Relief coursed through me. “Thank you, Mary. You did well.”
There was still time, but only if I acted quickly. Kicking off my shoes, I hiked up my skirts and ran toward the large stone house. Within minutes I knelt at his bedside, heart racing and lungs fit to burst from the exertion. Staring at his damp gray hair and ashen skin, I couldn’t believe the stark change that had occurred since last night. Except for the slow rise and fall of his chest, he looked like death itself.
I hated acting contrary to his wishes, but I couldn’t let him die, especially after Nathan’s egregious threats. Four years ago I had lost my mother in an accident and, wrong or not, I needed my father.
Reaching out, I placed my hands on his sternum. The sickness was easy enough to find as it had spread throughout most of his body, but so much healing would take a great deal of focus and strength. I closed my eyes to better concentrate, relaxing a little when a small fire sprang to life behind my ribcage. The flame strengthened, and its familiar warmth flowed down my arms into the very tips of my fingers. With a deep breath, I willed the power forward, anxious for the healing to begin.
At the last moment, the warmth unexpectedly faded. My eyes flew open, and I looked at my father, dumbfounded by what had just happened. Brushing aside the first sensations of panic, I renewed my efforts, but no sooner had the power reached my fingers than it left me yet again.
“Damnation!” I cursed softly. My panic grew tenfold, and I had to fight the urge to scream in frustration. Summoning more power, I’d begun a third time when my father stirred.
“There is no use fighting against my wishes.” He opened his eyes and looked directly at me. Though never as dark blue as my own, over the past year his eyes had faded to a steely gray. A faint smile pulled on his mouth, taking much of the sting from his rebuke.
“Oh, Father!” I cried. “Why must you be so stubborn?”
“It is my time, daughter. I have no fear of dying.”
“You can’t leave me.” Tears filled my eyes. “Let me heal you once more, then I’ll promise never to ask again, no matter what happens.”
He pulled a shaky hand from under the blankets and placed it on top of my own. “I consented to be healed last summer when the sickness first started to grow. But it has come back, and even you must obey God’s will.”
“A pox on God’s will!” I yanked my hand away and quickly rose to my feet. “I have heard enough of His will for one day.”
The smile left my father’s face, replaced by worry. “Such hard words, Selah. Did something happen in town this morning?”
“Nathan Crowley happened,” I said angrily. “I met him on the road, and he told me it was God’s will for us to marry. He even claimed a vision of my inner light.” Despair threatened to sap my remaining strength when I received my own flash of inspiration. My father had only to understand the depth of my plight. Then he would have no choice but to stay with me longer. “He demanded that I stand with him in meeting this Sunday or he would have me disowned.”
“Ah,” my father said as though already familiar with this part of my antagonist’s plan. “Nathan hinted of this months ago when I first refused him my consent to court you. At the time I explained that it was impossible to disown someone who is not yet a member. It sounds like he is determined to get around this detail.”
“That and worse,” I continued with great urgency. “Nathan suspects my gift and has threatened to charge me as a witch if I refuse to marry him. Be assured, unless I submit to his demands, he’ll see me homeless, without so much as a sheaf of wheat left to sell.”
Grim lines etched my father’s face. Pulling in a raspy breath, he released it in a weary sigh. “Selah, these things mean nothing.”
My heart sank alongside my last hope. “I’ll try to remember that next winter when I’m half starved and living in a ditch somewhere. Hunger and cold might mean nothing to you at this point, but they are everything to me if I wish to continue in this world.”
“Forgive me, daughter, I only meant that we must first think of the altar. Everything else can be replaced.”
“But it’s hidden. Surely there’s no risk of losing that too.”
My father shook his head. “All the land belongs to the estate. If you’re driven from Brighmor, you’ll be forced to sneak around like a thief in the night, just asking to be caught. It will be only a matter of time before the altar is discovered and you’re cut off from the Otherworld.”
The truth shot through me. No altar...No Otherworld...No power...Nathan would take everything—my home and my birthright.