you are witch enough to prevent it,” he whispered.

  She clamped her eyes shut a moment, to fight back the tears. His faith made her heart swell, but she doubt
ed herself so much more than he did. Opening her eyes, she stroked his handsome jaw. Had he really acknowledged she was the one who would do the rescuing? Smiling sadly, she doubted it, but she valued his positive words and his love.

  “Come,” he said, rising and lifting her easily into his arms as he did so. “I’ll carry you to bed so you can rest. You have much to learn tomorrow. Willow told me on the telephone.”

  “You answered the telephone?” she said, surprised, as she looped her hands around the back of his neck.

  “Indeed, yes. I’m learning from you, learning how to live, and how to love.” He mounted the stairs and rolled her into bed.

  Sunny lay awake, savoring his embrace. She did her fretting at night time. She was far too busy during the day to do it then. Whereas Cullen fretted during the day, while he was busy, and slept like a log at night. In the midnight hours she lay awake and wished her grandma was here to talk to her about the situation.

  Once she was sure he was asleep, she extracted herself from his embrace and crept out of the room. She headed for the kitchen, primarily with the aim of getting a glass of water, but it was the place she sensed her grandmother’s presence the most.

  The kitchen was the place they’d spent most of their time together when Sunny was a child, and whenever she walked into the room the memory and fragrance of their baking haunted her. Why couldn’t it be real?

  She looked over at the table, where they’d made jars of applesauce. Her grandmother would take her out into the orchard and she’d hold the basket while Sunny climbed the trees and weighed each apple to see if it fell heavily into her hand with a gentle nudge. If it did, she passed it to her grandmother, who would put it in the basket.

  When she moved back into the house as an adult, she found old jars at the back of the larder. It was as if her grandma was just around the corner.

  When she’d begun to have the dreams about Cullen, and sensed his presence in the house, she often wondered whether her grandmother would appear. It hadn’t happened.

  She didn’t put the light on. Instead she crept across the moonlit floor to the kitchen sink. The window beyond overlooked the garden. The sky was clear and the room was well lit by nature alone.

  She poured herself a glass of water and sipped it.

  “If only you were here, Grandma,” she whispered into the moonlight.

  For a moment she thought she heard a voice.

  Her heart raced, her senses tingling.

  She turned on her heel and looked, but there was no presence in the room. After she scoured the shadows, she turned back to the window. She closed her eyes and concentrated hard. “Grandma, are you with me?”

  At first there was silence, but she felt a familiar presence nonetheless. Then she heard the faintest sound, and it was indeed her grandmother’s voice. When she opened her eyes, the illusion disappeared. She clamped her fingers over the kitchen sink to steady herself, and shut her eyes again. “Are you there, Grandma?”

  I am, child, I am always with you.

  Sunny opened her eyes. Still no images, but the sound of the voice seemed to come from beyond the window, as if her grandmother was talking to her from very far away, or outside. Once again, she closed her eyes. “I wish you were here with me, I wish you could help me understand all of this.”

  This time she kept her eyes shut.

  I am always with you. Listen closely, child. You do not need me. Our magical heritage skips a generation, but you are lucky because you have inherited it from both sides of your family and carry a bounty in your soul.

  Sunny’s eyes smarted at the sound of her grandmother’s familiar voice. Her parents had never given any sign of knowing about the magic, but she’d always sensed Grandmother Hanna was somehow magic. Little did she know she was right, and it wasn’t just a childhood notion.

  I sensed it in you as a child, but you were so thoroughly grounded in reality, you wouldn’t have entertained the idea. It had to be a powerful event to draw on your magic, and I told Celeste this much.

  “You spoke to Celeste about me?”

  Many times. We knew you would grow up to be a powerful young witch, but you needed an initiation that came from the heart. Cullen was your initiation.

  “I don’t want to lose him. I’m in love with him.”

  Saying it aloud – albeit to a spirit – made her realize just how much she did love him. Her heart ached tremendously, as if someone was squeezing it. She gripped the edge of the kitchen sink so hard her fingers ached. “Can you help me face this battle they tell me lies ahead?”

  I believe in you, child, and you must believe in yourself. The viscount is aware of how powerful you are, but you must present yourself to him as an innocent. You must be seen to be willing to learn from him, for he is the most powerful witch in Raven’s Landing.

  “You mean I have to flatter his ego?” The thought of it turned her stomach.

  You see, you understand the situation well enough.

  The voice speaking grew faint, and she heard a quiet chuckle.

  “Don’t go,” Sunny said and her eyes flashed open. But the moonlight was shielded by the clouds. It was dark, and the presence she’d felt was fading.

  “Don’t go,” she repeated, but this time there was no answer.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  By day twenty of their thirty days, Sunny awoke feeling languid and yet energized. It was the strangest thing, because she’d been completely knackered by the tasks of the day before. Each day had been filled with difficult challenges and long lessons from Celeste and other members of the coven. There was so much to take in and pressure to learn quickly, in order to give her the best chance possible of succeeding in the battle ahead. By the end of each day Sunny felt overloaded with new information, information about the unseen world around her. It was as if a curtain had been drawn away from her vision, and she saw the spiritual, magical world all around her. Each day her knowledge grew, and yet the challenges she faced in taking it on left her weary. By morning the weariness had gone.

  The answer was simple enough. The empty well was refilled by her relationship with Cullen. Celeste had explained the intimate links between emotion and magic, sex and spirituality. When Sunny felt tired and weary, her relationship with Cullen replenished her, giving her the ability to cope with everything going on during this, her most unusual midsummer month.

  “What’s today’s plan?” Cullen asked.

  “I’m due at Eben’s workshop. He’ll be teaching me today.” Sunny looked across the wooden breakfast table at her lover. How on earth would she live without him if she couldn’t win this battle?

  “I’ll stand guard outside his workshop, in case...in case the time is nigh.”

  He was thinking about Fox. He often was thinking about their invisible foe, she sensed it. “The time is not yet ‘nigh’ and I can defend myself.”

  Cullen’s expression darkened. “I will not let him speak to you, let alone touch you!”

  She tried to keep her voice level. “You can’t control this situation, Cullen. I know you’d like to, but it’s my job.”

  He rose to his feet, his chair clattering loudly on the stone flags underfoot. “I will protect you ‘til my dying breath, Yasmina Sunitra Chambers.”

  His eyes burned into her with the seriousness of his intentions.

  She pressed her lips together and counted to ten.

  The delay in discussion made him even more irate and he paced around, grumbling under his breath. She got as far as eight, flipped, and stood up too. “You have to let me be the hero.”

  “You? You are a woman!”

  “And women in my century—and for a long time before—do not need a man to win their battles for them, and don’t you forget it!”

  As soon as she’d said it, she wished she hadn’t.

  His expression turned to thunder. Like a wounded beast, he lashed out. “You are tiny and delicate. I am strong, I know Nathaniel Fox, and I can take him down, easily.”

&nb
sp; She groaned aloud in frustration. “The man, maybe, but he’s not just a man anymore, is he?”

  Cullen rubbed his hand through his hair, still pacing. “‘Tis not right, I tell you. The man’s duty is to protect his woman.”

  “I made the deal.” She folded her arms over her chest, standing firm.

  He ground to a halt and pointed at his chest. “The deal was made on my behalf. Fox is my responsibility.”

  “No, Cullen. He’s mine, and the sooner you accept it, the easier this is going to be.”

  He cursed loudly, lifted his hands in the air, turned his back on her and stomped off out the back door and away into the orchard.

  She collapsed into her chair.

  The disagreement left her feeling horribly bereft.

  She’d feel like this all the time, she realized, if he disappeared from her life. She knew it, but it had to be done. Cullen Thaine needed to learn that women in her time could stand on their own two feet, charming though it was to have a swashbuckling man leaping to your defense.

  She sipped her coffee and waited for him to come back.

  He didn’t.

  She pushed the coffee away. Eventually, she noticed the time and went upstairs to get ready for the day ahead.

  When she came back down there was still no sign of him.

  He reappeared quite suddenly when she opened the front door to leave for Eben’s workshop. She paused, looking at him expectantly. He’d obviously heard the front door and given in.

  “I’ll walk down with you,” he said gruffly. “I need to go back to this “do yourself” store.”

  Sunny mellowed at the sight of him. It seemed he wanted to compromise. She was hugely relieved. “Do you mean the do-it-yourself store?”

  “That’s the one.”

  Apparently he’d forgiven her for putting him in his place, thank goodness. She couldn’t bear it if he decided to go back home to 1820, simply because he couldn’t accept modern women’s independence and abilities.

  She nudged his shoulder with hers.

  He smiled down at her, although it was rather forced.