collect his belongings. The thought made my heart hurt. Was his house still sitting there on the other side of the Hawthorn, an empty shell? He said he’d lived there for sixty years. That was a long time. I was certain he missed it greatly, and although this house was far from shabby, it had nothing on the historic, three-storey townhouse Ethan once called home.
Almost like my thoughts summoned him, I turned around, and there he stood in the doorway, watching me. He came at me like a panther, all smooth muscles and potential for danger.
Wrapping his arms around my waist, he kissed me on the neck, right where my pulse was currently pounding. “I hear congratulations are in order. Edwards brought your father home. We should celebrate,” he whispered into my skin.
“You haven’t seen my dad. If you had, you wouldn’t be much in the mood for celebrating.”
“He’ll get better.”
“I hope you’re right.”
He slipped his hand beneath my top to brush against my skin. “I didn’t get quite enough time with you last night,” he said into my ear, all husky.
“Yeah, about that,” I paused, turning in his arms so that I could look him in the eye. “As much as I loved last night, we might need to take a breather, just for a little while so I can focus on my dad. Not to mention Rita’s acting weird and Emilia’s got Rebecca.”
“Emilia?” Ethan frowned. I’d forgotten I hadn’t told him about my newly discovered grandmother.
“Emilia Petrovsky. Have you heard of her?”
Ethan nodded. “Vaguely. I know that she’s a witch, a powerful one.”
“Well, she’s also the person who cursed Ira. She showed up at the house the other day, looking to apologise to him, which inadvertently led me to discover that she’s my grandmother.”
Ethan’s eyebrows shot up. “How did you discover that?”
“It’s a long story, but the important part is that she offered to help me with a spell for Rebecca, which I was stupid enough to accept. She has some issues because my mother ran away from home when she was a teenager, never to be seen again. I think she imagined Rebecca was her second chance because she reminded Emilia so much of my mum. Once the spell was completed, she took off with her and has now barricaded herself in her house with a spell so that Pamphrock can’t get in and take his daughter back.”
Ethan regarded me seriously. “That is quite the predicament.”
“Tell me about it,” I said, pausing to meet his gaze. “So, do you understand why I can’t focus on us right now? There’s too much going on.”
“Don’t fret. I’m here for whatever you need.”
Hearing those simple words were like a balm to my soul. “Slayers are surrounding Emilia’s house day and night, but I think I might go down there to see if I can talk some sense into her.”
“Grief in mothers who have lost their children can be a very delicate matter. You’ll have to be extremely sensitive when talking to her.”
At this, I remembered what Ethan revealed to me last night about losing four children. He likely had first-hand experience with grieving mothers. It was odd to think that Emilia could still be grieving after all this time, but the lack of resolution in what happened to Darya meant she could never really get closure.
“What do you suggest I do?” I asked, needing his insight.
“If she has spelled herself into her house, then there isn’t much you can do, but since you are her granddaughter maybe you could reason with her. Talk about the relationship you both could have now that you’ve found each other. That way, keeping Rebecca won’t seem so vital any longer.”
I made a noise of disagreement. “I’m not sure that’ll work. She wasn’t very taken with me, to be honest. She was smitten with Rebecca because she was all dainty and innocent. I think I was a little too rough around the edges for her taste.”
Ethan brought his hands up to my neck, rubbing his thumbs affectionately across my sensitive skin. “I happen to like your rough edges,” he said, and I got a little lost in his eyes.
He manoeuvred my body, backing me towards the sofa, but we were interrupted when Lucas sauntered into the room and perched on the arm of said sofa.
“Out,” Ethan ordered, not taking his attention off me.
Lucas grinned and glanced at his fingernails. “You and I are supposed to be going somewhere, remember?”