Heather took a step away from Jayden, but he kept his hands resting on her hips.

Rubbing her face, she took another deep breath. She knew she could not just stand there and do nothing. She had to go to the execution, witness his mother’s escape and face her wrath.

Then, from behind Jayden, out of the dark mist, which was growing thicker and thicker, Katherine appeared.

Heather looked at her in shock. “How… Your mother… How is this possible?”

“I told you she would escape,” he said with a relieved tone in his voice. Jayden turned slowly, but when he looked at Katherine his expression was strange, confused.

“Is it really her?” Heather asked.

Katherine’s lips curled into a sinister smile.

Jayden did not say anything, and he did not move, either. His jaw was jutted forward, and his eyes shone with determination.

Jayden moved Heather to his side, still holding her to him protectively.

Looking up at his face, she saw he was distressed beyond measure, and she felt sick to the stomach, completely overwhelmed, but she knew she had to stand there, keep her feet in the same place and accept Katherine’s anger and fury no matter how unpleasant it got.

“Are you just going to stand there, Heather?” Katherine asked. Her eyes looked as if they were on fire, a non-existent wind was lifting her hair away from her face and her arms were stretched out to her sides, palms facing Heather and Jayden.

Fear filled Heather. “You will not kill me because I have done nothing wrong,” she said the words with power, forcing herself to believe them.

“Have not done anything wrong?” Katherine chuckled a soft, menacing sound.

Heather swallowed loudly.

“Tell me, Heather, what actually happened at the Court House?”

Heather looked at her confused.

“Where I was unfairly punished for a crime, I did not yet commit,” Katherine said.

“But you are… A witch!” Her hands were curled into tight fists from sheer panic. “I said I was sorry.”

“It’s too late to be sorry.”

A hand landed on her shoulder and Heather looked up into Jayden’s dark eyes. “Leave now. Find Kieran,” he said in a harsh voice.

“No.” She shook her head. “I am not leaving you.”

“Please. Do this for me.” Jayden pushed her backwards. “I will see you real soon, I promise.”

Heather took a step back, not sure what to do.

Katherine smirked. “Heather, you never knew when to quit.”

Heather opened her mouth to reply, not knowing what to say.

Jayden hissed, “Heather. Leave.”

She turned and ran as fast as her legs could go until she stumbled into the village square. Her eyes searched frantically for Kieran in the large, gathered crowd, and it was only when she found him that she noticed why everyone had grouped together. Katherine was tied to a pole, in the centre of a large pyre. She was here. Heather wondered if she only imagined seeing Katherine in the woods with Jayden.

 

 

After Heather ran away, disappearing through the curtain of shadows, Jayden took a step away from Katherine.

Katherine cackled. “I curse you all. You, Kieran, and Heather. Forthwith your love will go unanswered. You and Kieran will remain immortal, whilst Heather will die again and again until she chooses the one, she loves most. You will really want to make her yours, take her in your arms, feel her body moulded against your body. You will be desperate to become one with her, to feel the power surge from her body into yours. To feel her power rush through your veins, but you cannot allow this to happen. Even when she chooses you, and the curse is broken, and you imagine your future together stretched ahead of you in long, happy-filled days, you have to convince her to marry you first. It will be the final step, and you must convince her before the next full moon after the curse is broken. If you cannot convince her, it will all be for nought.”

Jayden took a deep breath, knowing he would be able to convince Heather to marry him. They were already betrothed; it would make sense for her to always choose him.

Katherine disappeared then, swallowed by a cloud of shadows, but her voice echoed through the forest, bouncing off the tree trunks around him. “Until you are wed, she will never say she loves you. Never!”

He walked back to the village slowly, past the smouldering pyre without really noticing it, until he saw a small group of people gathered to the side.

An unknown dread filled him, and he started running toward them.

When he saw Heather on the ground, he knew it had begun.

CONTINUE READING

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