Longing for You, стр. 35
The door of the cottage was slightly ajar, and as she got closer,she could smell the breakfast cooking. In her horror movie Amelia would beshouting even louder at the screen, Get out of there! Turn back!
As she turned to walk away, she heard a voice from inside saying,“Running away, dear?”
Whoever lived in that cottage knew she was there. She would lookstupid to walk away now.
Amelia turned and climbed the stairs at the front of the cottageand eased the door open. She found a kitchen table groaning with breakfastitems, enough to feed an army, and there by a wood-burning stove was agrey-haired woman busy making more food.
The woman didn’t turn around but said, “Sit yourself down, Amelia.I’ll be right with you.”
She knew her name? This was getting creepier by the second. Ameliasat on the edge of the seat, ready to run out of there if need be. Finally, theelderly woman turned around and gave her a huge smile, followed by a head bow.
“Principessa, my name’s Sybil Westford. The Grand Duchess said youwould be coming.”
“Lucia? My partner’s great-great-grandmother?” Amelia said.
“Yes.” Sybil carried over a plate and put it in front of her. “Ihope you like scrambled eggs.”
“But she’s dead.”
Sybil smiled and poured out two cups of tea. “True, but you canstill hear her if you’re open enough.” Sybil sat down next to her. “I think youknow what I mean. Don’t you?”
Amelia hesitated. “I’ve been hearing voices since I was in acasting circle yesterday.”
“And what did they say?” Sybil asked.
“I couldn’t tell. They were all talking over each other and toofar away. I couldn’t make out the words.”
“And now?”
“It’s all so clear. The voices wouldn’t stop telling me to comehere. I couldn’t sleep.”
Sybil smiled. “Those are the voices of our ancestors, yourancestors. All the witches who came before give us our power.”
“So I am a witch? Really?” Amelia said.
When Sybil nodded, Amelia asked. “Did you know my mother andfather?”
“I knew your mother. I was close to her.”
“Who was she? And what about my father?”
Just as Sybil took a breath to answer, Byron burst through thedoor in a flash. “Stay back from my wife—” Byron stopped dead. “Sybil, you’restill—”
Sybil laughed softly. “Alive?”
Byron caught her breath. “No, here.”
Amelia looked back and forth between the two of them. Byron haddressed really hastily, having pulled on the jeans and T-shirt that Ameliabought her. How did she know Sybil?
“You two know each other?”
Sybil nodded. “We’ve crossed paths over the years. We first metwhen I was a girl, and Byron came to us during the War, although she was muchbetter dressed back then.”
Byron looked down at what she was wearing. “Please forgive me. Ihad to dress in haste. Amelia, why did you leave without me?”
“I didn’t think I’d be in danger. The voices wouldn’t stoptalking, and I could hear them clearly after last night.”
Sybil smiled at her, clearly understanding what had happenedbetween them. “The power of love and communing with your partner in the fleshcan open up a blocked mind to the ancestors.”
Amelia felt heat radiating from her cheeks. Byron crouched downand took her hand.
“You shouldn’t have left without me.”
“It was something I felt I had to do on my own.”
“Your guards are staying in the village?” Sybil said.
“You heard?”
“One of our coven—Catherine, who runs the shop in thevillage—spotted you,” Sybil said.
Byron slipped into the seat beside Amelia. The panic she had feltwhen she had wakened to an empty bed was starting to subside.
Byron had met Sybil many years ago, during the War, when she wassent by the Secret Service to liaise with the coven here in the New Forest.
“Bhal is staying in the village, and Captain Villiers is stayingin the cabin next door to us with a friend.”
“Captain Villiers? Is she still as serious as she always was?”
“She is mellowing slightly. We think love is working its magic onher,” Byron said.
“There’s no greater magic than love,” Sybil replied.
Amelia turned to Byron and said, “Why didn’t you say you knewSybil? We could have come to her straight away.”
“I honestly didn’t know she’d still be living here. I’d heard thecoven wasn’t as strong in numbers as it had once been.”
“Yes,” Sybil said, “we cunning folk were once the biggest and mostpowerful coven in Britain, but through one thing and another our numbers havedwindled.”
“You are their leader now?” Byron asked.
Sybil smiled. “Yes, hard to believe that little girl you met thenwould grow up to be the leader?”
“Please, tell me about my birth mum, my dad, who were they? Do Istill have family?” Amelia was sounding frustrated.
Byron put her arm around her. “Give Sybil time.”
“More tea?” Sybil picked up the teapot.
“No, just tell me who I am.” Amelia smacked her hand down on thetable.
Sybil sat down again. “I will answer your questions, but first I needyou to visit your adoptive mother and father.”
“What? Why?”
“I need you to understand why things were done the way they werebefore I tell you everything,” Sybil said.
“Why can’t you witches stop talking in riddles and just speak thetruth? The ones we met in London said I had to come here to find out the truth,these stupid voices in my head tell me to find you, and now you tell me to goback to my adoptive parents? When will it end? When will anyone give me astraight answer?”
“Amelia—” Byron said.
“No.” Amelia shrugged away from Byron, and a flash of light camefrom her hands and knocked a chair across the room.
“You are a powerful witch, Amelia. But you can’t control yourselfor that power,” Sybil said.
Byron looked at Sybil. “Please, Sybil. If you could tell her more.She is distressed about this.”
“She?” Amelia said. “Who’s she? The cat’s mother? I have aname.”
Byron knew Amelia was simply frustrated. Amelia’s life had beenturned upside down since the minute she’d met Byron, and every time Ameliathought she had a handle on this new world, this new existence, the rug waspulled from under her.
Byron took a breath and said. “Amelia is distressed. Couldyou please tell