The Witch Born to Smoulder (Inferno Book 4)

a jolt, I remembered my family had supplied Jet with his own dinghy. If I didn’t make a move, Jet would be out on the open waters, exposed, as he waited for me.
I stood and slipped the backpack on. I was about to head out the door when I heard soft footsteps on the deck above me. I stepped into the corner, away from the windows, my heart racing. Slowly, the doorknob turned and a large shadow filled the doorframe.

Chapter Six
The solid shape grew familiar.
‘Eva?’
Ezra.
‘It’s me,’ I said.
He jumped inside, locked the door behind himself. Then he stepped forward and enclosed me in his arms. ‘Oh, thank God. Are you…okay?’ He held me back, watched me closely.
I nodded, but my ears were straining for the sounds of the police. ‘Did anyone follow you?’
‘No, but they will come here, to…search for you.’
I tried to swallow, but my mouth felt like the sand in a desert.
Ezra tucked my hair behind my shoulder. ‘I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you need to go now…to Jet…and get into hiding.’
‘Come with me,’ I said, my voice breaking. ‘If there’s anything good that’s come out of tonight, it’s that I want to be with you, Ezra – not just tonight, or tomorrow, but always, forever. I love you, Ezra. Please, come away with me. We can rescue my family together.’
Ezra stared at me as though I’d grown a second head.
My mind swirled fast, but my words were faster. ‘We can leave now. We can take your dinghy. But we need to hurry.’
Ezra ran his hand through his hair, and a wide, empty pit cracked open inside of me.
‘I’m begging you, Ezra, please come with me. Never in my life have I needed anyone more than I need you now.’ My voice started to splinter, but I pressed on. ‘You can get away from your dad and we can be together.’
Ezra stepped back from me and rubbed the side of his face.
‘What’s wrong? Talk to me,’ I said.
Ezra turned and stared out the window.
I stepped in front of him. ‘I want to marry you, Ezra. I want to be with you forever. Please don’t turn away from me. Please say you’ll come with me – that we’re in this together.’
Ezra gazed over the top of my head.
‘God damn it, Ezra – look at me.’
Ezra’s eyes lowered until they locked with mine. In them was great sorrow. And there was also my answer.
I heard a cry, like that of a wounded animal. It took me a moment to realise the sound had emerged from me.
‘I’m sorry, Eva. I can’t come with you.’
I bent forward as waves of pain crashed over me, drowning me.
‘I love you, Eva. This is breaking my heart, but…’
I made myself stand tall. I made myself ask him the question I knew would haunt me if I never asked it. ‘Only hours ago, you wanted to be with me forever. You asked me to marry you. But now that I’ve been discovered as a witch, something you’ve known all along, you want nothing to do with me?’
A single tear trickled down Ezra’s face. ‘I do love you – you have no idea how much I love you. But if I leave with you now, then…who will take care of and protect my mum?’
I blinked quickly, trying to see the situation through his eyes.
‘I understand you want to look after your mum, but she’s supposed to be there to protect you, Ezra. She wouldn’t want you to…not live your life. She would want you to follow your heart. She would want us to be together.’ I took his hands and begged as I had never begged before. ‘Please, Ezra, come with me. Please, I love you – please come away with me. We can come back and get your mum.’
Ezra’s eyes hardened and in them was the truth that broke my heart. Ezra had chosen whom he needed to be with, who could trust him with their life, and it wasn’t me.
‘Take my dinghy, please,’ he said.
I dropped his hand. My heart, which he’d damaged twice before, now cracked into two.
Ezra cleared his throat, then spoke to me as if I were his employee. ‘I promise you I’ll do everything I can to help you – help you family. And one day, when this is over, we could be together again.’
I stepped backwards. ‘You’re breaking up with me?’
‘Everything has changed… We have no idea what’s going to happen. All I know is that it’s going to be terrible at home. I can’t leave my mum alone with my dad. I’m so sorry.’ The world around me faded, and in that moment I’d never felt so utterly alone. Ezra spoke softly, gently. ‘And it’s not safe, for either of us, to be together right now. But one day…it might be again.’
I wiped away the tears that rushed into my eyes and found my breath, my words. ‘In my heart, as someone who would do anything for their family, I understand your need to protect your mum. But I see you as my family. I would do anything for you. I would never turn away from you when you needed me the most.’
He took a sharp breath. Then he stepped towards me, as though he wanted to hold me in his arms. Hope soared inside me, until he spoke the words, ‘I’m so sorry.’
I stumbled backwards and turned from the man I’d given my heart to, not once, but twice. I prayed my legs would hold me as I walked away from Ezra, towards the door I would never walk through again.
For a split second, I imagined this night as it should have been. We were supposed to get engaged. We were supposed to make love for the first time. Our destinies were supposed to be intertwined forever. Not blown apart.
As reality descended on me, I opened the door, cold air filling my lungs, settling heavily on my skin.
‘Eva…’ sighed Ezra.
I turned back around, my