Free Something Witchy This Way Comes: A Jolie Wilkins Novel by H. P. Mallory Page A

with her. Either she needed to take an oath of loyalty and become a member of my kingdom or be dealt with in a harsher way. She couldn’t remain my prisoner forever.
    So with steely resignation, I marched out of my bedroom and headed for the guesthouse just behind Kinloch Kirk. I couldn’t even remember how long we’d been holding Bella there. With the whole time-travel thing, my sense of time was completely thrown off. It could be that she’d been my prisoner for days, or even months. Either way, it had been long enough. And, yes, it did occur to me that maybe I should have discussed this visit with Mercedes or Rand or my counsel of representatives, but I dismissed the thought as soon as it reared its unwanted head. As far as I was concerned, this was just between Bella and me.
    When I stepped outside my back door, the cold Scottish sea air accosted me with its chill, wrapping itself around my legs as I shivered involuntarily. I folded my arms around myself as I glanced up at the moon. I hurried down the pathway leading to the guesthouse and was greeted by two werewolf guards who seemed unfazed by the frigid air. ’Course, weres naturally have body temperatures that run much hotter than humans, so they were probably as comfortable as I would have been on a warm beach in Maui.
    “Hi,” I started in an unsteady voice. Then I remembered I was their Queen and should do my best toseem like one. I fluffed my proverbial feathers and stood up straight and tall. “I’m here to see Bella.”
    The guard closest to me bowed and then nodded, stepping aside. He was huge—as in Odran huge, but unlike Odran, this guy wasn’t eye candy. He had a really wide face, covered with moles, and eyes that were too close together, setting off a nose too small for his moon face. But then it occurred to me that he was probably a nice guy, and I was suddenly irritated with myself for noticing his homeliness first.
    “If you need us, just holler,” he said, smiling warmly.
    What a jerk I was.
    I took a deep breath and gave him a fake smile, hoping my demeanor was casual. Inside, though, it was another story. Why? Because Bella and I had a long and ugly history. That history was now tainted or tempered with memories from a different past, ever since Sinjin had time-traveled. I couldn’t help but wonder if Bella was aware of what had happened. Did she have layered memories like I did? Did she remember how Sinjin had mistreated her, how she instructed me in magic lessons at his insistence? For that matter, did she remember that Sinjin and I had been a couple? I could only hope the answer was no.
    I eyed the were farthest from me, another huge guy with long, dark hair and dirty fingernails. (Jeez, did I only notice the negative? Okay, he had nice broad shoulders.) He bowed in greeting and then unlocked the door. I approached it, and holding my hands against the wood, felt the energy reverberating from it. It was similar to what I’d felt when I went to see Sinjin. I closed my eyes and sent the feelers of mymind to inquire as to what kind of spell this was and how I could break it.
    It turned out to be a simple charm, and it only took me three seconds to break it. I focused on the darkness of my eyelids and imagined a bright white light usurping control over the charm’s spell. As soon as it dissipated into oblivion, I had to wonder why such a weak spell had been cast to hold Bella. As that thought crossed my mind, I ran into the Barrier Ward. Now this one would be a real feat to break.
    You can always tell who put a spell in place because charms have a magical fingerprint, and as soon as I encountered this one, I could feel Mercedes’ energy all over it. It was bad enough that it was an incredibly strong spell, but given the fact that Mercedes had woven it? Well, that just added to its difficulty. But I was pleased to see it in place because it pointed to Mercedes’ thoughtful preparation. The only way we had any hope of keeping Bella behind