Page 75 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

Tinsley’s face grew somber as I spoke. “Are you sure you want to help this guy? He sounds kinda scuzzy.”

“I don’t want to help him, but it may be the easiest way of getting him off my case and leaving me alone.”

She patted the stack of books. “If that’s what you want, I think we can find something here that will work for you. Do you think this friend is actually someone else, or are we thinking it’s really the Eren guy who needs help?”

“From the way he’s been bugging me, I’d have to say it’s him. The friend story is probably so he can have plausible deniability or something.”

Tinsley rolled her eyes. “Shifters. They’re so wrapped up in alphas and heirs and mates, it’s a wonder they ever have time for anything else. All right, let’s get to work.”

We flipped through and studied the books, Tinsley taking breaks to help customers who trickled in. By lunchtime, she thought she had an idea about what his trouble was.

“I think this guy has azoospermia,” Tinsley said.

“What now?” I frowned at her.

“He’s shooting blanks. No swimmers. His balls aren’t making sperm, is what I mean.”

“Oh.” I wrinkled my nose. I did not want to think about Eren’s sperm.

“It’s a modern medical term, but in this book here, an ancient Italian witch was dealing with the same issue with a Roman senator. The guy had tried having kids with his wife, his neighbor’s wife, a prostitute, and, according to the notes, a servant girl. All to no avail. The witch took a sample of his semen—”

“Gross!”

“I know, but bodily fluids can help create very strong spells and potions. Tears, urine, menstrual blood—”

“Got it, got it. Say no more, please, before I barf.”

“Vomit works well as an ingredient in a pretty nasty revenge potion I’ve read about, too,” Tinsley added.

“You gotta stop, seriously. What about the Roman guy? What did she find?”

“See did a scrying spell over the fluid and determined that…” She skimmed the passage with a finger and read, “‘The seed of life was not present in the fluid.’ That sounds like he had no sperm in his semen. She has a remedy here that actually fixed the issue for the guy. Later passages say he and his wife had six children before he died. From what I’m reading, it’s actually fairly simple. More of a green witch herbal remedy, with a bit of magic sprinkled in with a few incantations spoken over the mixture while it stews. From what I see, it is the easiest and most effective recourse. This same mixture the witch in Rome used is mentioned again and again in later writings, and each one says it works most of the time.”

“Awesome. So it should be pretty easy, then?”

“Easy-ish. But yes, we should be able to create this.”

That was a relief. So far, nothing about any of this had been easy. The next question was far more personal.

“What about Jace?” I said. “His curse? Have you thought about how to break it?”

“Are you still of the opinion that your great-grandmother cursed him just to make sure you two could be together?”

“Nothing else makes any sense.” I didn’t mention the doubt that had crept into my mind about what would happen if things didn’t work out between Jace and me.

“I do know of one specific potion that can break most curses. It’s very strong and a bitch to make. It’s tough, and that’s part of why it isn’t done more often. It’s not simple and requires a lot of magic. So much that it’ll probably leave you light-headed… in fact, there’s actually a good possibility it’ll cause you to faint, and you’ll be drained for a few days afterward. Are you sure?”

Jace had lived so long with that curse hovering over his head, I couldn’t imagine letting him continue on that way. Plus, I had no idea if the curse would prevent him from having kids even if we worked out. That thought was too much to really dwell on. What I did know was that Jace didn’t deserve whatever was happening to him. Whether he and I really ended up together or not didn’t matter. It was still the moral thing to remove it.

“I do. Let’s do it.”

“Okay, I’ll need a few things. I’m not sure if you’ll have what I need, though,” Tinsley said.

“What do you need? Everything’s here, right?” I gazed around at the myriad of vials, jars, and packets of every conceivable herb, plant, and ingredient one could imagine.

“For the basics of the potion, yes. But I’m breaking a curse that was created by one person for another. I need DNA from the person who created the curse, which is simple enough since you share DNA with your great-grandmother. We’ll just use a few strands of your hair. But the curse was for Jace, so I need some from him as well.”

“Shit,” I muttered, glancing at my watch. It would be a two-hour drive to get back to Crestwood, get some blood or hair from Jace, then two hours back. It would be a very long day.

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