“I can speak for myself, Sister,” Nora snapped. “And Brynn knows exactly what I meant. She is purposely misinterpreting what I’m saying so that we’ll both feel bad and once again drop the issue.”

“And what exactly is the issue, Nora?”

She slapped the table with the palm of her hand. “You did not die with Adam!”

An icy silence filled the room.

“There,” Nora said, albeit without much of the fire. “I’ve said it. Now we can move on.”

“Move on?” I spun on my heel.

“Brynn,” Izzy said, rushing after me.

I held up a hand. “I need a moment.” I took a few steps away, then suddenly whirled back around. “But while I’m gone, Izzy, you may want to ask your sister how she knows Mary Coleman. I could have sworn she said she didn’t know anyone from Constance’s family, but Mary seems to think otherwise.” I said the words to Izzy, but my gaze had been focused solely on Nora.

My aunt said nothing, but I could see in her eyes I had hit on something.

I spun back around and headed out of the room.

“Okay, darling,” Izzy called after me. “But come back later if you’re hungry.” She let out a sigh I could hear from the hallway. “There will be lots of leftovers.”

Chapter 24

Before you say anything, I know you must have heard what happened in the dining room.” I pointed to the exposed vent in the brick wall. “And you probably also know about my decision to stop practicing magic. But, before we go any further, I need to make one thing clear.”

My uncle looked slightly alarmed as I dropped myself into the chair across from him.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Dog cawed from his perch in the far corner of the room.

I shot a look over my shoulder. “I don’t want to talk about it with you either.”

It appeared as though Gideon had been having a pretty cozy evening before I had barged in. He had a book on his lap and a steaming cup of tea at his side. I felt a little bad, but he was part of this family too. It wasn’t fair he always got to opt out of everything. Not that I wanted to talk about it.

My uncle cautiously peered at me over the glasses sitting low on his nose.

“I mean it.” I folded my arms over my chest. “Nora just doesn’t know when to quit sometimes.”

He cleared his throat. “Ah, Nora. In my experience, my sister has—”

“Not that Izzy was much help.”

“Izzy has always tried to be the peacemak—”

“Gideon. I told you I don’t want to talk about it.”

My uncle pressed his lips shut.

We sat in silence awhile before he dared ask, “Shall we talk about something else or . . . ?” He cast a hopeful glance down at the novel in his lap.

“Constance Graves.”

He closed the book.