When the Black Roses Grow (18 page)

Sheriff Corwin and Deputy Thomas lunged toward him.

With another wave of his hand, they both hurtled through the air, slamming hard into the tree standing near the courthouse. Their limp bodies tumbled to the ground—where they lay motionless, lifeless.

Reverend Perris lunged, too, only toward me, instead. Before I could blink, his Bible plummeted to the ground, his arm wrapped around me, and his knife brushed against my neck.

“I renounce you, employee of the devil.”

James lowered his head. A broad smile spread across his lips and he chuckled under his breath. “Thou hath no power over me.”

“I will not hesitate to kill her, and kill the devil inside her.” Reverend Perris tightened his grip around me and on the knife.

“You believe thy blade is quicker than my magic?”

“One swift move and you will not be able to save her.” Reverend Perris pressed the blade into my skin. Pain pierced my neck and blood dripped from the cut.

James outstretched his hand. With a flick of his wrist, Reverend Perris howled in pain. He dropped the knife, released me, and collapsed to his knees.

James lifted his hands and Reverend Perris rose into the air. With another wave, his writhing body floated toward James and halted just feet from where James stood.

“She is no longer thine to torture.” James’s voice nothing more than an angered growl that rumbled deep from within his chest.

“Such is not for you to decide.”

“A mere woman you condemned for no just cause, a beautiful soul you mocked with thy hatred. She is no longer to face thy judgment or live by thy ridicule.”

“Burn . . . in Hell . . . Witch.” Reverend Perris’s body floated closer and closer to James.

A smile spread across James’s lips as though he had a secret that only he knew. It sparkled in his eyes and played with the muscles of his body. A strength more commanding than the death I once feared. A strength more commanding than that of the earth, sun, moon, and stars.

“I am much more powerful than a wizard.”

James’s eyes twitched, just a mere flicker of movement, and Reverend Perris began to choke and claw at his neck as though something wrapped around it. The more he struggled the more he gasped for breath until his legs stopped kicking and his body hung limp in the air. With another wave of James’s wrist, the unconscious body plunged to the ground several feet from us.

James strode toward the fire pit and the vines vanished. The shackles around my wrists unlocked and fell to the ground with loud clanks that vibrated through my chest.

I braced myself against the pole, caught my breath, and stiffened my shoulders. With a scream on the tip of my tongue, I tucked my curls behind my ears and stared at him.

He half smiled at me, though the confidence in his eyes wavered as he outstretched his hand for me to take.

While a part of me wanted to run to his arms, my confusion kept my feet rooted in place.

Concern raged in his expression, and he gave me a slight nod. “Emmalynn, please, I will not hurt you, I swear it.”

Hurt me? Hurt me?

Had he not done just such or at least his kind? Their existence was the reason my mother died. Accusations did not start from rumors, they started from true witches doing God knows what to people—if there were such other than him?

Oh my, there are others like him . . . Logan? Willow? How many more?

I stepped backward, my foot dangerously close to the edge of the box, but I did not care.

He withdrew his outstretched hand. Sadness flickered in his eyes along with a disappointed frown that replaced his once loving smile. A person stood before me, unknown to me and yet, known at the same time.

Love, hate, and confusion collided into a battle until the death.

“My apologies that I was not honest with you.” Remorse glimmered in his eyes. “I wanted to tell you the truth, every single moment of every single day I spent with you.”

“But, you did not.”

“But, I
could
not.”

“Why?”

“Logan swore me to secrecy to protect Willow.”

“I would not hath told anyone.”

“I know you would not hath. I never believed you would convey my secret, but I had to protect her. A long time ago, I did not do such. I chose a different choice and exposed our family and the powers we had for all to see. My parents paid the price. I could not do that to someone again.”

“Innocent women are being accused because of you.” I wanted to growl from the deepest part of my anger, and yet, I could only manage whispered breaths.

He closed his eyes and cringed away from my words. Far too honest and too real, the depth of them struck him with pain.

“And, such is a burden I carry.”

“A burden you carry.” Tears misted my eyes. My lungs heaved with sadness and fury. “What of my burden? I watched my mother tried for a crime she did not commit. She hung to her death because of thy rumored existence.”

He stepped toward me.

Panic brewed in my chest.

With one wave of his hand, one flick of his wrist he could pitch me through the air or choke me to death, just as he hath done to everyone else. A powerful man stood before me with the ability to do anything he desired.

“Stay away from me.” I took a single step backwards and my foot slipped off the table. Before my backside hit the dirt and ash, my body stopped in mid-air and I floated inches above the ground. I screamed and James dropped me. I landed with a slight thump and scrambled to my feet. “Just, stay away from me.”

“Emmalynn, please.”

Through my anger, the sadness in his tone tugged at my heart.

No, Emmalynn, do not concede.

I shook my head and held up my hands—such a fools thought, as though I could hinder him from advancing upon me, but my reaction nonetheless.

“I would never hurt you. I swear to you that much.”

His hands trembled, but not in anger. Instead, they trembled in fear, fear from the notion I hated him.

“Hath I ever done anything to cause you alarm? Hath I ever acted in a manner in which you worried for thy life? I love you, Emmalynn, I love you, and I would never hurt you.”

“But, you hath done such the thing you claim you would never do, and you concealed the truth.”

He opened his mouth to refute, but closed it without saying a word and hung his head in shame. Reverend Perris groaned as he began to move his arms in the dirt. I glanced at him and then at James.

“He is not dead?”

“I would never take the life of another. I am not a murderer.” He motioned toward me. “Although, to protect thee I might consider . . .”

I gave a fleeting look all around me. My heart thumped even harder, if such proved possible.

What am I supposed to do now?

“My apologies for my dishonesty, however, I hold reasons for it. If you would just allow me to explain, I will tell you everything.”

I massaged my wrist where the shackles had dug into my skin. The marks were red and my skin nearly rubbed raw.

Raw, because of the accusations of witchcraft.

“If you love me, why did you not free me last night or in the square as they arrested me?”

“When our home in Charles Towne was attacked by the Indian tribe, I protected my family with my power, and in doing such, I exposed us. I exposed my sister, and what my parents had done to hide her.”

“Oh.”

“I am the reason the people of Charles Towne marked Willow for death. I am the reason they hunted her, and I am the reason my parents hung for our treason.” His lungs heaved with his confession. “I swore to myself I would never cause such a tragedy again.”

“So, thou left me to perish?”

“No, no, I would never hath allowed that to happen. I only wished to handle the situation differently than in the past.”

“You should hath known you did not hath such a choice.”

“I know, and such is my mistake.”

“So, why did you come now? Why allow everyone to see what you are now?”

“Because . . . ‘twas the only way to save thy life. I love you too much to keep my secret any longer. We can leave, escape Salem, and travel to another town far away from here where you will be safe.”

He outstretched his hand, once again. “Please, Emmalynn. Come with me.”

My eyes darted from his fingers to his eyes and back to his fingers. I held my breath. So little of me wished to say no and flee from him, and so much of me wished to agree and intertwine my hand into his.

I wanted to forget the anger, forget the resentment that bubbled deep within my chest, and forget the fear. For so long, I had waited for someone like him. For so long, I had yearned to love and to be loved. Not but, hours ago, I had loved him and had wished for a life with him.

A life that now felt tarnished.

And, was too tarnished to repair.

I shook my head and retreated a few steps. “No, I cannot trust you.”

“But—”

“No.” I spun on my heel and darted for my home. I did not know where to travel, or what to do, but I did not care.

EIGHTEEN

I sprinted through the village roads. My feet slipped and slid through the dirt and I tripped over rocks as though my feet could not move in the way I demanded of them.

The only thought and place that replayed in my mind was the four walls of my home. No longer my sanctuary, it remained my only possession. Foolish beyond foolish, and yet the only place I knew.

As I scurried up the pathway toward the porch, I caught sight of my opened front door—kicked in and broken off from the top hinge. I stepped through the entryway and lost all my controlled emotions and thoughts as my knees hit the wooden floor.

My home had been ransacked. Furniture thrown, uprooted from their normal places. My table knocked to its side with three broken legs and both chairs shattered into several pieces. Blankets littered the room, the contents of my cabinets dumped all over my floor, and all my dresses lay crumpled in a pile next to the dresser.

While I knew they searched my home, I did not expect the scene in front of me. I did not expect the chaos they left in their wake. Why, I did not know? To think of my shock nearly caused me to laugh at my own ridiculous foolishness.

I covered my mouth with one hand as I sobbed. I could not stay here—not in this home and certainly not in Salem.

What was I going to do? Where was I going to go?

Only capable of short breaths, the four walls closed in and suffocated me as my chest tightened with my anxiety.

The door collapsed to the ground behind me. It slammed into the wood porch as James broke the last hinge and strode through the frame with thunderous footsteps. His cloak glided along the floor behind him.

“Emmalynn?” He called out, not in anger, but with a level of concern that sent chills down my spine. “Emmalynn, the townsfolk are coming. Sheriff Corwin, Reverend Perris, all of the deacons, they are coming for you and for me. We hath to leave. We hath to leave Salem, now.”

I clutched my throat as I backed away from him. He held out his hand for me to grasp and sighed a deep breath.

“I never meant to cause you pain or desired to lie to you, and for such I am truly sorry. I swear I will spend the rest of my life repenting for my sins against you. Please, please, please forgive me and come with me. I will not abandon my equal in this world and leave her here to die.”

“Thy equal?”

He inhaled a deep breath and held it for a moment. Another secret rested on the tip of his tongue. “All the times you hath felt a heat spread through thy body and felt an anger coarse through thy veins—”

“How do you know about that?”

“The heat and anger vanishes when we touch. Doth it not?”

Reluctantly, I nodded.

“The anger that overwhelms you is mine.”

“I do not understand.”

“I am a very powerful sorcerer, more powerful than Logan, my father, my father’s father, and even his father. When I was born, the medicine woman spoke of an uncontrollable evil deep within my soul that has the potential to elicit a demon not of either of our worlds.”

“Then, why do I feel it?”

“My wrath can level homes, destroy villages, and do unimaginable damage. My only salvation from the fiend is a woman, my equal, who draws my anger into herself and clears my mind.”

Chants from the crowd in the distance echoed through the hole in my wall.

He glanced in their direction and then toward me.

Heat tickled my skin and bubbled in my chest as anger rose. Inside a fire burned. It scorched from my feet up through my body and spread throughout the tiniest muscles.

He strode toward me and reached out for my arm. I jerked away from him, and a fire flared in my blood. It burned hotter every second as thunder boomed outside the home and gusts of wind blew in through the door and windows. The storm raged in my body along with the fire.

He reached for my arm again.

I did not move this time, and his fingers wrapped around my wrist. With his touch, the anger and heat vanished, along with the thunder and wind outside, leaving only calm and peace.

I gasped.

“Emmalynn, I would rather disappear with you, than hath reason to harm everyone in town.” He gave a weak chuckle. “However, I will not leave you, and will do whatever I hath to protect you.”

My eyes fluttered between his hand and his amazing blue eyes.

My heart fought with my head—a war that shadowed the stranger from moments ago.

The different light of my home cast the different light my heart needed, to see him for who he was, the man I love.

I advanced closer to him, inch by inch, until I could reach out and entwine my hand in his. With his touch, my hesitation melted.

He kissed the back of my hand and flashed me a smile.

We crossed through the doorframe and James halted. He wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me behind him.

A crowd of townsmen shouted through the streets. They carried torches and muskets, and as soon as they caught site of us, they dashed for my home. A relentless pursuit lead by Reverend Perris, who shouted as he ran with his Bible held high in the air.

James growled under his breath. Within a few seconds, a dust storm whipped through the street. It blinded the crowd as they coughed and sputtered on the dirt.

“That should hold them off until we can escape through the forest.” James led me through the home. He blew the back door open as he exhaled his breath, and as we crossed the back porch, he whistled a loud, deep signal that echoed against the line of trees.

His gray horse, from long ago and on a distant road we had strolled one morning, burst through the trees, followed by a black horse with a long mane and tail. His elegant gracefulness stole my breath and I tripped over a rock while I watched him.

The horses approached in haste and halted as they reached James. Both reared in excitement and pawed at the ground as they danced around.

“I should hath taught you how to ride.” James chuckled as he motioned toward me.

“Are you daft?” I laughed.

He smiled, cocked his head to one side, and winked at me.

My body lifted off the ground and floated through the air. “In the future, I request you not do such things to me, Mr. DeKane.” I said as I tried and failed to sharpen my tone.

“I do not believe we hath much time for argument at the moment.”

As my rump rested upon the horse’s back, vines began growing all around me, underneath the horse’s belly, and around his chest. Within seconds, they surrounded me. A secured seat upon the horse, they protected me from plummeting to the ground.

“You hath been conjuring them this entire time?”

“No, I conjured the vines. ‘Twas thy emotions that invoked the roses.”

“What do you mean?”

“Thy love caused them to grow.” He swung his leg over, straddling his own horse, and grabbed the reins. “’Twas how I knew how you felt about me.”

“And, why you never cared they grew in my home.”

“And, why I never cared.”

With his words, we rode off through the trees and left Salem behind. I would forever miss the life I had in my home, although dreadful more often than not. Surely, I would miss my mother, or at least the comforting reminder of her. I suppose she will always be with me in my heart and in my memory.

The sun had set upon my time in Salem. I knew not of what the future held for me except for one tiny detail. My love will forever live on, when the black roses grow.