EOK Gifford-Smith

"Do you like me?" I asked. "Do you really like me?"
Imogen nodded. Water gathered at the edges of her eyes. "Yeah," she whispered, in a voice pained enough to crack my heart.
"Then let's...go out, after this," I said. "We'll go on a date. We can figure this out together, and we can take one step at a time. Okay?"
Imogen nodded again. I took her hands in mine. 
Heartwood: Forbidden is the tale of the young, headstrong Ophelia stepping into a world of magic and witches. At first it seems like her greatest challenge will be finding her Familiar or drawing her Implement from a great tree, but then she runs into Imogen, daughter and heir to the Magnolia family, and learns very quickly that romance and magic probably shouldn't be allowed to mix. If Ophelia plays the game well, she might be able to get the girl and still end up on top. But Ophelia has never been good at following the rules... 
Heartwood: Forbidden is created by EOK Gifford-Smith, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

Heartwood: Forbidden

Someone screamed. The room fell silent as the eyes of the assembled witches all turned to behold my second attempt at life. For my part, I was a little dizzy. The magnitude of my post-death realizations hadn't exactly come with me; my living mind couldn't quite hold all that knowledge. For a moment, I was terrified that I had made a mistake in returning. But then I glanced up into Imogen's relieved eyes and knew I was exactly where I was meant to be.


"Hey," she replied. There were tears in her eyes. "Fancy running into you here."


I sat up, gave her a quick peck on the cheek for all the assembled magical world to see, and rose the rest of the way to my feet. Then I stretched dramatically, like I was waking from a long nap.


Olezhka crashed into me with enough force to nearly topple me over. He didn't say anything, but I could feel the anxiety he had been dealing with. The terror over my absence.


Chapter 49: Be Kind