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“
Like Clio,”
Clay said as his green eyes already portrayed his hurt. Clay looked
at Eli before his eyes rested on Cora. She tried to reach out to
him through the look in her eyes. She could understand what he was
feeling.

“
I knew Clio,”
Kayla whispered into the sombre silence.

“
What?” Clay
asked. “When?”

Kayla’s blue
eyes studied Clay. “It must have been during the 70’s.”

Clay seemed
confused. His jaw was popping as frown lines creased his forehead.
“The seventies, but I don’t recall seeing you. At that point we
were invested in Jack’s coven, we were living in
Yorkshire.”

“
No, you seem
to have mistaken the time. I don’t mean
the
70’s. I met Clio, with my family,
in the 1770’s.”

“
Oh.”

“
The 1770’s,”
Cora mumbled. Dates like these still seemed strange to Cora, yet
Cora was older than even these dates. It made her feel
old.

“
Yes, my family
lived in Dingle when Clio found us. My mother and father were going
about their business when they were killed. Clio had taken me that
day on the hills to experiment with my gift. I’m glad she had,
otherwise I would have been at home the day they were
killed.”

“
I’m sorry for
your loss,” Cora whispered.

“
Thank you.
Without Clio, I would have perished almost immediately without my
parents. Their deaths put me through the change, one I survived
because of Clio. Clio brought me to Dublin as there were more
witches here seeking refuge from the many trials in our country. I
found Eve not long after. She took me in.”

“
You never told
me this,” Evelyn murmured.

“
No. It was my
past and Dublin is always going to be my present and my future.
Clio saved me. She taught me how to use my gift. You see, my mother
had been raped by a witch. My parents weren’t witches, so they
didn’t know. They were Commoners.”

“
So why were
they killed?”

“
I believe they
thought all my family were witches. I was spared, but only because
of Clio.”

“
I’m glad she
helped you, that she was a part of your life,” Clay
said.

“
I hear she
died the only way she knew how, protecting those she loved,” Kayla
whispered.

Cora felt the
sting of tears and the burn in her throat. She willed herself not
to cry. She’d cried enough already, and tears would not help
her.

“
Clio would’ve
liked to hear you say that,” Clay murmured.

“
Clio died that
day saving us from the witches who believed themselves better than
everyone else. Those witches killed my mother and my unborn
brother. I will not stand back and let another egotistic pig kill
those I love. We need your help, that is why we came here today,”
Cora implored.

“
This is
Alastair you are talking about...” Flynn muttered.

“
So what? He is
just another person,” Jack snapped.

Cora knew that
Jack couldn’t understand why others feared Alastair so much. Jack
didn’t allow fear to control him. That didn’t mean he didn’t feel
fear, he just refused to let it win.

Flynn glared
at Jack. “You obviously don’t care about danger?”

“
I care enough
that when danger comes knocking, I plan on punching it in the
face,” Jack retorted.

“
You went up
against the Corenthio Coven, and you punched them in the face,”
Evelyn stated.

“
So? Any one of
you would have done the same,” Jack argued back.

“
And we would
have died doing so,” Kayla snapped.

“
You don’t know
this,” Tabitha urged.

“
We would never
have risked it.”

“
But life is
about taking risks sometimes,” Jack countered. “In my opinion, you
have to face death so that you can really appreciate
living.”

“
You don’t
understand, Jack,” Ciaran said. “You have the biggest coven, the
most members of our witch community.”

“
Only because
we banded together,” Eli argued.

“
That being
said.” Ciaran shrugged. “Your coven has two very powerful witches.
Cora’s element is without boundaries. She can do anything if she
puts her mind to it. You have this power and still Alastair pushes
at you both.”

“
Yep, that’s
because he’s stupid,” Clay stated. The twitch of his lips made Cora
smile.

“
I understand
your reservations, I do. When we faced the Corenthio Coven every
move we made, we made it to survive. We believed at every passing
second that we would die. We accepted this and we still pushed to
fight for what we believed in.

“
We fought for
the right to live freely and Alastair wants to take that away from
us. We have to use our fear to get us through this. You need to
know that you are not on your own. We will support you and together
we will make sure we get rid of the threat. We’ve done the hard
part already, now are you with us?” Cora asked, hoping the direct
approach was the correct one to take.

Cora made sure
to hold Evelyn’s eye level. She was the one to convince. Evelyn
took a deep breath and glanced at her coven before returning her
gaze back to Cora. “Spoken like a true leader. We are with
you.”

5

Meeting the family

“
That went
better than I expected,” Ember noted.

Cora had to
agree. If it wasn’t for Ciaran, they wouldn’t have the backing they
needed, although she did like Evelyn, there was something about
her, something good and strong.

“
Thank you,
Ciaran.” Ayden nodded his appreciation.

“
Don’t thank me
until this is over. Now, we have a free night here in Dublin afore
we go on our next little visit. Where do you want to
go?”

“
I wouldn’t
mind the street with all the pubs, we need to test if the Guinness
is any good here,” Clay chuckled.

Ciaran laughed
and slapped Clay on the shoulder

. “You won’t
get it better anywhere else.”

“
Is it too late
for a visit to the shops?” Ember asked, surprising no
one.

“
Aye,” Ciaran
said sheepishly because no one liked to deliver bad news to
Ember.

“
You can come
back anyway,” Cora offered, helping Ciaran out of a
bind.

Ember and her
clothes was like standing in between a pregnant woman and her
latest craving. It was dangerous
, Cora
mused, whilst hiding her smile.

“
Yes, there is
that option. Okay, pub it is then, Tabitha?”

Cora looked at
Tabitha in shock. Tabitha wasn’t one to join in with their drinking
sessions. You could, however, find her occasionally joining them
with a glass of wine at important occasions.

“
Why not?”
Tabitha shrugged and followed the men.

“
We will make
our way to the pub after. I have somewhere I want to take you.”
Jack took her hand, the feel of his hand in hers still made her
heart flutter. She hoped that this feeling would never go
away.

The gang went
into the nearest pub, it looked like the beginning of a pub crawl
to Cora, and knowing Ayden and Clay, it would probably end up that
way. She could see that the pub was already overcrowded. The thud
of live music shook the floor as the pub door finally shut. They
continued walking down the cobbled street towards the
river.

As they drew
closer, Jack pulled her into his warm embrace. She realised this
was the first time they’d been alone,
alone
, for some time. Alastair wasn’t
here, the coven weren’t here. They weren’t surrounded by
builders.

Jack guided
her as they walked alongside the river. She didn’t want to talk of
her condition, of the reasons they were here in Ireland. She just
wanted to saviour the calm before going back into it all. Cora’s
head dropped to rest on Jack’s shoulder as they approached a bridge
that lit up the river with emerald green and warm gold lighting
that shimmered on top of the water.

“
Here we are,”
Jack announced as he led her up the steps of the bridge.

The bridge was
beautifully arched with three canopies spread overhead, glass
lanterns perched on top of the iron canopy, the glow from them
making this walk a little more romantic. The sound of water was
their only companion as Jack held her, looking over Dublin and the
twinkle of Christmas lights all around them. The night was crisp,
the beginning of December was upon them, and she could feel the
wind nipping at her warm skin.

“
It’s
beautiful,” Cora whispered, sniffling because of the
cold.

“
Hmmm... Ciaran
told me to bring you here. He said you would like it.”

“
He’s never
wrong.”

Jack laughed.
“Yep, and isn’t that annoying as hell, but he’s a welcome addition
to our coven.”

“
I
agree.”

He pulled her
tighter against him so that his chin rested on the top of her head
as the warmth of his body took away the chill of the night. “I
wanted to be alone with you for just five minutes.”

“
I know the
feeling,” Cora sighed.

“
Everything is
snowballing at the moment, but I didn’t bring you here to talk
about that.” He turned her around so that she faced him, her body
snuggled in his strong arms. “I brought you here to make a
promise.”

“
Oh.” Cora
already felt breathless. His eyes stirred up an overwhelming amount
of lust and love which consumed her.

He leant into
her, warm lips brushed over hers as hands pushed through her hair,
sending shivers down her spine. This was the reason why she didn’t
wear a hat. Nothing warmed her like his hands running through her
hair.

The dimples in
his cheeks popped, sending her heart into an erratic rhythm. “I
didn’t survive these four hundred years, the witch trials, the
Thomas family, the Corenthio Coven for us not to survive this thing
with Alastair. I will not let some Scottish git ruin our forever,
beautiful.”

Cora laughed,
and wiped her nose. The cold weather really didn’t help the
sniffles.

“
I promise you,
here and now, that I will marry you next year, Cora Device. Nothing
will come in between us. We are meant to be... this whole situation
won’t take that away. You will be my wife, for better or for
worse.”

Cora’s heart
slowed to the point of melting. Jack’s lips were instantly fused
with hers, taking her breath away. With the bustle of Dublin life
moving all around her, Cora ran her fingers through Jack’s hair,
pulling him closer.

They made
their way to the pub, hand in hand, enjoying the atmosphere around
them. Thankfully, the group were still in the first pub so they
were easy to find. As they neared the pub door, Cora took a deep
breath before they entered.

The noise
overwhelmed her; the vibrations under her feet carried her to the
bar where she saw her entire family drinking merrily. It was
packed. Bodies swayed to music, people shouted above the noise.
Laughter filtered from a corner... She loved it already.

“
Cora! Jack!”
Eli greeted them, throwing his arms around the two of them and
kissing Cora on the cheek.

Cora laughed
and looked over Eli’s shoulder at Tabitha. “How many has he
had?”

“
One bloody
pint! The lightweight!” Ayden boomed.

Jack laughed
and guided Eli safely to the bar, putting him on a stool so he
didn’t fall over. “Poor brother!”

“
Here you go,
you need to catch up!” Ciaran told them as he slid two pints
towards the two of them.

Jack shook his
head. “I’m sure Cora-”

“
Cora what?”
Cora interrupted, already reaching for the pint.

A mischievous
glint flickered in Jack’s eyes. She could see he understood the
challenge. “I’m sure you can catch up...I haven’t said anything.”
He shrugged.

“
Shall we make
this interesting?” Cora asked their group. She glanced at Tabitha
who was smirking.

She couldn’t
remember the last time she’d done this...back in London maybe...but
she was capable of throwing a pint down her throat.

“
Oooo yeah,
okay, I put something down on Cora!” Clay cheered.

Cora laughed
at the hurt on Jack’s face.

“
Hey!” Jack
shouted, offended.

“
I think you
can do it, Jack...” Ember offered him her support.

“
Fine, I will
prove you all wrong! Let’s go, beautiful.” Jack grinned at her,
holding his pint, ready.

“
Fine.” Cora
smiled, holding her pint closer to her lips.

Ciaran
laughed. “On the count of three! One...two...three!”

*

“
Home sweet
home,” Ciaran bellowed as their group approached a little village
that looked like it belonged on a postcard. Nestled amongst fields
covered with snow were a few cottages. They huddled together,
trudging over the newest layer of snow that had fallen during the
night.