The blood had drained from my face. I had heard little of what he had said. I knew only too well though what I must say in return.
I shook my head vehemently. ‘Alejandro, no.’
He frowned at my refusal. ‘But you don’t understand. I am asking you to marry me.’
I felt as though my heart had been torn from my body and tossed into the swiftly flowing River Thames beside us. ‘I know,’ I whispered, and looked down at my hand, the hand he was still holding, his thumb still moving slowly across my skin. ‘Please don’t.’
Alejandro released my hand at once. He stood there in silence, his brows knitted fiercely together, his dark eyes fixed on mine. He looked like a man who had just heard his own death sentence pronounced, and yet could still not take it in.
He shook his head. ‘This answer,’ he said slowly, his voice raw, ‘I cannot accept. I refuse to accept it.’
‘You must, for I will not marry you.’
‘Give me a reason why not!’
I sought for one which would satisfy him. ‘Because I do not love you.’
‘Yes, you do,’ he said tautly, and his lips pulled back from his teeth in a mirthless smile. ‘That is a lie.’
‘I am not noble. We would not suit.’
‘Your father is a landowner. He could afford to buy a coat of arms for his family if he chose. You have served a royal princess at the Queen’s court. That will be enough to satisfy my family.’
I stared at him, fragments of my broken heart falling about us like black relentless rain, burning wherever they fell.
He nodded grimly at my silence. ‘You have no reason to refuse me. Now give me your answer, and this time make it “Yes”.’
‘You can’t bully me into marrying you!’ I cried furiously.
‘Can I not?’ Alejandro demanded, and grabbed my arm, dragging me ruthlessly towards him.
His mouth met mine and we kissed, my whole body leaning instinctively into his. Compulsively, my hands touched his dark hair, his strong neck, the flat expanse of his chest. Ah, I truly loved him! Alejandro laughed under his breath and drew me closer. I was giving myself away with every ragged breath I took, and I knew it.
He drew back and looked down at me triumphantly, his eyes glittering. ‘So you do love me. Why pretend not to?’
‘I’m a witch,’ I moaned. ‘And you . . . you still intend to become a priest, don’t you?’
His hands tightened on my shoulders, and he nodded. ‘As soon as we get back to Spain, yes. Priests in my order are permitted to marry, so long as they observe certain strict rules of chastity. But that will not be too hard to do, for I cannot risk your life.’
It was my turn to frown. ‘Risk my life?’
‘The curse,’ Alejandro reminded me grimly. ‘Julia’s dying curse on me for betraying her. She swore that the woman I love will die in childbirth, and my child along with her. I cannot risk your death. So I will not be tempted to break the chastity vows of my order.’
‘I cannot live like that, Alejandro.’
He lowered his gaze to the ground and seemed to consider this for a moment. ‘You think it would be too hard for you to abstain?’ he asked at last. There was a dark colour in his cheeks. ‘For me too. You are very beautiful, Meg. But I will control myself to save your life.’
‘I didn’t mean it like that.’ I tried to explain myself, painstakingly. ‘I can’t live with you if you become a priest, Alejandro, because I will not give up being a witch. It is in my blood. It is what makes me special. But unless I give it up, we cannot marry.’
Alejandro let me go and took a step backwards. ‘I had not realized how much witchcraft meant to you,’ he muttered.
I saw the hurt in his face and longed to comfort him. But it would be cruel to make him think I might change my mind.
‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered. ‘It has always been hard for the Canley women to marry, for that reason. My aunt never married. But my mother did, and she had to give up the craft to do so. She knew it was impossible to live as a mother and a wife, and still be a witch.’
He turned away for a moment, staring with dull eyes at the river water. Then Alejandro raised his head and looked back at me. ‘I need time to think, Meg, and so do you. But I don’t want to lose you. Will you at least agree to a period of betrothal and give me your final answer in a year?’
‘My final answer?’ I was perplexed.
Alejandro nodded and came back, taking my hands in his. There was a new and burning light in his face.
‘Sometimes in my country, a couple will agree to a betrothal for a year and a day. More than a year sometimes, if need be. A young man may have to go off to war, or to make his fortune. So the woman agrees not to give her promise to any other man until the year is up. Then the man returns and asks her again.’
‘In a year’s time?’
His smile was brilliant. ‘Say yes to me now, Meg, and our marriage will not be binding until I ask you again in a year and a day.’
I stared at him. Everything in my body tingled with the excitement of this crazy idea, that all I had to do was say ‘Yes’ now, and in a year and a day, I could take it back and say ‘No’. Meanwhile, we would be as good as betrothed to each other.
‘Well, mi querida?’ Alejandro prompted me, his eyes on mine.
I thought of my aunt’s prophecy that a traveller would bring danger. Marcus Dent had just returned from Germany at the time, and Alejandro would have been on his way from Spain. If the prophecy had meant Marcus, the danger was now past. But if it was Alejandro my aunt had seen in her vision, that danger might yet lie ahead for me. Beware a traveller who comes over water, over land.
I stared at him, torn between love and prophecy. I could not make my mind up which man it had indicated. Meanwhile, I had a more urgent question to answer.
I took a deep breath and gave myself up to the danger. ‘Yes.’
About the Author
While studying Elizabethan playwrights at university, Victoria Lamb always dreamt of writing a series of novels set in Tudor England. Now a busy mother of five, she has finally achieved that ambition after many years of research. Victoria lives in Warwickshire.
Also by Victoria Lamb:
For adults
The Queen’s Secret
Acknowledgements
I owe my thanks to my marvellous agent Luigi Bonomi and his talented wife Alison for their inspiration and support during the writing of this novel; to my editor Lauren Buckland, whose helpful and perceptive suggestions greatly improved Witchstruck; and also to Annie Eaton, Natalie Doherty, Emily Banyard, Lisa Mahoney and all the team at Random House Children’s Books for their infectious enthusiasm and encouragement; to my husband Steve and my children Becki, Dylan, Morris and Indigo, who have had much to put up with by way of crazed moods, lengthy absences and towering stacks of books in every room; and to all my writerly friends on Twitter, Facebook, and at the Romantic Novelists’ Association, without whose ongoing friendship and support I would have struggled not only to start but to finish this novel.
WITCHSTRUCK
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 448 12021 5
Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK
A Random House Group Company
This ebook edition published 2012
Copyright © Victoria Lamb, 2012
Cover copyright © Larry Rostant, 2012
First published in Great Britain by Corgi Books, 2012
The right of Victoria Lamb to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribut
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Table of Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
ONE: Full Moon
TWO: The Red Cross Knight
THREE: At the Sign of the Bull
FOUR: Casting the Circle
FIVE: Witch
SIX: Witchfinder
SEVEN: Immortal Soul
EIGHT: A Face Amongst the Leaves
NINE: The Queen’s Astrologer
TEN: A New Year Kiss
ELEVEN: Flesh and Blood
TWELVE: Devil Worship
THIRTEEN: The Letter
FOURTEEN: Eternal Flame
FIFTEEN: Invisible
SIXTEEN: Rebels
SEVENTEEN: The Gift
EIGHTEEN: Liberty
NINETEEN: The Devil’s Mark
TWENTY: Blown Away
TWENTY-ONE: Summons
TWENTY-TWO: Queen of Shadows
Epilogue: Promises, Promises
About the Author
Also by Victoria Lamb
Acknowledgements
Copyright
Witchstruck Page 26