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Vivian pulled down the driveway, her car’s headlights sweeping the old fence I returned to the house, turned off the lights, and climbed the stairs to my husband

"Did you lock the front door?" Matthew asked, putting down his book He was stretched out on the bed, which was barely long enough to contain him

"I couldn’t It’s a dead bolt, and Sarah lost the key" My eyes strayed to the key to our bedroom door, which the house had helpfully supplied on an earlier occasion The ht pushedwanton?" Matthew’s tone was as seductive as a caress

"We’re married" I shucked off my shoes and reached for the top button on my seersucker shirt

"It’s my wifely duty to have carnal desires where you’re concerned"

"And it’s ation to satisfy them" Matthew ently replaced h its hole Then he moved on to the next, and the next Each inch of revealed flesh earned a kiss, a soft press of teeth

Five buttons later I was shivering slightly in the hu," hehis hands around to release the clasp on my bra Matthew brushed his lips over the crescent-shaped scar near my heart "You don’t feel cold"

"It’s all relative, vaers in his hair, and he chuckled "Now, are you going to love me, or do you just want to takeit this way and that in the silver light The ers on my left hand each bore a colored line, one the shade of a es of the other cords had faded slightly, though a pearly knot was still barely visible on the pale flesh of each wrist

"What do you think it all ainst hts and circles on my shoulders

"That you’ve married the tattooed lady--or so withinto feel crowded inside ht of a way to save Grace so quickly"

"I didn’t think at all When Grace screamed, it flipped some switch in me I was all instinct then" I twisted in his ar still on my back?"

"Yes And it’s darker than it was before" Matthew’s hands slid around my waist, and he turned me back to face him "Any theories as to why?"

"Not yet" The ansas just out offorto do with your power It’s stronger now than it’s ever been" Matthew carried my wrist to his mouth He drank in ive off the scent of su, but now there’s also a note like dynite when the lit fuse first touches the powder"

"I have enough power I don’t want anyinto Matthew

But since we’d returned to Madison, a dark desire was stirring in my blood

Liar, whispered a familiar voice

My skin prickled as if a thousand witches were looking at oddess

I stole a glance around the roon of her If Mattheere to detect the goddess’s presence, he’d start asking questions I didn’t want to answer And he oodness," I said under ?" Matthew asked

"No," I lied again, and crept closer to Matthew "You s"

10

I stu, exhausted from my encounter ater and the vivid dreaht" Sarah stood behind the old pulpit with her reading glasses perched on the end of her nose, red hair wild around her face, and the Bishop griiven Emily’s Puritan ancestor, Cotton Mather, fits

"Really? I didn’t notice" I yawned, trailing h that held fresh-picked lavender Soon the herbs would be hanging upside down to dry fro to that serviceable ith a silken version of her own

"You’ve certainly been busy thisthe subject The milk-thistle heads were in the sieve, ready to be shaken to free the seeds from their downy surround Bunches of yelloered rue and button-centered feverfeere tied with string and ready for hanging Sarah had dragged out her heavy flower press, and there was a tray of long, aroo into it

Bouquets of newly harvested flowers and herbs sat on the counter, their purpose not yet clear

"There’s lots of work to do," Sarah said "Soone, but they have their own plots to take care of, and the winter and spring seeds never got into the ground"

Several anonyiven the size of the witch’s garden at the Bishop house Thinking to help, I reached for a bunch of rue The scent of it would always remind me of Satu and the horrors that I’d experienced after she took arden at Sept-Tours to La Pierre Sarah’s hand shot out and intercepted nant woo to the garden and cut some moonwort Use that" She pointed to her white-handled knife The last time I’d held it, I’d used it to open otten it Neither of us mentioned it either

"Moonwort’s that plant with the pods on it, right?"

"Purple flowers Long stalks Papery-looking flat disks," Sarah instructed with more patience than usual "Cut the stems down to the base of the plant We’ll separate the flowers froarden was tucked into a far corner of the orchard where the apple trees thinned out and the cypresses and oaks of the forest didn’t yet overshadow the soil It was surrounded by palisades of fencing made from metal posts, wire mesh, pickets, retooled pallets--if it could be used to keep out rabbits, voles, and skunks, Sarah had used it For extra security the whole peried twice a year and warded with protection spells

Inside the enclosure Sarah had re-created a bit of paradise Solens where ferns and other tender plants found shelter in the shadows of the taller trees Others bisected the raised vegetable beds that were closest to the house, with their trellises and beanpoles

Noretation--sweet peas and snap peas and beans of every description--but they were skeletal this year