It was true: as if her life had been a dream, and he was the only real thing in it. It was a vital quality he had. Even here in the garden, he made everything fade around him, a dim nighttime haze and the dark, far-off impression of trees.
They were going to kiss. She could feel it as something inevitable, a pull that was irresistible. She’d been kissed once, on the back of her gloved hand the day of her engagement to Simon. She hadn’t felt like this then. She moved in towards Will; she was the one who moved. His eyes were very dark. ‘Katherine—’ He looked like he wanted to turn her away, but there was no way to stop it.
A kiss; around her light started to shine as if his touch was conjuring it, racing from him into her veins, a radiance that she could see and touch and feel, and as the feeling reached its climax, the light exploded outward and the dead winter tree above them burst into bloom—
Will jerked back, his eyes wide, and she was staring at him across a spray of white flowers out of season, still half aglow; like fires on distant ramparts; like stars in the dark.
It was magic, impossible, the tree above them glowing with light that only made him look more strange, a fey creature. He did this. I felt it. He—
‘What’s happening?’ She was staring at the tree above them, its branches spilling over with new blossoms, a riot of white flowers impossible in the early winter. How could it be? How could there be light – and flowers—？ ‘What is that?’
‘It’s a hawthorn tree,’ said Will, in a strange, raw voice. He was staring at the tree, his shock transforming into something else as he looked back at her. She realised that he was afraid. Of what he’d revealed, of what she’d seen him do. He lit the tree and made it flower. Above them the hawthorn tree was bright with blossoms, each one still flickering with light. She saw the light play on his face, on his clothing.
‘How did you do it?’ she said, staring at him across the white flowers. He wasn’t answering her. The strangeness of it started to become frightening. There was nothing in the natural world to explain it. There was nothing to explain him, a boy she hardly knew. And then: ‘What are you?’ Her heart was pounding.
‘Katherine, listen to me. You can’t tell anyone. You can’t tell anyone about this.’ There was real fear on his face. He took a step forward, and she stepped back instinctively.
‘What are you?’
The flowers were temporary. The petals had already begun falling around them. She could still see the last fading glow of the light. It was beautiful and frightening – like him, standing in his strange, ancient clothes against the falling petals like the swirl of ash or snow—
—like a figure from another world—
‘Katherine?’ It was a voice calling from the house. ‘Katherine!’
‘That’s Mrs Dupont,’ said Katherine.
‘Come with me,’ said Will. ‘I was wrong to … I’ll tell you everything you want to know if you just come with me.’
‘I’m not going to do that!’
‘Katherine?’ Mrs Dupont’s voice was closer. ‘Katherine! Where are you? What was that light?’
‘You can’t stay here,’ said Will urgently. ‘If Simon learns what happened – if he thinks you’re connected to me—’
‘I’m not going with you,’ said Katherine. ‘This is my home, Lord Crenshaw is my fiancé, and you – you’re—’ She could hear Mrs Dupont’s footsteps on the path. They both turned towards the sound. They only had a moment before Mrs Dupont turned the corner and found them together. ‘You’re unnatural—’
Instead of leaving, Will drew in a shaky breath. ‘If you won’t come, listen. At the first sign that something is wrong, run. Don’t stay as the warnings pile up, telling yourself that Simon is a good man. Protect yourself. And if you ever need a safe place, look for me at the gate on the Abbey Marsh, past the River Lea.’
For a moment she stared at him, the unusually earnest look in his eyes, coupled with the striking features and strange clothes that gave him an otherworldly look. She felt like she was seeing him for the first time. Her thoughts were broken by a voice.
‘Katherine?’ said Mrs Dupont, appearing at the end of the path.
Katherine jerked to face her, heart jolting at the idea of Mrs Dupont catching her with Will. But Mrs Dupont didn’t seem to react, and when Katherine looked back, Will had gone, like the light that had vanished, and she was alone with her lady’s maid in the dark.