Cin shook her head. “You don’t cut a dragon’s hair. It’s a sign of defeat.”
Dammit woman, work with me.
“Fallon, put the books down if you’re about to burst into flames again.”
He growled low in his throat, but did as instructed. Slamming the three large tomes on the table. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that the leather bound covers looked undamaged. The top of the stack had bright blue letters spelling out ‘Magic, Hexes, And you.’ Fallon took a seat next to his wife, took the top book, and began flipping through it, not looking at her.
Calmly, Cin sipped her coffee and eyed her husband. “Don’t pout.”
His tone was flat as he flipped past another page. “I am not pouting.”
“Of course.” She said, “You know, it’s not just shaving. We consider any form of hair care a bonding ritual around here. Right Brie?”
“Yep.” I said, grabbing the next book. Whatever put an end to his weird mood. ‘The Nitwits Guide To Fortune-Telling’ looked well used. Its pale leather bindings were loose on the seams, and a few paper bookmarks poked out the top. Mrs. Hotpepper must have spent weeks going through every page. The woman collected stories and tales from every corner of the world she could, and when she couldn’t find any more through the merchants that traveled through Boohail, she turned to fortune telling. Desperate to snatch even more tales from the future. Her favorite myths and legends could be found tattooed on her person. In case she ever forgot them. When she ran out of room, Cin’s father happily offered up his back to store more stories.
“Do you want me to braid your hair later?” Cin asked.
Fallon’s shoulders relaxed. The crease in his brow faded away with his answer. “Yes.”
Cin smiled and patted his arm before grabbing the remaining book, ‘Hexing For Fun And Profit.’ “Did ma have anything to say about removing love potions?”
Fallon turned his book around to show us the page he’d stopped on. “She mentioned Kinnamo’s creation story might have reference to a similar situation. Legend says a werebear had fallen victim to a powerful love potion and chased after the wife of a water dragon.”
Hope bloomed in my chest. If this wasn’t the first instance of a love spell gone wrong, then maybe there was a quicker way to put an end to it. “Did they find a way to reverse the spell?” I asked.
“No.” He shrugged. “The werebear ends up going mad and killing her. Then the water dragon floods the continent in a fit of rage. Creating the bayou that exists today.”
Cinnamon glared. “Love. That is not helping.”
He turned the book back to him and scanned the pages. “I never said it was a nice creation story. There’s a reason love potions and any magic specializing in mind-altering effects is strictly banned for our kind. Humans have a natural resistance to magic, so the risks aren’t as great for you. But Brie should know what she’s gotten into. The effects of the love potion are only going to get worse as the days go on. If he’s truly imprinted on top of that, then we’d have no way of telling how bad it’s going to get. The man could just drop dead of a heart attack because of the strain.”
My stomach twisted into knots. “I thought it was bad enough when he broke into my house.”
Cin and Fallon paused from their reading. “He what?” Cin asked.
Fallon’s tone took on a frosted edge. One that made me sit up a little straighter in fear. “Are you alright, did he hurt you in any way?”
“No,” I blurted. “Well, it started with him breaking in to bring me home after I fainted on the road home. Then, instead of leaving, he did a bunch of chores and just kinda stayed over. We had breakfast, but I think he had an allergic reaction to the grilled cheese and ran off. But aside from that, nothing bad.” I left out the part where I was backed up against my bookshelf by the sexiest man I’d ever seen, as he lamented about not being able to shove his tongue down my cunt. A girl had to have her privacy, after all. I fiddled with the ends of my long twists, trying to wrest away the imagery.
“You fainted? Are you alright now?” Cin asked.
I nodded. “Some weird gator thing attacked me, but Felix took care of it.”
Cin let out a breath of relief, then shared a look with her husband. The couple burst out into laughter. Fallon tucked away the long black hair that fell in front of his face before clenching at his side. “I’m never going to let him live that down.”
“I can’t believe he willingly ate cheese!” Cin giggled around her mug. “Snapping gators, the man must have been privy bound the rest of the day.”
Irritation replaced the worried knots in my gut. Was I really so intimidating that he couldn’t ask for something else? “If he knew he was allergic to cheese, then why did he eat it?”
Fallon regained his composure enough to answer. “You could have set a plate of broken glass in front of him and he would have eaten it to please you. He won’t be able to help himself. Until the curse is broken, you’ll need to be careful about what you say to him.”
“You two seem awfully calm about this. Shouldn’t you be concerned if your friend could drop dead of a heart attack, or you know, KILL ME?” I asked.
Cinnamon shrugged. “I just get the feeling it’s going to work out. Felix is so easygoing and seems like the perfect match for you. Besides, you’ve always gravitated toward those werewolf romance novels. If this isn’t fate smacking you in the face, then I don’t know what is.”
“Reading choices aside,” Fallon cut in, “we’ve caught this in the early stages. If these books don’t have the answer for a removal spell, then you can always just yield to the love potions demands until the effect wears off.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
