Lemon Pies and Little White Lies (21 page)

Ella Mae realized that Hugh was also angry. She’d been responsible for the loss of his powers because she’d removed a magical object from the bottom of Lake Havenwood, but
she’d also kept her own abilities a secret from him. He clearly resented her for more than one reason.

“There are the rules,” she said defensively. “We can’t reveal ourselves to people who aren’t like us. It isn’t safe. Or smart.”

“Why should we hide in the shadows?” Hugh asked. “Any of us? There was a time when our powers earned us respect.”

“Hundreds of years ago, people were more isolated. We live in a global community now. If we used magic in public, the whole world would learn about us, and that would put us all at risk.” She threw out her arms in exasperation. “Think about it, Hugh. Scientists would pick us apart. Governments would use us as weapons. Or lock us up. Instead of taking that risk, we choose to be invisible. At least until we’ve broken Merlin’s curse and can stand together as a united people. Has the all-wise Nimue told you about the curse too?”

He nodded. “Your dad died because you’re the child of two magical parents, right? If two of your kind have children, there’s always a price to pay.”

“What about elementals?” Ella Mae asked. “Don’t you have rules?”

“No,” he said, his eyes flashing. “We’re free to do as we wish.”

Ella Mae felt her ire rise even more. “Oh, really? You intentionally lost swim races when we were kids. Wasn’t that you trying to blend in?” When Hugh didn’t answer, she pressed on. “Of course it was. You couldn’t allow people to see how fast you were. I bet you had to remember to take a breath just so you’d look normal. We’re not that different, Hugh. We have to keep that part of ourselves a secret.”

Spots of color appeared on Hugh’s cheeks. “But even when you found out what I was, you didn’t share your secret. You kept right on deceiving me.”

Ella Mae dropped her gaze. “I don’t blame you for being angry. I didn’t want to lie to you. I hated having to do it.” She searched his eyes for a hint of affection, but saw only hurt and hostility. “Here we stand. I know what you are and you know what I am, but having everything out in the open doesn’t bridge the chasm between us, does it? Judging from the look on your face, it’s too late.” A sob rose in her throat. She swallowed hard, forcing it down. “It’s obvious that you can’t forgive me for removing the source of your power, even if it meant saving my mother’s life. Are you really willing to throw away what we had because of that?”

Hugh said nothing and Ella Mae took his silence as confirmation. There was a sharp pain in her chest, as if someone were sticking hot needles into her heart. She also felt dizzy. Dropping into a seat, the full force of what was happening slowly sank in. She was losing Hugh. He was standing right in front of her and she was losing him.

Was he ever mine?
she wondered in despair.
Was what we had really love? How could it have been when both of us were leading secret lives?

She looked up at Hugh. How many times had she thought of him and felt her heart flutter with longing? How many cumulative hours had she daydreamed about being with him? And at last, after what seemed like decades of waiting, he’d fallen for her. Their happiness had been fleeting, but Ella Mae treasured every moment she’d spent with him. Every memory. She couldn’t picture a future without Hugh in it, but she couldn’t see how they could start over either, especially now that Nimue had come between them.

And then, a terrible thought occurred to her. “What did you have to give Nimue in exchange for the use of her sword?”

Hugh seemed startled by the question. “Nothing.”

Ella Mae arched her brow. “When you were done, she just took the sword back and continued on her way?”

Hugh took the seat next to her. “She asked me to speak to you. That’s all. It was a simple request, and I never imagined it would be this hard. I thought you’d be glad to see me—that sitting and talking with you would be the most natural thing in the world. But you keep looking at me like you don’t know me. You’ve seen every side of me, Ella Mae. It’s
you
, the so-called Clover Queen, who’s the stranger here.”

How does he know these things?
Ella Mae’s blood ran cold. The fleeting thought she’d had earlier grew until it couldn’t be ignored, and she had to consider the possibility that Hugh had fallen for Nimue. And as much as it sickened her to pursue that line of thought, she forced herself to wonder if he and Nimue had known each other long before he went to Ireland. It was possible that he’d only pretended to love Ella Mae to glean information about her and her kind. Handsome, charismatic, amiable Hugh. Dog lover, volunteer fireman, business owner, and gentleman. He’d make an ideal spy.

But was he a murderer? Surely he knew Joyce Mercer, seeing as her dog was frequently taken to Canine to Five’s grooming facility, so he wouldn’t have killed her believing she was Fiona Drever. However, he could have set fire to Dee’s barn. No one would know how to get the job done better than a fireman. And he could have returned to Havenwood long before today. There were plenty of places he might have been hiding, living off canned food and washing in the lake.

Ella Mae rubbed her temples and tried to silence her disjointed thoughts. “I’m still the same girl you’ve known all your life,” she said softly. “Yes, I can do unusual things, but my abilities don’t define me, any more than your abilities define you. You know me. I love to cook for people, spend time with my family, run through the woods, stretch out on the rocks by
the swimming hole, drink too much coffee, stay up watching British dramas, and kiss Chewie on the nose first thing each morning.” She turned to Hugh. “You’ve known me since I wore my hair in pigtails. Look at me. I’m that girl, Hugh, and you can still talk to me. So go on. Deliver your message.”

Hugh hesitated. His uncertainty was palpable, but after a moment he nodded. “Nimue wants an alliance. It’s her hope that you’ll join her and that, together, you can convince people to come out of the shadows. The two of you can change the future. Peacefully.” He squeezed her hand, as if his touch could convince her.

Ella Mae studied his fingers, noting the clean half moons of his nails and the hundreds of tiny lines traversing his knuckles. The blue-tinged veins, the constellation of freckles near his thumb, and the two-inch scar leading from the back of his hand to his wrist, where he’d cut himself with a Swiss Army knife when he was ten, were so familiar. Why couldn’t the rest of him be as she remembered?

“Tell me one thing,” Ella Mae said. “Is she responsible for the storms? Has she gathered people like me together in the name of peace? Or destruction?”

Hugh didn’t answer.

“She’s wrecked sacred places, caused ships to sink, and flooded towns and fields. People have lost their homes, their businesses, and their lives.” Ella Mae struggled to maintain an even tone. “Is she coming to Havenwood, Hugh? Is she coming for me?”

When Hugh didn’t respond, Ella Mae thought of all the stories she’d read where a sympathetic character was rescued from enchantment by a kiss. She looked at Hugh, searching his face for any sign of affection. Seeing none, she pictured him on the night they’d swum together in a pool surrounded by candlelight. He’d gazed at her as if she were the brightest
star in the sky. The most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Love had shone from his whole being and swept over Ella Mae like a sun-warmed wave. If she could make him feel that way right now, she might be able to bring him back, to break Nimue’s spell. It had to be a spell. Hugh could never have changed so completely unless he was under Nimue’s thrall.

Ella Mae stood and tugged on Hugh’s hands until he was on his feet. “Close your eyes,” she whispered, and gently traced the curve of his brows. Wrapping her arms around his back, she pressed her chest against his, erasing the space between them. She wanted every inch of her body to make contact with his, to let her blood and bone and tissue speak to his in a language with no words. Shutting her eyes, Ella Mae returned to the memory of the night in the pool and placed her lips on Hugh’s lips.

For a terrible second, he didn’t react, but then slowly, so slowly that Ella Mae almost gave up, his arms slid around her waist and he kissed her back. His kiss was both tender and tentative. But when his fingertips dug into her flesh, she knew he was returning to her.

Ella Mae forgot about everything but Hugh. There was no Nimue, no magic, no pie festival. She wasn’t the Clover Queen and he wasn’t a water elemental. They were a man and a woman finding each other again. They were two people who loved each other.

Tears of overwhelming relief slipped from Ella Mae’s eyes.

Hugh brushed his fingers over her cheek and captured a droplet on his skin. As he stared at it, a change came over him. It was like watching a mask fall into place. The tenderness in his eyes vanished and he stepped out of Ella Mae’s embrace.

“I can’t do this,” he murmured, shaking his head as if to
clear it. “I can’t choose between being with you and being who I was born to be.” He started retreating, his hand held up to stop her from coming any closer.

“I’d never ask you to do that,” she said, her voice pleading. “I love you just as you are.”

He continued to back away. “I wish I could believe you. I really do. I trusted you once, but I won’t play the fool again.” Without another word, he turned and hurried from the room.

When he was gone, the large, empty room seemed to expand until it was as cold and desolate as a glacier.

Ella Mae dropped to her knees. She was too numb to cry. She couldn’t move. Her body had turned to stone.

She stared up at the podium, where she’d stood with such assurance, and then lowered her eyes to the clover-shaped burn on her palm. The cost of being magical had always been high, but never so much as now.

Don’t let this break you
, she told herself
. Joyce and Aunt Dee and Kyran deserve justice. You must be strong for them.

Ella Mae’s saw the flames consuming Dee’s barn and felt her anger burn as bright as fire. If Hugh was an arsonist, then he was also a spy and a murderer. If he was responsible for such terrible acts, of his own free will or not, she’d make him pay.

“I won’t play the fool either,” she rasped in anguish. She curled her hands into fists and pushed herself off the floor.

Steeling herself, she walked through the resort with her head held high. She then drove to the pie shop and took the white chocolate raspberry pie out of the freezer.

Setting the oven to broil, she cooked the pie until it was black and hard as coal. The kitchen filled with the acrid odor of burned chocolate and charred dough. It was so unlike the tantalizing aromas Ella Mae was accustomed to that she opened the back door, inviting the spring breeze inside. Catching a whiff of cut grass, Ella Mae thought of Hugh. She
stood in the doorway for a long time; her face tilted to the sun, and wondered how many lies Hugh had spoken to her.

“Probably just as many as I told him,” she whispered. Overcome by sorrow, she leaned her head against the doorframe and cried. She let the tears flow and the guttural groans of pain she’d held in check since Hugh left in February spill out. She hammered the wall with her fist and sobbed.

Eventually, her tears dried and she fell quiet. She closed her eyes. There was a pressure in her chest and a pounding in her head. It felt like drowning. But her lungs still filled with air. It was only her heart that wouldn’t work right. There was a hidden fissure deep in its core. A jagged tear that would never heal.

Ella Mae didn’t know how long she was lost in grief. When she opened her eyes again, she saw a butterfly perched on the back of her hand. It fluttered its wings, its delicate, dancing legs tickling her skin. Then it lifted off and flew north.

She followed its flight path toward the blue hills and the grove’s secret entrance. When it was only a smudge in the sky, she washed her hands, locked up the pie shop, and went home to change her clothes. She wanted to take her time getting ready. Tonight, she planned to look like a queen.

•   •   •

Ella Mae walked up the mountain path leading to the boulder wall with sure steps. Around the last curve, when the trail appeared to come to an end, she raised her palms and pressed them flat against the massive rocks.

It felt like her body was being pulled apart cell by cell, but the discomfort only lasted a moment. And then she was in the grove, with the velvety grass beneath her bare feet and a sky streaked with tangerine and lavender. The air smelled of honeysuckle and fireflies drifted among the boughs of the apple trees. The apples were no longer gold
and silver as they’d been in the autumn, but were blush-colored, the same hue as Ella Mae’s dress.

She moved through the orchard on her way to the meadow. As soon as she passed beneath an arbor of vanilla-scented roses, she could hear the soft din of many people taking. Even when Ella Mae saw just how many had gathered at the base of the ash tree’s hill, her steps remained steady and sure.

A hush fell over the crowd as she approached. Ella Mae had not decked herself out in her finest. Quite the opposite, in fact. She wanted people to see her for what she was, so she’d chosen a slip of a dress and nothing else. She wore no makeup or jewelry. Her hair was arranged in a low chignon.

Ella Mae could feel every eye on her. As she crossed the meadow, many people smiled. Some just stared. Others gazed at her with guarded expressions. Ella Mae had expected a host of different reactions and that was okay with her. She knew it was her job to convince these people to come together.

At the top of the rise, she stood next to the ash tree and gazed down at the throng of upturned faces. She was about to speak when a bear of a man detached himself from the front of the crowd. Well over six feet tall with a wide chest and generous belly, he had a thick, dark beard and a mop of black hair. Performing a theatrical bow, he spoke in a rich and resonating voice. “Lady, I am Alfonso Caprice, humble opera singer at your service. I can project sound over a large space.” He gestured to incorporate the entire meadow. “Everyone will be able to hear you if I briefly touch your throat.”