Winter Fire (Witchling Series) by Lizzy Ford

main house. At the door, she paused and turned. She didn’t expect to see Beck watching her, standing outside the vehicle with his chin on his folded arms on top of the car.
    She waved. He smiled in return. Morgan turned away again and went inside. Part of her wanted to look out the window to see if he was still there, but she didn’t, not wanting to seem like a complete fool after one little kiss.
    Or two incredible ones.
     

Chapter Eight
     
    The voice came again.
    I can help you, it said.
    Dawn fell silent mid-sentence, trying to figure out what – or who – was talking to her. It wasn’t air magick. At least, it didn’t feel like air magick, which sometimes whispered random things to her. Her element normally didn’t speak in complete sentences, if it spoke at all.
    “What’s wrong, sis?” her brother asked.
    Dawn’s gaze went from the dark night visible through the car window to her brother. They’d had cocoa after her horrible interaction with Beck and now, Noah was driving them to the Dark campus, her new home for the past month.
    “Why’d you come back?” she asked.
    “Mum didn’t give me much of a choice,” he replied.
    “Like helping out your sister is such an awful thing,” she snapped. “What is wrong with everyone?”
    “You know that’s not the case.”
    “No one wants anything to do with me. I’m the one who’s stuck with a kid!”
    Noah glanced at her. They both resembled their mother, who in her youth had been one of the most popular supermodels in history. With blond hair and blue-grey eyes, Noah had their father’s height and their mother’s carved-from-stone looks, much like Dawn.
    “I’m here, aren’t I?” he asked. “No one told me what was going on until last week. I got a call from dad’s attorney, asking me to be a character witness. Why? Because my pregnant sister is suspected of kidnapping someone.”
    “You never should’ve left me here alone with these people to start off with,” Dawn retorted.
    “Yeah, well, I had my own issues. Dad’s almost broke, and the company is going under. Someone’s gotta help him figure it out.”
    “Oh and I’m incapable?”
    “Dammit, Dawn, don’t be so bitchy. We both have things we’re dealing with,” he replied.
    “You have no idea what I’ve been through,” she returned. “Beck is already seeing someone else! Like I never meant anything to him!” Three weeks after I delivered a message I thought was clear. Tanya’s death had been an accident when Alexa went a little crazy doing what Dawn asked her to. In any case, Dawn was glad she was dead; she hoped it would drive Beck back to her or at least, keep him away from other girls.
    Taking out Autumn – the girl Summer was disguised as to complete her trial – was a second failed message. That one nearly cost Dawn her life and that of her child. She learned one thing from that encounter: becoming personally involved was too much of a risk. If she lost the baby, she lost the money. Though some days, she wanted Beck to feel her pain so badly, she considered an out of state abortion.
    But then, he’d be off the hook. She would never win. Maybe one day, he’d realize how much easier life would be if they were together. She wasn’t certain what it would take for him to understand her; she just had to keep reminding him. Every time they crossed paths, Beck was confident and smiling. Unaffected. Uncaring. His life wasn’t changing, but hers was. The kid’s trust fund and child support would help replace the money her father no longer sent her, which in turn, might give her another shot at modeling. She could do what her mother did: marry the richest man around to take care of her.
    It’s what the plan was with Beck, only it didn’t go that way. Dawn got pregnant and Beck dumped her, like the playboy he was.
    Master of Light? Was there no right and wrong in the world? What of their daughter?
    I can help you.
    Dawn shook her head.
    “You really have to move on,”