Page 110 of His Wicked Charm

“If you wrap up all your feelings, if you buffer yourself from love, you’re already dooming yourself to a life of emptiness.”

Lilah sucked in her breath, her friend’s words piercing her through.

“I’m sorry.” Remorse flooded Sabrina’s face. “I didn’t mean—I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Not even if it’s true?”

“I didn’t think it through. I was... I was carried away by making my argument. Of course you’ll be happy. Your future doesn’t depend on Con.”

“No. It depends on me. But I must have the courage to face it.”

* * *

SABRINA AND LILAH returned to their work but learned nothing of significance. When they met Con and Alex again, they found that the men had come up with nothing either—though from their disheveled and dusty appearance and cheerful smiles, they had apparently enjoyed their search more.

Since it was time for tea, Con and Alex went upstairs to clean up, and Lilah and Aunt Vesta settled down in the sitting room. Vesta looked almost as flushed and cheerful as the men.

“I’m glad it’s just the three of us girls for the moment. I had an idea.”

“What?” Lilah asked warily.

“I visited the Sanctuary again.”

“What do you mean? We have no keys.”

“Not inside it. I stood outside the door in the tunnel and communed with it. It’s that strong, you know.”

“You should not go down there by yourself, Aunt Vesta,” Lilah told her, alarmed. “It’s dangerous. What if the tunnel had collapsed? We would have had no idea where you were or what had happened.”

“The Sanctuary would never hurt one of us. Anyway, the important thing is the Sanctuary gave me an idea.”

Lilah suppressed a sigh. As soon as she felt the power flow between them last night, she had known that Aunt Vesta would be a problem.

Aunt Vesta prattled on, “The great Goddess watches over all of us of course, since our families pierced the veil to the Otherworld. She blessed the men, but just think...how much better would it be if it was a sisterhood! I have read that the triskele represents not only rebirth, but divine feminine power, as well. The Goddess would be happier if we conducted the ceremony of the gifts.”

“We?” Lilah asked, though she was sure where her aunt was headed.

“The three of us of course. You, Sabrina and I.”

“Aunt Vesta, no...”

“But it’s supposed to be one from each of the three families,” Sabrina pointed out. “It would still be out of balance.”

“Would it? That was just Virgil’s guess. What if the real reason was because the Goddess knew that there were women to do the ceremony now? Maybe she was tired of dealing with the men. That was why she was displeased.” She gave a nod, as if she had proved her point. “Father believed the Sanctuary belonged to the Matres. You said that yourself, Lilah. Three women.” She paused for emphasis. “The old woman.” She laid a hand on her chest. “The married woman.” She gestured at Sabrina. “And the maiden.” She swept her hand toward Lilah. “It’s perfect. You felt the power the three of us brought out of it last night.” She sat back, beaming.

“It’s pointless to talk about a ceremony,” Lilah said. She didn’t want to have this discussion with Vesta now. “We have yet to find the key, and we also have to obtain the other two.”

“You’ll find it,” Vesta said complacently. “I’m sure of it. It’s meant to be.”

Fortunately they were saved from any further discussion by the entrance of the two men, followed shortly thereafter by the butler with the tea cart. But after tea, as soon as Aunt Vesta left the room for her afternoon nap, Lilah turned to Con and said, “What am I to do about Aunt Vesta? She’s going to be terribly upset when we close the Sanctuary. If we can close it.”

“If we can even open it,” Sabrina added. “It’s only four more days until Midsummer Day. We have to renew the Sanctuary before then. Whatever the ruination Mr. Dearborn thinks this thing will cause, I believe it. The energy I felt from it last night was enormous, and that was through a rock wall and a heavy door.” She looked over at her friend. “I can’t imagine how strong it would be if it was released.”

“It would be folly to deny the power of the Sanctuary,” Lilah agreed. “It could cause a massive amount of destruction. We cannot afford to wait and see what happens.”

“Alex and I had planned to move into Carmoor tomorrow. But we can still come over here during the day to help look. Or perhaps we should stay longer. It would give us a little added time to look.”

“I don’t know that it would be enough,” Alex said. “It could take weeks to find it, and even if we do, there’s the problem of the other keys. I’ve been thinking that perhaps we should all move to Carmoor if we can’t locate the keys before Midsummer Day. At least we’d be at some distance.”