The Witch Born to Burn

by Tanya Milne

  He covered my hand in his, stopping me from moving any further.

  ‘What do you mean…probably won’t see him?’

  ‘Just that. It’s going to be weeks before my wound is fully healed.’

  ‘And then you’re going back?’ he said, his face growing redder by the second.

  ‘Stop with the jealous boyfriend act, okay. There’s nothing between Jet and me.’

  ‘Well, tell me what happened then,’ he said, crossing his arms and putting an unreachable distance between us.

  ‘Fine then,’ I said, sitting back, and in a monotone voice, I told him about how I’d fallen into the ocean where the dark forces tried to take me before Jet saved me, and then how I’d fallen hard against the boat.

  ‘You tell me this now, after all this time?’ he said, looking up at the ceiling.

  ‘There hasn’t been the right time,’ I said.

  ‘Does your family know?’

  I gazed out the window at the dark grey clouds that swirled around in the wind.

  ‘Eva?’

  ‘Yes, they do. I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you’d overreact.’

  ‘That’s like lying,’ he said, narrowing his eyes.

  ‘No, lying would be not telling you the truth. Now, can we move on?’

  ‘What else haven’t you told me?’

  I remembered back to how Jet had seen me when I was getting changed, and my face heated.

  ‘For God’s sake, Eva, tell me.’

  ‘It’s not important.’

  ‘Let me decide what’s important to me.’

  ‘It’s not what you think it’ll be.’

  He sat back, his lips parted. ‘Tell me.’

  I closed my eyes and there, waiting for me, was Jet’s face as he glanced at me. I knew my cheeks would be stained the colour of rouge – the colour of sin.

  ‘When Jet pulled me from the water, I was half-frozen. He couldn’t get me warm, so I had to get changed.’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘He accidently turned around too early – that’s all, I promise.’

  He took a sharp breath before cursing Jet’s name.

  Ezra stood up, his hands hitting the table hard.

  ‘Nothing happened. I was dressed in no time and then I got back on the boat, where I had…the accident.’

  Ezra, who had begun pacing the inside of the boat, stopped and turned to me. ‘He must have loved that.’

  Before I could try and compose myself, I remembered Jet’s face. It must have given me away because Ezra let out a long groan.

  ‘It was nothing, Ezra. Nothing.’

  ‘It wasn’t nothing to him. He’s seen you now – not once, but twice. Enough for him to remember, forever.’

  I stood and on shaking legs walked to Ezra. ‘That’s all he has – a memory. Nothing more. You are here, with me. That’s all that matters. I want you. All of you.’

  My face was blazing and my skin prickled with sweat.

  ‘Please,’ I said, then held my breath.

  He watched me for the longest moment of my life before stepping and kissing me with so much passion I felt licked by the flames of a fire. Before I knew it, my shirt was on the ground and we were lost in each other.

  When I least expected it, he pulled back as though he’d come out of the water gasping for air.

  ‘What was the last thing you said to Jet, before you left him?’

  What? Every part of me thawed as the memory resurfaced.

  I stared at Ezra, but no longer saw him. Instead, I remembered the words I’d said to Jet – the same words he’d said to me. Four simple words that flowed from my mouth –

  far more personal than Jet seeing me without clothes – words that could now do so much damage.

  ‘Eva, I know you remember.’

  I picked my shirt up from the ground and tugged it on. ‘I want to go home.’

  ‘What? Why? What did you say?’ he asked, sitting down.

  I wanted to run my hand through his sandy-blond hair and over his sculptured cheekbones and down to his jaw, but I found my jacket and put it on. There was no going back now.

  ‘Please, just tell me,’ he said.

  ‘If I tell you…’

  ‘What?’ he said, raising his voice.

  ‘Promise you won’t break up with me.’

  ‘Argh,’ he said, putting his head in his hands.

  ‘Promise me,’ I begged.

  He glanced up at me then, his deep green eyes looking through me and into my soul. ‘That depends,’ he said.

  My breath deserted me and I struggled to stay upright.

  ‘On?’ I whispered.

  ‘On whether you have feelings for him.’

  I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

  ‘Do you? Do you have feelings for him?’ he asked.

  ‘I care for him…as a friend,’ I said.

  ‘But that’s not all, is it? You have feelings for him, don’t you?’

  I remembered Jet’s face, the way he gazed at me.

  ‘No,’ I whispered. ‘He’s just a friend.’

  ‘Well then, you have nothing to hide. Just say it.’

  I tried to swallow, but couldn’t.

  ‘Eva,’ he pleaded.

  I closed my eyes for a long second, took a deep breath and opened them. ‘I said, I’ll miss you too.’

  As I said these words, I remembered how I’d felt at the time – as though I was being wrenched away from him. That’s when I knew that Ezra was right – I did have feelings for Jet. But whatever they were, they were nothing like what I felt for the boy in front of me – the boy I loved.

  Ezra’s face was frozen in shock.

  ‘I love you, Ezra,’ I said.

  Ezra gazed past me out the window, to where the afternoon was looming long and grey.

  ‘Please, Ezra, don’t push me away. You mean everything to me.’

  ‘Everything? If I mean everything, why do you have feelings for Jet?’

  My mouth closed at the sting in his words, and it took me a few moments to recover. ‘I don’t…I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. All that matters is you and me. You’ve been by my side every step of the way. It’s you who I love.’

  ‘Yeah, right,’ he said, his body rigid with an anger and indignation I hadn’t seen before.

  ‘It’s true,’ I said, putting my hand on his arm. ‘I love you, Ezra. Please.’

  For a moment, a crack in his armour appeared and I thought I might get through, but then he folded his arms across his chest, closing up my last hope.

  ‘We can’t be together,’ he said.

  ‘What! You can’t be serious.’

  ‘I was ready to give myself to you now…forever, but that’s because you have my whole heart. There hasn’t been space for anyone else, not today, not ever. But you, you have someone else in your heart, and I know that you have all of his.’

  I slumped forward as the meaning of his words saturated me. Just like that, he’d dumped me. I would see him again at school, but I would never hold his hand, never kiss his lips, never see him walk up my front stairs. He would never be my first, my last.

  Tears flooded my eyes until I could no longer see. Outside it started to rain, the rhythmic pitter-patter of the drops tapping the roof. I glanced at the bed. If he hadn’t asked that one question, that’s where we’d be, creating a memory that could never be taken from us. Now, I’d have to learn to live with the memories we’d made – knowing they would never be enough.

  ‘Come on, I’ll drive you home,’ he said, his face puckered with rage.

  ‘No,’ I said, holding onto the couch as I found my feet. ‘I’ll walk.’

  ‘Don’t be silly – it’s raining. I’ll drive you.’

  I shrugged on my jacket and tried to rein in my tears, but it was an unwinnable battle.

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ I said, taking one last look at those eyes of the man that I’d grown to love and trust in a way I hadn’t imagined was possible.

/>   ‘Eva, you can’t go out in this.’

  ‘And what am I going to do tomorrow and the next day…the day after that? You won’t be there to drive me, or care about whether I get wet or sick. So, what difference does it make?’

  My eyes clouded with tears and I grabbed my bag and made my way to the stairs, slipping as I went.

  ‘Eva,’ he said, moving to stand behind me.

  ‘What?’ I said, opening the door.

  He said nothing as the winds and rain blew at me. I didn’t look back as I walked through the door, then closed it behind me. I climbed off the boat I’d so happily stepped onto only a short time ago.

  The rain lashed me, drenching me to the bone. Behind me, I heard his boat door open and felt his gaze on my back as I walked away.

  He didn’t call my name.

  He didn’t run after me and tell me we’d find a way through this together.

  He stayed where he was, his heart closed to me forever.

  Now, I was all alone, except my tender heart had been broken in two, and I had no idea if or how I’d be able to put it back together again.

  As I walked towards home, night fell like a curtain across a stage and swallowed me whole. I glanced into the shadows, where there had once only been light. I let my tears fall freely and blend in with the rain that ran down my face.

  Somewhere out there, Jet, the young man who’d crawled under my skin, was sitting under the same rain, alone. His final words from his soul to mine, and mine to his had ruined my relationship with Ezra. And now all three of us would be alone to face whatever evil Orpheus would breathe into this small town.

  For a moment, I pictured Ezra arriving home to his family, the dread in his heart with no one to share it with. My heart might never recover, but at least I had my family. Who did he have now?

  I let out a cry from my soul as I began mourning the loss of my true love. Thunder grumbled its reply and I turned my face to the heavens above, where a bolt of lightning tore shreds from the sky.

  That’s when I remembered – inside me was the power of fire. It ran through my veins; it was part of the essence of who I was. While there was breath in my body, there was nothing and no one that could take that away – not Orpheus, Max, the dark spirits or even a broken heart.

  I glanced around into the night and quickened my step on the cobbled street. A shiver down my spine told me not to linger. The quest to kill a witch had been squashed this time, but I knew that it had been postponed and not abandoned. Evil forces had been unleashed into this town, and people thirsted to be released from their fears and cleansed of their sins – at whatever price.

  It was only a matter of time before the word witch would be muttered with fervour again, and when it did, I would make sure I was ready.

  * * *

  THE END.

  Thanks so much for reading The Witch Born to Burn, Book Two in the Inferno series.

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  If you enjoyed reading this, I’d be very grateful if you could recommend this book to friends and family who you think may enjoy it. Honest reviews on Amazon and Goodreads are also enormously appreciated.

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  Recommendations and reviews make a huge difference to authors as they help give their books the chance to succeed, which enables them to keep writing.

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  I’m excited to let you know that Book Three in the Inferno series, The Witch Born to Blaze, is now available to pre-order on Amazon.

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  Go to:

  http://mybook.to/WitchBorntoBlaze

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  Or, search:

  The Witch Born to Blaze on Amazon.

  * * *

  Here’s a little teaser.

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  A secret set to destroy lives. A forbidden love. To fight evil, she’ll have to come out of hiding...

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  To survive the return of witch persecution, Eva’s keeping secrets. She’s hiding the witch Orpheus is hunting, her true identity, and whom her heart belongs to. But when Orpheus announces a debutante ball, Eva is forced to make choices that alter her future, bringing her closer to the son of her mortal enemy and distancing her from the one boy who truly understands her.

  * * *

  As the real purpose of the debutant ball becomes clear, the women of Melas begin losing power over their own destiny. Just when Eva’s future seems secure, she’s forced out of hiding and discovers what lies in her heart, and what she could lose.

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  Can Eva fight an evil force that seems intent on turning her heart to darkness?

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  The Witch Born to Blaze is the third book in the spellbinding Inferno YA witch fantasy series. If you like forbidden magic, simmering chemistry, and page- turning paranormals, then you'll love Tanya Milne's compelling supernatural tale.

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  About Tanya Milne

  Tanya had been writing since she was a small child living on a farm in the Australian countryside. Her love of writing was channelled into her diaries as a teen, then later through her undergraduate arts degree and postgraduate communication business degree. During her twenties, she built a successful career as a Change and Communication Manager.

  The turning point in her writing journey occurred when she had her first baby. She started writing a novel in the little pockets of time while her baby slept. Before long her passion for writing turned into a love affair.

  Fifteen years later, Tanya’s babies are growing up and she’s written many books. She’s an emerging writer who adores writing children’s books, young adult novels and women’s fiction.

  Her books have been described as gripping, lyrical and emotive, with a generous pinch of romance. At their heart, Tanya’s books are about finding courage, strength and love to empower ourselves to overcome adversity.