Her mum especially had not left her bedside, fussing over her. The only respite she got was when Daisy came to visit her. She could understand her parents’ reaction—their daughter had been essentially dead, if not for Bhal’s actions—but the constant talking about it, and no privacy to come to terms with how she was feeling, had only made her confusion over the trauma worse. The other thing was that since her parents arrived, Alexis hadn’t been near, and she couldn’t understand why.

She had gotten used to—indeed, looked forward to—Alexis’s nightly visits with a cup of tea. Katie had to admit it was the only time of day she felt safe, anywhere near grounded, and not filled with anxiety.

Near grounded, that was a joke. Katie gazed out of the window and watched the hedgerows and leafy trees of the countryside whizz by. When she saw the trees, the leaves, the sheep and cows in the field, it was like a scene from a movie she was watching, observing from some point outside herself.

When Bhal had ripped her back from death, death had left its mark on her, and she didn’t know if she would ever be the same again. If Katie thought about it for too long, her anxiety went sky high.

“Katie? You okay back there?”

Katie looked away from the scenery and saw Wilder, Amelia’s personal guard, turned around in the front passenger seat.

“Yes, I’m okay,” Katie replied.

“Good, we won’t be too much longer,” Wilder said. “The Duca said we’ll stop in the village for a short while to pick up the keys to the cabins, and then we’ll get going.”

The Duca. Was she the same person as the one who helped save her and brought her tea each night until her parents arrived?

Katie had thought she was finally seeing beneath that protective wall Alexis kept around herself, but then she just disappeared. Maybe she had just felt sorry for her after the attack and come back to her senses. If that was the case, then the truth would sadden her. Maybe the connection Katie thought they finally had was all an illusion.

* * *

The village of Burley hadn’t changed much over the years, Alexis thought as she stood beside the Rolls-Royce. They had stopped in the centre of the village to pick up the keys to the cabins Byron had booked from the pub owner.

One thing that had changed in the small village was the embracing of all things witch and paranormal. From what she could see, there were two witchcraft shops that appeared to be popular with the tourists coming and going. Nowadays the paranormal was vaunted by humans—they were desperate to know the truth of this world, but if they did, it would keep them up at night.