can you believe that idiocy?”
“Because it’s true.” Aloysius bit Killian’s ear. “Ow. Dammit, Al.” He pushed the cat onto the bench.
“At least Al’s on my side.” Blaine took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Sweetheart, I know you’ve been sheltered and never allowed to explore your feelings for a man. It makes sense that you’d be nervous. Maybe expect me to leave like your father did. But I love you, and I want to be with you for the rest of our lives.”
Killian stared at his hands. “It can’t happen. You won’t love me much longer. Maybe days are all we have left. It’s different for everyone.”
“What’s different? Killian, you’re not making sense.”
It seemed there was only one way to persuade him. He looked up into those confused and beloved green eyes. “The spell is different.”
“What do you mean ‘spell’?”
Killian sat up straight. “I mean the witch’s spell I cast on you to make you love me. And Aloysius helped.” The cat hissed. “Get over it, Al.” He looked back at his hands. The hands Blaine was no longer holding. “The witch’s spell that is right now running out. Though in my defense, I had no idea you’d be the target of the spell. If I could have taken it back, had you love me in truth, I would have done it a thousand times. If I could stop being a witch so you could love me, I’d do it in a heartbeat. None of those things are possible, even for me.” He looked up. Blaine—the human—stared at him with wide eyes.
“You’re a witch?”
“Yes.”
“You mean like a Wiccan? Chants and moonlight and shit?”
Sigh. “No, I mean like a witch.” He flicked his fingers, and thunder rumbled.
“What was that?”
“My symphony. Don’t you remember?”
“So you attract thunder?”
Killian stared at—the human. Distance. If only he could feel the tiniest bit separate from this man. “No, I can make thunder.” He flicked his fingers again, and the thunder rumbled closer.
Blaine looked up at the sky. “Coincidence.”
“Hold out your hand.”
“Why?” His eyes were wide.
“Just do it.”
Blaine held out a palm that clearly shook. Killian flicked a finger. A small flame sprang up in the middle of that beautiful, precious hand that would never touch Killian again. “Sorry. I could do a bigger demonstration, but the park service frowns on burning bushes.”
“Shit!” Blaine sprang off the bench and fell back a few steps. The flame snuffed out. “Are you crazy?”
“It was a cool flame. I’d never hurt you.”
“Crap!” Blaine walked a few steps, pulling a hand through his messy brown hair. “Killian, I mean, are you crazy? Have you lost your mind? You really believe you’re a witch?”
“It’s not a belief. It’s a fact.”
“There are no such things as witches. You have to know that.”
“Do you need a bigger demonstration?” Killian raised a hand. An ominous rumble moved across the sky, and suddenly a flash of lightning split a small tree a few yards from Blaine. Flames leaped up as the smoke spiraled.
“Holy crap!” Blaine fell backward and landed on his butt. Several people started toward them from different parts of the park. He scrambled to his feet. “You’re crazy. How could I love a crazy man? A crazy man who goes everywhere with a crazy cat.”
The hole in Killian’s chest deepened and blackened as if the fire burned through him.
Blaine held up his hands to a man who was rushing toward him. “I’m fine, thanks. Must have been some freak heat lightning or something. It didn’t hit me. Don’t worry.”
The stranger looked confused. “You want me to call 911?”
“No, the park service will be here soon, I imagine. I’m fine, really.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
“I am. Thanks.”
The stranger walked away, still staring at the decimated, now smoldering tree. Blaine turned back to Killian. “I don’t know what you think happened here, but there are perfectly logical explanations.”
“Yes. The explanation is that I’m a witch. Card-carrying and certified.”
“Certifiable, you mean.” Blaine shook his head and took two more steps back. “How could I have been so nuts?”
“You see. I was right.”
“What the hell do you mean?”
“I told you the love wouldn’t last.”
Chapter Twenty
“Lavender!”
Lavender stopped in the hall and detoured to her father’s office. She looked in. Damned officious boor. He sat behind his desk like it was a throne. “Yes, Father?”
“What the hell is your fiancé up to?”
“You mean Killian?”
“Do you have another fiancé, girl?”
Oops. She wasn’t going there. “I haven’t seen him in days.”
He peered under bushy brows at her. “Why not?”
She crossed her