Page 70 of Hexes and Exes

“Figure what out?” Roman rubs his forehead like he’s warding off a headache.

“That you’re all victims of your family's selfishness, rather than a centuries’ old curse,” Morty says, his voice nonchalant.

“You knew?” Ava gasps.

Anger screws up Fitz’s face and her eyes narrow to tiny slits. “There’s magic that can keep a person from speaking the truth. Even when they want to.”

“Who did that to you?” Piper looks ready to cry.

Fitz waves her hand Morty. “Go get me a chair.”

Morty spins around an unused chair from nearby. Fitz sits down at the head of our table, her hands folded over the dragon’s head of her cane. Morty stays standing behind her. Fitz always looks old, but she has a mischievous sparkle that lends a youthfulness to her appearance. In this moment, she looks every bit of her presumed age. Lines wrinkle her forehead and the bridge of her nose. Her mouth turns down in an unhappy frown.

“I’m not here to give you a history lesson. Suffice to say that Morty and I both found out the truth of the Briar Witch’s curse a long time ago.”

“Is that why you aren’t part of one of the covens?” Josephine asks.

Fitz holds up a crooked finger and jabs the air. “That is none of your business.”

Josephine gulps and slumps back into her seat.

“When the coven elders, which you now know as the coven council, realized I knew the truth, let's just say we came to an agreement. As part of that deal, I could never speak about Briar’s curse.”

Fitz swipes my glass of water and takes a drink, crunching down on a piece of ice before continuing.

“They didn’t realize there was a loophole.” That spark is back in her eye. “I don’t have to keep the secret if someone already knows the truth about her curse.”

“What about the ritual?” Odie signs. Ambrose asks the question out loud when Fitz shakes her head, not understanding.

Morty, who’s been quiet up until this point, slowly turns to look at Josephine. “I think you would have something to contribute to this conversation.”

Josephine presses her hand to her heart. “Me?” she squeaks.

“You have firsthand knowledge, my dear.”

Josephine's eyes grow wide with fear as she looks around the table. I frown at my brother and his girlfriend. Did they do this ritual to get rid of their curses?

“I didn’t. I would never.” Josephine shakes her head. “I would never wish my curse upon anyone, especially not a child of my own.”

Fitz slams her fist against the table. “Of course not. I’m not sure how your parents fucked up so badly. They must loathe the fact that they ended up with a bunch of reasonable, somewhat decent offspring.”

“Thank you?” Ava says with uncertainty.

“I wasn’t talking about you, hun,” Morty says to Josephine. “Your family. I wasn’t there, of course, but rumors have swirled. A little birdie told me your sister tried to perform a ritual on you. That wasn’t just the Delvauxs being horrible people.” Morty draws out the wordhorrible. “They were trying to play a game they weren’t even invited to.”

“What does that mean?” I snarl, tired of everyone beating around the bush. Just spit it out already.

Morty huffs, as if I’m ruining his fun. None of this is fun.

“After the original founding families were cursed, they found a workaround. A ritual they could do that got rid of their curse, and passed it along to the firstborn of the next generation. If, however, they didn’t complete this ritual and have a child by the time they were thirty-five, the curse would rebound back on them and any other living firstborns in the family. This is what happens when you play with fire. Magic will rebound three times worse as that which was originally cast.”

“But I didn’t do the ritual,” Josephine says, “And my curse had already been broken.”

Fitz waggles her finger at Roman’s ring finger where a delicate swirling of vines appeared a few months ago. Josephine has a matching mark on her ring finger.

“Because you met your fated bond. The Briar Witch spelled it out. Know the value of love over power. That is the most potent magic of them all.”

“Besides, your family fucked up the ritual.” Morty breaks up the moment, which I’ll begrudgingly admit is slightly touching. “They had someone who is not the bearer of the curse attempt to pass it along to the next generation. Your sister didn’t have the ability to do that. And now, from what I have heard, she and your parents are suffering the consequences of the rebounded curse.”

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