The First Midnight Spell by Claudia Gray Page A

absence. “Who?”
    â€œDaniel Pike.”
    Him? Daniel Pike was Aunt Ruth’s age. He was sullen and silent and suspicious. The morning of Nat’s death, she had seen the meanness in his eyes. When she tried to imagine lying with him in bed, being as close to him as she had been to Nat, Elizabeth’s disgust was so sharp she thought she might be sick. “Oh, Aunt Ruth, no. Please, no.”
    â€œThere’s nothing for it,” Aunt Ruth said. By now she felt surer of herself, Elizabeth could see; her voice had become firm. “He is a respectable man and can provide for you. We think you should be married next month.”
    Before the winter? Elizabeth longed to flee, thought wildly of stealing a horse, taking her charms, setting out into the night in any direction . . .
    But where else could she go? In another town, she would only be even more friendless than she was here in Fortune’s Sound. As an outcast, Elizabeth would forever live on the edge of starvation—or, if she improved her situation through magic, as the likely first suspect anytime anything went wrong.
    I must marry, she realized as her heart sank. If she could not marry Nat Porter, then what did it matter who became her husband? Daniel Pike would be just another burden she had to bear.
    Yet the thought of kissing him, of his hard, thin mouth against hers instead of the warm touch of Nat’s lips . . .
    â€œDo you give your consent?” Aunt Ruth said, her tone making it clear that there was only one answer Elizabeth could give.
    So she gave it. “Yes.”
    That night, Elizabeth sat up after the others went to bed. Aunt Ruth would be even more tolerant of her moods and whims now, and Elizabeth intended to take advantage of the chance for a little privacy.
    There were reasons not to break the First Laws. And yet—it was possible to break them and to go on. Elizabeth’s own life proved that.
    That meant witchcraft contained even more power than she had ever dreamed.
    If she was to live a life without love, a life burdened by a husband for whom she could feel nothing but contempt . . . Elizabeth intended to live a life with a great deal of power.
    And she still remembered that strange feeling, the one that had said, I’ve been waiting for you.
    She dipped her fingers into the ash in front of the banked fire; it was still warm, and slightly oily against her skin. Fingertips grayed, Elizabeth slowly traced a shape on the bricks—the symbol that called the One Beneath.
    I’ve been waiting for you, she thought. All my life.
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    The First Laws:
    You must not reveal the Craft to anyone who would betray it.
    You must never speak of witchcraft to any man.
    You must never attempt to divine your own fate.
    You must never bear a child to the son of another witch.
    You must never command the will of another.
    You must never suffer a demon to walk among mortals.
    You must never cast a curse.
    You must never be sworn to the One Beneath and do his bidding.

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Copyright
    Text copyright © 2013 by Amy Vincent
    All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
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    EPub Edition © 2013
    ISBN 978-0-06-229759-4
    EPUB Edition SEPTEMBER 2013 ISBN 9780062297594
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