“The evil ye feel is the residue of the curse,” said a voice from behind them.
Rory turned around and saw the old woman standing behind them, the hood of her ragged black cloak pulled over her head so only her face was visible.
“Ye brought the curse back, and now we will dispel it once and for all.” She moved forward, slowly, painfully. Rory followed her with his eyes, turning as she made her way around the men to face them. They stood around the wet black logs where the fire had burned the night before. Now the witch bent and muttered at the logs. Then there was a spark and a fire flickered to life.
Rory wondered if she’d had a tinder box hidden beneath her cloak. Then he caught King’s wide-eyed look and realized that no strike of flint would have made those wet logs burn so quickly, if at all.
The witch seemed to sway, and then take a deep breath. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked at each man in turn. “I havenae much time left. Have ye made yer decisions?”
The men didn’t speak, and Rory closed his eyes, afraid she would ask him first.
“George Oxley,” she said, using King’s formal name. “Ye have found true love with Violet Baker. Will ye renounce it and reclaim your title and lands?”
King cleared his throat, and Henry put a hand on his shoulder. Rory put a hand on the other shoulder, offering his support.
“No,” King said, finally, his voice strong and deep. “I reject thesacrifice of the heart,” he said, repeating a line from the counter-spell. “I’ll live with the consequences of the curse.”
“So be it,” the witch said, and Rory reared back as the fire seemed to leap higher, the heat of it searing his face. “Ye are free of this place and my sister’s hold on ye. Ye have paid in full for yer misdeed. Ye!”
Henry started as she pointed a bony finger at him.
“Me?”
“Aye, Henry Lewis, Duke of Carlisle. You have found true love with Lady Katherine Malfort. Will you offer a sacrifice of the heart and reclaim your wealth and properties?”
He looked at King and then Rory. Rory raised his brows. Henry swallowed and squared his shoulders. “No. I—” He leaned closer to King. “What was that thing you said?” King muttered it to him, and Henry said, “Right. I reject the sacrifice of the heart.”
“So be it.” Once again, the fire seemed to expand outward, the heat of it singeing them. “Ye are free of this place and my sister’s hold on ye. Ye have paid in full for yer misdeed.” She turned to Rory. “And last, but certainly not least, Lord Emory Lumlee. Ye have found true love with Genevieve Brooking. Will ye renounce her for the return of your first wife and bairn?”
Rory took a breath. “I don’t know if you possess witchcraft or these tricks”—he indicated the fire—“are merely legerdemain. But I don’t believe you have the powers you claim.”
“Rory!” Henry said, but Rory kept his gaze on the witch.
The witch raised her white brows. “And I ken ye were the one with the most faith.”
“I did have faith until I kissed my daughter goodbye this morning. She told me about your conversation yesterday. You admitted you can’t bring anyone back from the dead. You said no one can.”
The witch had the decency to look sheepish. “Aye, she told ye, did she?”
“Did she misunderstand? Are you claiming the power of resurrection?”
The witch shook her head. “Nay. She understood. If ye had chosen yer first wife, I wouldnae been able tae bring her back.”
“Wait a minute now,” Henry said. “Was this all a sham? Could you have restored my wealth and properties?”
“Nay.” She looked at King. “Nor given ye yer title back. I dinnae hae that power. I never did.”
“Then there was no curse and no counter-spell,” King said.
“Och, there was a curse. My sister was a powerful witch, and she cursed ye. I have less power, and my counter-spell was weak, but it isn’t withoot power.”
“What power?” Rory demanded. “You can’tclear the smear—as your spell says.”
“Sassenach,” she said, and spat. “Ye always take everything too literally. Do ye not see that afore ye ever came here, ye’d already lifted the harm of the curse? Ye did it all on yer own when ye sacrificed of yerself, when ye sacrificed yer heart, and gave it tae another. Ye never needed me to dispel the curse. Ye did it yerselves.”
“Then why this masquerade?” Rory gestured to the ruins of the hovel. “Why pretend you could change the past?”
The witch sighed. “My sister’s curse was evil. She should never have spoken it over ye, nae matter the harm ye did. Afore I die, I wanted tae make certain that harm was gone from the world. I wanted tae wipe the slate clean, ken? For her sake. I thought if I forced ye tae make a choice between what ye’d lost and yer loves then I’d ken if the power of the curse really had been released.”
