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transformed himself into a screaming hawk last time we met. ‘If Marcus returns, I will lose no time in running for help while he hops after me, fixing me with his beady eye.’
    ‘Meg, be serious for once and consider your own safety. Or if you will not think of yourself, then spare a thought for me. Think of how my heart will suffer if you die . . .
again
 . . . at the hands of that foul creature.’
    He was thinking back to that terrible night at Hatfield when I had tried to exorcize the dark spirit accidentally loosed upon the world, and only succeeded in getting myself killed.
    Luckily my death had been of short duration.
    The talisman of his cross, set about my neck as a protective device during the ritual, had kept my soul from harm and ensured that I could return to my body once my magickal death had been reversed.
    ‘Alejandro.’ I stripped off my other glove, then placed my bare hand against his cheek. ‘I have no intention of dying again just yet, at Marcus’s hands or anyone else’s.’
    His fingers were still entwined with mine. I could feel the heat of his palm, and was struck by the way we were kneeling so close, facing each other, our gazes locked together.
    His eyes became smoky with darkness, his need for me coiling and flaring inside each velvety black pupil. ‘I am glad to hear it. For I could not live in this world knowing I had failed to protect you.’
    A cold fear gripped my heart at this frank admission.
    ‘What are you saying?’ I demanded, and my voice rose in anger. ‘Alejandro de Castillo, you are not such a coward as that. I could not love you if I thought even for one moment that you . . . Speak to me, Alejandro! Tell me you did not mean that?’
    There was a long silence.
    His dark gaze seared into me, despair on his taut features.
    ‘Forgive me,’ he managed at last. His eyes dropped from mine as though in shame. ‘I did not mean it.’
    ‘I should think not.’
    Suddenly Alejandro jerked my hand to his chest. My hood fell back and my eyes widened on his face, startled. He placed my hand over his heart where I felt the deep thud-thudding of an erratic beat beneath his shirt.
    ‘But you
are
my heart, Meg Lytton. I wish I could freeze time so that we would never be apart. To return to Hatfield without you is unthinkable, and it will destroy me to spend even one day away from you.’
    ‘Think of your duty, then.
I
have let the Lady Elizabeth down – she cannot have a suspected witch in her household. Do not make me the cause of her losing a further protector as well.’
    ‘My duty is to you,
mi alma
,’ he growled. ‘You are my betrothed. We are to be married one day.’
    It felt as though there was broken glass in my throat. ‘You forget, I have not given you my final answer yet.’
    He stilled. ‘You mean to refuse me?’
    I drew an unsteady breath. ‘When we wed, will you ask me to put witchcraft aside?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘But you could not marry me otherwise.’ I looked at him tenderly. ‘Admit it, Alejandro. Your Holy Order permits marriage. But not to a suspected witch.’
    His jaw was clenched hard. ‘It could be difficult for us if you refused to give up the craft, yes.’
    ‘You already know that I would refuse to do so.’
    ‘Meg, I love you. You are the boldest, most exciting woman I have ever met. You are as brave as any man, and although you often act rashly, your instinct is always to attack. You think and act like a soldier, and you are willing to die for what you believe in. I want you for my wife, Meg Lytton, and would never ask you to give up your power. That is a decision that must come from you, not me.’ He paused, meeting my gaze, then continued more slowly. ‘But there
would
be danger for us both if you practised witchcraft after our marriage, I cannot deny that. Especially if I took you back to Spain to meet my family.’
    ‘To meet your family?’ I shook my head, feeling as though I were living in a nightmare.
    ‘Of course.’