Page 63 of Homegrown Magic

“And if I refuse?” Yael says tersely.

Margot feels tears fill her eyes. “Then they take Bloomfield. For good.”

When it’s all done, all of it finally out of her and in the open, Margot looks up at Yael as a tear slips down her cheek and says, in a small, broken voice, “I’m so sorry about it all. Not that it really matters, but I’ve been torn and scared and wretched about this for so long. And then you strolled into my life and made everything softer. And lighter, and I loved that so much. And now, even though you know it all, can you possibly forgive me?”

23

Yael

Can they forgive Margot?

How can Yael blame her at all?

It wasn’t your fault, they draw in a breath to say, the words a prism refracting half a dozen meanings from one simple phrase.

It wasn’t Margot’s fault that her parents tore to rubble everything that Granny Fern built with their greed and ambition, with their hunger to be just like the Claunecks and their ilk—obvious even to Yael as a child.

It wasn’t Margot’s fault that her parents left her alone in such desperate straits.

It wasn’t Margot’s fault that when Yael fled their childhood home, they stumbled drunkenly into her life, following no star but their own desperation.

It wasn’t Margot’s fault that Menorath had threatened every remaining scrap of happiness that Margot had managed to keep for herself in order to force her hand.

It wasn’t Margot’s fault that the Claunecks have never sought to grow a single thing—only to consume.

And, Yael thinks miserably, it isn’t Margot’s fault she’s fallen for one of them.

YOU, YAEL, ONE OF US?

Clauneck’s voice is louder than they’ve ever heard—a sharply clanging bell—and Yael claps their hands over their ears to stifle the clamor. But they can’t stop it, because it’s inside of them.

YOU, WHO HAVE ALWAYS REFUSED TO PERFORM TO YOUR POTENTIAL? YOU, WHO HAVE PRODUCED NOTHING IN SERVICE OF THIS FAMILY BUT DEMANDED YOUR OWN HAPPINESS AS THOUGH IT WAS OWED? YOU, WHO HAVE REJECTED OUR MAGIC, OUR COUNSEL, OUR WAY OF LIFE? WHAT HAVE YOU TO OFFER THE CLAUNECKS, YAEL, IF YOU ARE ONE OF US? WHAT HAVE YOU TO OFFER ANYONE?

What do they have to offer?

“Yael? Are you all right?”

As the ringing inside of their very bones gradually recedes, they realize Margot’s palms are on their shoulders, fisted in the fabric of their hastily rebuttoned vest, her concern for Yael burning in her eyes.

They lower their hands, shaking their head to clear it.

“Please, say something? Or…or better yet, just come back to the inn with me? We can talk there. It’ll be easier to talk to each other away from all of this.” She nods toward the manor behind them, music seeping up from the ballroom along with the chatter of the jeweled guests below—every powerful person in Harrow but the queens themselves, who are rumored to be putting in an appearance at some point during the ball. “We can leave, Yael, right now, and you can yell at me as much as you like in the carriage, so long as we’re away from here,” she finishes with a little smile that’s sad and hopeful and heartbreaking all at once. “Even if it’s only for tonight. Or perhaps…perhaps we can still figure something out together?”

Yael wants to believe that’s possible. That there’s no problem or power they cannot overcome. Most of all, Yael has never wanted anything more than they want to say yes.

So if any words have ever cost them more dearly than their next, they can’t recall. “We—I can’t, Margot.”

And this too is true.

Because wishing for a happily ever after with Margot Greenwillow is as useless as…well, as Yael Clauneck. No, worse than useless. Their presence in Margot’s life has already cost her dearly, and it will continue to cost her. Even if Margot wants to believe there’s a way to wriggle out from beneath the iron grip of the Clauneck Company, to keep each other and save the village without giving Baremon and Menorath what they want, Yael knows that there isn’t. There is no world in which their parents let them go without Margot losing everything she has left out of love for them, including Bloomfield. Yael’s family wanted a public reunion with their heir, and they got it. Now they want all Claunecks accounted for and back to business as usual before this potentially disastrous summer ends and autumn sets in.

The only way to protect Margot and the people of Bloomfield—the people who welcomed Yael into their homes without knowing that Yael’s family could have them all evicted at any moment—is for Yael to give their family what it wants.

This is what they have to offer.

“You can’t?” Margot repeats. “But—”

“Rather, I don’t want to.”