A Little Green Magic (The Little Coven #1) - Isabel Wroth Page 0,75

favor of pushing her hands up his back to grab hold of his shoulders. “You're not going to. The most powerful oracle in the world said we're going to be fine, so we will be.”

The oracle said Astrid's family would be fine. Uriah wasn't Astrid's family, and she'd looked right at him when Juliet read the text aloud. The chill that worked its way down his spine felt like the touch of Fate.

He'd wasted so much time living in fear that his love for her would be the catalyst for her death, but it seemed the shoe might now be on the other foot. His foot.

If he had to die so Ivy could be free, Uriah wouldn't hesitate to offer himself up, but more than anything in the world, he wanted to spend decades with her. Make memories, babies, and a beautiful life in the home he'd built for them.

For the plan to work, Uriah couldn't give away his certainty that this meeting would result in his death. He had to be strong, so Ivy could get through the next few days focused on what she had to do. He couldn't let her catch on that he was preparing himself for it to be his blood yet to be spilled.

“We will be,” he repeated, savoring every moment as if it were his last. “What do you need the courage to tell me?”

Her fingers kneaded at his shoulders, uncertainty and apprehension coloring both her scent and her tone. “I didn't say anything during the war meeting, because I wasn't sure how to explain.”

“Okay,” Uriah answered, pressing his cheek to hers.

“And I didn't say anything when I saw the second flower because I love you, and I couldn't take the risk that there were people waiting out in the woods for one of us to come out. You, namely, because you wouldn't have let me go with you.”

He sighed, pretty sure he knew where she was taking her time to lead him. “You saw your brother leaving you the message.”

“I did. I'm sorry.”

“I'm sorry, too. I caught a hint of a scent this time, masculine. It was familiar enough to yours that I suspected it might be him, but I didn't want to say so and get your hopes up.”

“I can't dare let myself think that just because he's warning me, means he's on my side.”

Uriah agreed and was glad she felt that way because he wouldn't trust the guy any farther than he could throw him.

“Everything will be fine, just like Astrid's mom said.” Ivy tipped her head back into his hand, searching his face with a gentle smile. His heart thundered in his chest, glad she didn't have the nose of a shifter to know something was wrong.

“It will be. I love you.”

Standing there in the sunshine with his hands cradling her cheeks, Uriah kissed the taste of those precious words from her lips and prayed with all his might, that against all odds, he would live to hear her say them ten thousand times more.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Ivy sat the last platter of cut fruit on the table she'd created out of tree roots called up from the ground. She dusted her hands off as she straightened, and looked around at the circle her coven prepared in the center of the meadow.

The stage was carefully set, the circle, the summer feast, a table for them all to sit and enjoy their day together with a four-inch line of iron filings spread out in a two-hundred-foot diameter around them and under half the table. For safety reasons, of course.

They all wore white, even Kerrigan, their version of ritual robes to further imply the importance of the day.

The lions lay around the meadow like sentry guards, and Uriah strayed no more than two feet from Ivy's side at any given time. Everyone had their part to play, and oddly enough, Ivy wasn't as nervous as she thought she'd be.

She couldn't decide if it was her own personal lull before the storm, or that she was so worn out her brain couldn't muster up any doubts or fears to ruin the charade.

Which had probably been Uriah's goal.

Last night, he'd been insatiable, almost desperate, greedy for every touch and kiss he could possibly get. He barely let her sleep more than a half-hour at a time before making love to her.

It felt like he'd been trying to cram a lifetime of kisses and intimacy into one night, just in case. Despite how tired she was