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  Her phone buzzed, and on picking it up she saw there was a reminder to head over to another of the coven’s older members in need of company and a good cup of tea.

  Casting her gaze to the horizon, she realised it was getting late. An hour and it would be dark. She turned the ignition on the car and drove off.

  ***

  The next morning, Grandpa Royston called up the stairs to where Nea checked her hair in the mirror. ‘Bethanea, come and sit down. I want to have a word with you.’

  It must be bad if he’s using my full name. She pulled a face, making her freckled nose wrinkle. ‘Coming,’ she yelled, then checked her teeth before bounding down the stairs to see what he wanted.

  ‘Oh? There you are,’ Gregor said as if surprised to see her.

  Definitely something dodgy there. Nea bit her bottom lip. He was a powerful warlock so he knew where she was in the house and in the neighbourhood, if truth be told—a fact she’d discovered after a few embarrassing moments when she was a teenager. Being caught half-naked with a member of the opposite sex was not a fond memory. As the boy had been human, it had been even more humiliating and devilishly hard to explain afterwards to either party.

  ‘I’ve made you a nice cup of tea,’ Gregor said. ‘Come sit in the living room.’

  Nea followed behind Gregor Royston’s large form. He was eighty-four but looked barely older than forty. A folk talent that Gregor had in spades. She hoped she inherited a share of it. However, at the rate she got sunburned and freckled, she doubted that she had.

  Her mother still looked young—not that Nea saw much of her. She’d gone off to Europe when Nea had been five years old. Anyway, it would just be her luck to take after the human side of the family.

  Nea followed her grandfather and pulled up short. Her mouth dropped open, and she quickly shut it.

  It was hard not to gape at what was before her. Her grandfather had brought out her grandma’s old tea service and there were fresh scones on a tiered stand, with bowls of cream and jam to accompany them. Nea blinked, certain he hadn’t baked them or conjured them, so he must have nipped to the bakery earlier. Her suspicion levels rose even higher. If there was a meter in her head, its pointer would be definitely in the red zone, flashing: warning, warning. warning.

  Missing her moment to back out of the room and flee from the house, she moved to a chair. Blinking rapidly as she sat down, she took in the tea service that carried with it so many fond memories of her deceased grandmother. Bess had been human and an amazing woman. She’d captured the heart of a powerful warlock and he wouldn’t give her up, no matter the consequences. So he’d married her in the human way and left the Sydney coven to form one of his own up here on the Central Coast.

  What a life they had led. Bess had been a special woman—she’d had to be to manage a life with Gregor—and had doted on Nea, her only granddaughter. Nea missed her deeply and she realised she always would. Bess had taken the place of her absent mother. Nea took comfort in the thought that Bess was a part of her and that her spirit and strength ran through her veins.

  ‘What is it?’ Gregor asked, realising she was taken aback.

  Nea closed her gaping mouth. ‘Bess’s tea service.’ She indicated with her hand. Her grandfather had sideswiped her. Nea repressed the urge to cry, feeling emotional all of a sudden. But that wouldn’t do. Tears would only upset the old man and there was no point in giving him a tactical advantage. This was an engagement of wills. He wanted something from her, badly.

  ‘I wanted to add something to the occasion.’

  ‘Occasion?’ Uh-oh. ‘What occasion?’

  He grinned. ‘Just be patient. I’ll get to that.’

  Gregor put the strainer on her cup and lifted the teapot. ‘It’s amazing how something like this—’ He flicked the tip of the milk jug, with its gold rim and bright red rose pattern. ‘—an object, can invoke such memories.’ He frowned. ‘It doesn’t get any easier, losing her, you know.’

  ‘I know.’

  He smiled at Nea, but it didn’t take the sadness from his eyes. He’d done his best for Bess, using magic to preserve her looks and her health, but she’d faded suddenly and there was nothing that could have been done about it.

  With a sigh, he lifted the pot and poured the tea. Nea took her cup. Gregor levitated the tiered platter towards her. ‘Scone?’

  ‘I will.’ May as well take what’s on offer. He’s gone to a lot of trouble, after all. She plucked one from the bottom tier and sat quietly in her chair and watched Gregor serve himself.

  The room was quiet and there was a kind of reverence building, as if Bess was there with them. Nea’s mind calmed as she sipped the tea, savouring the richness of the blend. Gregor let nothing show on his face, but a serenity emanated from him as he sipped tea and munched on his scone.

  After a few minutes, Gregor sat back in his big recliner, a cup nestled in his hand. Nea took a bite of her scone and chewed, savouring the tartness of the raspberry jam she’d spooned on it. One of Bess’s homemade ones. This talk must be serious if Gregor was dipping into his horde of Bess’s preserves.

  He jiggled the cup as he lowered it, making Nea look up. His white blond eyebrows shot up when he caught her eye. ‘So, Nea. You’ve been hanging around the house a lot these last few months.’

  Nea swallowed and lowered her eyelids. Is this going to be the how’s-your-love-life talk? Surely not. He didn’t need all this pomp to pry into her private life. He just had to bark at her and she’d answer.

  ‘Is that a problem?’ She kept house for Gregor and loved being with him. He was so full of energy, and as he was the centre of the coven, so was she. It was her life and she was content. Mostly content.

  ‘No, no.’ He spooned some cream onto another scone. ‘Not a problem. Good actually, because I was wondering if you could do me a favour.’

  Nea swallowed another mouthful, trying not to choke. ‘Sure. What kind of favour?’

  ‘I said to old Rory Penderton that I’d keep an eye on his boy, Drew.’

  The bite of scone in her mouth was hard to swallow. She did her best and then cleared her throat. ‘Well, you have been. He’s visited here a few times.’

  Nea’s eyes narrowed at the memory of Drew. She’d never hit it off with the Sydney-based warlock who’d moved up here to the lake. She hadn’t noticed his absence lately. Although, she noticed when he was around but for the wrong reasons. He put her instincts on alert.

  ‘Yes, well … now I’m worried about him. He’s been withdrawn, reclusive these last few weeks. I want to keep him involved with the coven and not with other influences.’

  Her eyebrows rose. ‘You mean with Pris Denholm, don’t you?’

  He lifted his head, his blue eyes piercing. ‘What do you know?’

  Nea shrugged. ‘Not much, but folk talk. She’s a dark witch, they say. And Elena’s mother.’ Elena had confided in her, and it had seemed a bit sad that her mother didn’t want to meet her own daughter. Particularly after abandoning her with humans as a baby. Must be a real cow. Poor Elena. At least Nea’s mother communicated sometimes, when she had time to spare from her current brood. Ursula had left Riley to run off with a very flamboyant warlock from Spain. They had four children, none of whom Nea had seen. Riley had stayed to raise her, which she very much appreciated.

  Gregor coughed and placed his tea back on the table next to his scone. ‘I doubt either of them would benefit from you repeating that story about their connection.’ Gregor was as close to a glower as she’d ever seen him.

  ‘You know I won’t. So what’s the problem?’

  The snowy eyebrows lowered over his bright blue eyes. ‘Nothing. Of course you wouldn’t say anything. I’m overreacting. I thought maybe you’d heard about Drew visiting Pris.’

  Nea sat up straighter, rattling the cup in its saucer. ‘Has he been visiting her?’ she asked as she steadied the cup and placed it back on the table.

  ‘I can’t tell. He’s shielded himself from my sight
.’

  Her eyes narrowed. ‘Does he have the talent for that?’ As she’d not taken an interest in Drew other than politeness, due to her role as the granddaughter of the head of the coven and keeper of his house, she knew next to nothing about the surly warlock’s abilities. Although she was a reader and generally couldn’t help detecting something on the surface layers of the people she met, she’d gotten nothing from Drew, and as he didn’t rate further thought she’d not bothered thinking anything about it. Shielding himself from Grandpa! That is interesting. It went without saying that he’d shielded from her, too. Nea chewed her bottom lip. It wasn’t good she hadn’t picked up on that. It meant there was more work to be done on honing her talent.

  Gregor eased into the recliner, letting out a huge sigh. For the first time, Nea got a sense of his real age. He was tired, tired in the heart. His grief had not left him. If anything he clung to it, like a baby to a comforter. For a short time, it was right and natural for him to grieve, but if it went on much longer, she’d be concerned.

  ‘To tell the truth, I’m not sure,’ Gregor said, continuing the conversation. ‘He’s never let me assess him, and his father mentioned that he was good at hiding parts of himself. He could be shielding himself or it could be her doing it for him.’

  Her. The dark witch. Someone they didn’t like to think about.

  ‘So what can I do?’ Nea asked, leaning forward to plop a large dollop of jam on the second half of her scone. She thought she knew what was coming, but she wanted Gregor to spell it out. No volunteering for chores, particularly disagreeable ones. She’d fallen far too often for those without putting up a fight.

  ‘I thought maybe you could take him out, entertain him.’

  ‘Entertain him? How?’ She narrowed her eyelids, letting him know quite plainly she was suspicious.

  Gregor picked up his tea, took a sip and swallowed. ‘You know.’ He shrugged. ‘Take him on a date.’

  Nea stilled, the cream dropping from her scone and over the plate. ‘You can’t be serious.’ Nea’s cheeks burned and she had to put her plate down in case she broke it.

  Gregor squirmed on his chair. ‘Well, it was an … idea.’

  Nea took in a few deep breaths, anchoring herself. ‘But you wouldn’t want me to get serious with him, would you?’ She couldn’t hide the incredulity of her voice. Drew Penderton is a good-looking creep. Scratch that. I should be more charitable. An asshole with grooming, or better still, a pretty face with a sour-grape constitution. Wow! Where did that come from? Nea gaped, appalled at the strength of her ill feeling.

  Gregor tilted his head. ‘That would be entirely up to you. He needs a connection to the coven and so far he’s made none. A romance might give him an incentive. The poor boy has tried to—’

  ‘No, he hasn’t. He’s been a right bastard to anyone who’s tried to be nice. He’s good-looking, but Prince Charming he’s not.’

  ‘Now, Nea …’

  ‘Don’t you “now Nea” me. Romance? With Drew Penderton! Why, he laughed at my freckles and then called me moonface.’ Moonface? The pig! The scone was like a lump of lead in her stomach. She took some more tea, scalding her tongue. Her heart raced and she sucked in big breaths.

  Gregor’s eyes widened when he saw her agitation. ‘So he’s a little churlish.’ He smiled. ‘Don’t take it to heart. He just needs a bright young thing to help him find his way.’

  Nea sensed that Gregor was using his power to calm her down and soothe her. While she was aware of it, she didn’t fight it but put her cup on the tray and slid her plate under it. ‘I find it very hard to shine around him. He oppresses me. Not his type.’

  Gregor pursed his lips, regarded her for a few moments, and then started packing the dishes onto a tray. ‘How do you know until you try?’ he ventured, this time not exerting his influence.

  Nea picked up the tray that was now full of their tea things and stood. She wasn’t going to budge. Gregor stood too and grabbed the tray, holding her still. ‘Please,’ he said softly, reasonably.

  Nea looked down, letting her hair cover half her face. She chewed her bottom lip. What could it hurt? Just one date. Gregor can’t expect more. It will make him so happy, take away some of his worry. It is such a small thing.

  She grinned and met Gregor’s concerned eyes. ‘Look, I’ll contact him and see if he wants to do something. If he does, we can take it from there. But that’s it. I’m not going to chase him down for a date.’

  Gregor grinned. He took the tray from her, and Nea rescued the tiered platter as it wobbled. She followed him out to the kitchen. He said over his shoulder, ‘I appreciate it. If you get a chance to read him, then do?’

  ‘Without his permission?’ She put the platter on the bench.

  Gregor nodded. ‘More to the point, without him knowing.’

  Nea took the teapot and tipped out the dregs. ‘I think you overestimate my talent, Grandpa.’ She soothed her fingers over the teapot and sighed, thinking of her grandmother.

  ‘Don’t call me Grandpa. It ages me. Call me Gregor, like everyone else does.’

  She gazed up at him, meeting his bright blue eyes. ‘I miss her.’

  Gregor looked down, and picked up a cup and stared at it. ‘I do too. It makes me sad that the talent I have and cherish is the one thing that separated us. Nothing else did, you know.’

  ‘Do you regret leaving the other coven to be with her?’

  He looked Nea hard in the eye. ‘No, never!’ He lowered the teacup onto the bench and his gaze focused somewhere else. ‘It was hard starting from scratch up here. Lake Macquarie was a backwater then. We aren’t as big or as rich as the Sydney coven, but it’s been good. Bess was happy here. Our sons were, too, in their younger days.’

  ‘You gave her a good life. You shared so many beautiful moments. I’m beginning to despair of finding such love that you two had.’

  His shoulders sagged. ‘You spend too much time looking after me and the house.’ He placed the dishes in the sink and then turned to her. ‘You should get out more, maybe go to Sydney and spend time with Jake and Elena.’

  Nea laughed. ‘I did go to Sydney. Remember? I babysat for a while. I love being there with them, but if it’s a Sydney warlock you have in mind I don’t fancy my chances. Man shortage and all that. Some of the witches down there talked to me at social events but only because I’m too plain to be competition.’ She tapped her nose full of freckles. ‘Grace and Elena call them bitch-witches, you know.’ She let out a laugh.

  Gregor’s brow furrowed, sending his white eyebrows knitting together. ‘Well, further afield then. Britain or Europe?’

  She picked up a tea towel and paused. ‘But I thought you were concerned about the dark uprisings there.’

  He cocked his head to the side. ‘I am, but I’m sure you would be safe. They are localised to particular areas. Just avoid those.’

  ‘You going to pay my fare I suppose in return for my little favour?’ Nea grinned at him. She didn’t want to leave the lake or Gregor permanently, even though it lowered her chances of finding someone suitable. But a nice expenses-paid jaunt might be just the trick to improve her chances.

  ‘You make it sound like a transaction.’ He grunted. ‘It’s not. You’ve been looking after me and deserve a break. Not that I don’t appreciate it.’

  She patted him on the arm. ‘You don’t need to bribe me. I’ll check him out; if there’s a spark there I’m happy to see where it leads.’ Personally, she doubted there would be, but she was happy enough to give it a try. Maybe things would improve on their third or was it fourth acquaintance. She’d nothing to lose except time and maybe her temper.

  Gregor reached over and clasped her hand. ‘Just be careful. Now clear off. I want to take care of this.’ He started to prepare the dishes for washing up in the human way. He didn’t like wasting magic on frivolous things.

  As Nea’s gaze lingered, she noticed his expression was sad. He looked like he was one with his memories, but there
was something else, something bothering him, something he wasn’t talking about. She hadn’t known him to be secretive before. Nea tried to sense where his anxiety was coming from but Gregor was sealed up tight. A good precaution with a reader in the house.

  ‘Okay. I’m going for a walk and then I’ll see what Drew is up to.’

  Chapter Two

  The sun had just set on the western side of the lake and dusk embraced them. Nea walked with Drew on the tail end of a rather irritating date. A walk along the shore was usually a cure-all—the light breeze shredding dark moods and dissipating low spirits. Right then, Nea was too tense to relax.

  ‘So you think hanging around the lake is fun?’ Drew Penderton asked, with a sneer evident in his voice. He swiped at some long grass, cutting off the tips.

  Nea sighed. ‘Yes, I do. But I was brought up here. I like this space, the lake, the quiet life. Not as sophisticated or as exciting as Sydney, I know.’

  Drawing closer to the water, Drew bent down and picked up a stone. He pitched it and then she detected a slight vibration as he used his talent to make it skip and skip until it passed out of sight. ‘This place has nothing on Sydney.’

  The moon rose and silver light glittered over the lake’s surface. The lunar energy tickled along the bare skin of her arms. ‘Isn’t there anything you like about the place?’

  ‘Some things. Too many humans though for my taste.’ He faced her, but his expression was bland and muted by shadow. She couldn’t pick up anything from the exterior of him. It was a blank as his inner landscape. Or was that a desolate inner landscape?

  He glanced at the moon, and she took the opportunity to read him but came up against a wall. It had been that way at dinner. Stifled conversation—like trying to converse through the gap in a paling fence. She could read nothing. His mind was hidden by a steel shutter. She’d never come across someone like that. Not even surface thoughts. Even his gestures were subdued. He could be having a fab time or totally hating every moment. She couldn’t even interpret his body language. That swept her up on a wave of uncertainty. Most people, including the folk, leaked something. As Drew gave off nothing, it was very hard to like him or even establish empathy with him.