A Little Green Magic (The Little Coven #1) - Isabel Wroth Page 0,53

both after something sacred, which says to me you were both the most precious things in her whole world.

“From what little you told me about it, your people aren't big on love matches. They pair up according to who can reproduce the strongest offspring for the betterment of the species. The pressure your mom felt to have a child, only to learn she was physically incapable? I imagine you have some understanding of how alone and rejected she must have felt.”

Uriah said it gently, and Ivy found herself nodding, curling her fingers into a fist on his chest.

“She disobeyed the rules back then. It didn't matter to her what the consequences were, she wanted a baby for herself, and she paid a steep price. Unfortunately, history is rife with deals childless women have made with the Fae that went wrong.”

Ivy tipped her head back and frowned up at him in confusion. “Your bear can read?”

“The bear is me, honey,” he told her with a chuckle, drawing his fingertip along her hairline. “I don't lose my human mind unless I let him take over completely.”

“Do you think he knows about me? My brother.” Uriah didn't answer her immediately, his smile turning a little brittle around the edges while he visibly hesitated. Alarm jangled through her, and she pushed up on one arm to look down at him, studying the nuances of his expression. “What?”

Slowly, Uriah nodded and said, “I think he does.”

“And?” she prompted, wondering why her heart was suddenly beating so hard.

“And... I think maybe he was the one at the garden shop asking about you. Tall, red hair, made Sandy almost have an orgasm just talking about him.”

“She didn't!” Ivy guffawed.

Uriah's brows climbed up into his hair with a knowing nod. “She did. She has excellent control over herself, but the arousal pumping off her was intense. She probably wouldn't have remembered him at all, except she was wearing a pendant made out of what looked like antique horseshoe nails. Iron.”

Her stomach twisted now for a whole new reason, her hands going cold and clammy. “You think he might be involved with the Silver Wives massacre and the death of my Headmistress?”

“I think it's a possibility we shouldn't rule out.” His answer was tactful, his tone as neutral as it could possibly get, but it still made her feel sick to her stomach.

Her immediate reaction was to vehemently protest. To say that was impossible, that her brother wouldn't do that, but how could she make that claim without sounding like an idiot? She hadn't even known she had a brother until today.

Not once in her nine months of journaling had Ivy's mom mentioned the Green Man coming back to check on her, which told Ivy he could have cared less about her health or the child he didn’t want.

Ivy had no idea what kind of life her brother might have led, raised by a fairy creature who'd taken advantage of their mother, left her pregnant, bruised and unconscious on the forest floor, and snatched Ilex as a baby only hours after he'd been born.

With that saddening thought, Ivy slung her leg over Uriah's hip and settled back into his embrace, needing the incredible heat he put off to soothe the chills permeating her. “Sandy didn't say if he was alone or not.”

“No, she didn't. I think the best thing we can do right now is keep on, business as usual.”

Ivy nodded, sure she should have had some kind of feminine objection to him taking charge and telling her what to do, but she couldn't find it in her right now to make a fuss.

For all her failures and feelings of insecurity and displacement, she led a terribly sheltered life. Not one time had she gone to bed fearing what the dawn might bring. She never had to worry about the people she cared about being hurt. She’d never had to worry about being kidnapped by her father.

She’d been safe because of her mother’s sacrifices.

“You didn't eat lunch. Do you think you could stomach some broth from yesterday's roast and some bread? You need something in your tummy before we turn in.”

Ivy closed her eyes, wondering why that one question hit her so hard. Uriah's desire to feed and care for her wasn't a secret, but for some reason, now, in what felt like her most vulnerable moment, he proved he was everything she could have possibly hoped for.

Witches weren't big on promoting love matches, and despite all the lies