The Rose Witch - Chandelle LaVaun Page 0,56

my mother’s heels when I was little. I grinned. “It worked!”

He stepped up beside me. “Just be careful.”

I kissed his cheek, then hopped over to the door. The second I landed in front of it, the wooden door swung wide open. Warm air hit my face and I sighed. Home. I stepped to my right and stopped beside the coat rack, taking a moment to hang my Burberry coat in a safe spot. Then I turned and skipped toward the living room, but I only made it five feet before that invisible barrier shot a foot off the ground and I flew into the air.

“CHLOE!” I heard my mother and granny shout my name but I was too busy flipping upside down.

Black smoke wrapped around my body, flipping me right side up and lowering me back down beside Malachi. He frowned and shook his head. “I told you to be careful. It will affect you more the deeper you move in Holy Ground.”

My mother gasped up ahead. “MALACHI?”

I jumped and looked up just in time to see my mother sprinting across the grand salon right at my soulmate. She stopped in front of him and wrapped her arms around him. He went into her embrace like it was no big deal. She held him a moment before dropping her arms and stepping back.

Malachi smiled and then bowed. “Your Majesty, it has been a long time.”

Mum grinned and peered up at him with glistening blue eyes. “And yet you haven’t aged a day.”

He smirked. “Considering your age, I would say you’re doing equally as well.”

“Right. Sorry, rewind a bloody second.” I frowned and shook my head. “You two know each other? I mean, you said you knew my father but like—wait did you call her Your Majesty?”

They exchanged nervous glances. Behind my mother, Granny sat on the pale colored sofa sipping tea.

I pushed my sleeves up and put my hands on my hips. “What am I missing?”

“Chloe, dear, why don’t you – what are these lines on your arm– oh my Goddess.” She grabbed my arm and pushed my sleeve even farther up, then she surprised the hell out of me by yanking down the collar of my shirt. Then she turned to Malachi. “She has a soulmate?”

His face went adorably pink.

But the way mine burned I was positive I was blushing just as much.

“What?” Mum glanced back and forth between us. Then she gasped. “Wait…you?”

If possible, his cheeks turned even more pink. He pushed his sleeve up so she could see.

Mum fanned herself. “Oh…well…if only Henry had seen that coming.”

“Come on and have a seat, dears,” Granny called from the sofa, lifting a biscuit in the air.

Mum collected herself, then turned and gestured for us to follow as she went and sat on the sofa across from Granny, just like she had twenty-four hours ago when I’d first arrived here terrified out of my mind. Twenty-four hours. SO much had happened in such a short amount of time. It was unbelievable.

I tried to walk but each time I took a step my leg was pushed up into the air. But then Malachi took my hand in his and that vanished. I still couldn’t touch the ground, but I could walk fairly easy beside him. Mum looked up and then did a double take, her gaze locking on our entangled hands. Something passed behind her eyes and I didn’t like it. There was more going on here.

I tried to join Granny on the sofa, but I couldn’t even get within a few inches of the furniture. I cursed and turned to my soulmate. He grimaced and waved his hand. A chair made of black smoke and shadow formed right beside him, between the sofas.

He winked and then lowered me down onto it. It felt as real as a regular wooden chair. Without dropping my hand, he took the seat beside my mother.

“Mum, what am I missing here?”

She took a deep breath and tucked her blonde hair behind her ears. “I was Queen of England once, for a short while.”

I choked on a gasp. “What???”

Malachi squeezed my hand but he turned to my mother. “It’s time, Your Majesty.”

“Time? Time for what? Why do you keep calling her Your Majesty? What do you mean you were the Queen of England?”

Mum smoothed her pencil skirt and licked her lips. “We have not been entirely honest with you about your…our…history.”

“What does that mean?” I grumbled through clenched teeth. “Tell me now, Mother.”

“I married your father