Page 13 of Destiny of the Dragons

“How soon?” she asked. “These ingredients are hard to come by.”

“As soon as you can. I have the necessary requirements.”

Which meant Cross had some blood, hair, nails, and skin from the former lover he wished to curse.

Mia locked down her emotions. “Very well. I will start this afternoon. It might take some time to track the spell components down. And there will be a fee for the rush.”

“Of course.” Cross grinned at her, and it made her feel dirty.

Cross knew exactly what sort of spell ingredients she was going to have to provide, and most of them she would have to make herself.

“Now.” Cross walked over to the griffin. It screeched at him, and he stepped back with a frown. “I’m willing to be reasonable. After all, you’ll be more powerful with a familiar, won’t you?”

Mia smiled at him. It wasn’t a nice smile. “Of course.”

“I will only ask for a lock of your hair.”

Mia frowned. There were a lot of things he could do with a lock of her hair. She knew, because she was one of those people who did things with people’s body parts.

“And half a million dollars.”

Mia laughed. “You’re kidding. A lock of my hair, and half a million dollars?”

Cross frowned. “I will show you the invoice.”

He shuffled around the griffin’s cage, who snapped her beak at Cross.

He rifled through some papers, and handed her a piece of paper. “The collector has already paid half.”

The collector paid a million dollars for a raven griffin. The name and personal info were blacked out, but there it was, amount paid.

Cross was going to make another half a million on delivery.

No wonder he had enough money to buy their spells.

Mia looked at the raven griffin. She had a bad feeling about her hair, but she might have figured something out. But half a million dollars?

The raven cawed sadly at her. Her chest hurt.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said. “But that sort of money is quite dear, not to mention my hair.”

Cross raised his eyebrows. “Daughter of a noble family? That should be doable for a witch of your caliber.”

Mia bit back a retort. Her mother went about making everyone think they were all filthy rich, and wouldn’t appreciate Mia telling one of their rivals and clients otherwise.

Instead, she smiled at him. “Sleep well tonight.”

She gave the griffin one last look, and left the shop. The griffin screeched as she left, and it was like leaving a tiny piece of her heart behind.

Crossing the street felt like betraying an old friend.

Half a million dollars? Where was she going to get that kind of money? Charlotte could try to pull some strings, but nothing that would turn up that sort of money.

If she thought she could get away with doing some spells on the side without her Mother finding out, she would. But there was absolutely no way she could swing that. She would have to leave the city, probably the state, and there was still a better than fifty percent chance someone would mention her performing magic to her parents.

There was power and prestige in belonging to a supernatural family, but the drawbacks were just as steep. There was no out for her, no going against Family wishes.

“Mia?”

---