Free The First Midnight Spell by Claudia Gray

little checked cloth she’d tied with a bow. Nat ate like a starving man, and with a tiny twinge of guilt she wondered how long it had been since he’d sat down to regular meals and eaten as much as he should.
    Not for much longer, she thought as she stroked his hair. Soon I’ll cook all your meals, and we’ll be happy together somewhere far away from Fortune’s Sound.
    They had spoken little that day, so it was startling when Nat said, “I don’t understand myself any longer.”
    â€œIt’s all right,” Elizabeth replied, smiling over at him. “We’re in love. People can’t help themselves when they’re in love.”
    He hardly seemed to have heard her. “One day—one day I was still praying every morning and night for Rebecca to get well. I knew that I intended to spend my life with her if God granted her the years for us to share.”
    Just hearing Rebecca Hornby’s name again soured Elizabeth’s mood. What was it about that girl that allowed her to linger in Nat’s mind, despite the spell? Inwardly Elizabeth resolved to cast a spell of forgetting on Nat as soon as she got the chance.
    Nat continued, “Then the next day I realized I couldn’t think about anything but you. I didn’t want anyone but you.”
    That was more like it. “Nat, you’ve always been the one for me. Always. I used to wish and pray you’d notice me.”
    â€œI don’t understand.” Nat’s voice sounded broken. “Ma doesn’t want me to be with you—and I don’t know why, but she doesn’t, and she’s never been one to hold me back. If I marry you, it will hurt her, so badly. I never wanted to hurt Ma.”
    â€œShe’ll see reason someday,” Elizabeth lied. They’d never see Widow Porter again, which was fine by her. “These things work out with time. They always do.”
    â€œI hear you and everything makes sense. But inside—inside—” Nat made a gesture across his heart, as though he were trying to tear off something that had gotten in the way. “Everything’s turned upside down, and I don’t even know my own mind any longer.”
    â€œShhh. Nat, it’s all right. Trust me. You trust me, don’t you?”
    He nodded at her, saying nothing, but his wide blue eyes told the whole story.
    Elizabeth lay back on the ground again and smiled up at him invitingly. Sure enough, the confusion in his eyes faded, replaced by desire. The spell had him again, which meant Elizabeth did, too. When he kissed her, the sun beat down on them so brightly that even closing her eyes couldn’t keep out the light.
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    She’d managed to pick enough weeds and herbs first thing that morning to keep Aunt Ruth from being suspicious. Still, Elizabeth wondered at how blind her aunt could be. It seemed as though her entire body glowed with the memory of Nat’s kisses, as if the entire world should be able to see it.
    But as they worked together to prepare supper that evening, Elizabeth felt flickers of doubt.
    Elizabeth had never doubted whether she ought to have cast the spell. That much was obvious. She loved Nat. He should love her. The spell would make that happen.
    Still, magic had taken a toll on Nat. Even her happiness couldn’t blind her to that. It had to be frightening to feel as though your thoughts weren’t your own, and upsetting to be at odds with your mother. (Elizabeth’s own mother was nothing now but an unmarked grave and a series of ever-fading memories, but she knew she’d never have wanted to make her sad.) Yes, Elizabeth’s spell could make Nat forget Rebecca Hornby . . . but would she also have to make him forget Widow Porter, his friends here in town, and virtually everything else about his life before Elizabeth?
    If she did, and she emptied out that much of Nat’s history—at the end, would he still be the man she