Page 21 of Wicked Love
“Well, he wasn’t ever as good as the women,” Zelda said.
“That’s a serious bias you’ve got going on,” I said. “And I’m not going to argue with you. Jasper didn’t steal my magic.”
“Who’s the elder here?” Zelda snapped. “It won’t ever be you if you don’t open your eyes!”
I laughed. “Oh, Zelda, it was never going to be me.”
“Anyone can be an elder, if they live long enough,” she said. “What do you mean?”
Setting the skull on the kitchen table, I told her the whole tale of my mother while I made a pot of coffee—the necromancy, her exile, and her death.
“No wonder you are distressed,chéri.”
“No shit,” I said.
“Was there ever any sign of the necromancy in your family prior to this?”
I shook my head, even though I wasn’t sure she could see me. “No. We were model citizens.”
“How odd, that it should pop up in such a manner. Normally, it takes one necromancer to train another.”
A chill ran through me.
“Were you aware of your mother’s friends?” Zelda asked. The question sucked although her tone was kind. It was the same question Jasper had asked. But I answered Zelda.
“No. I was ten. I was bitching about history lessons at Magnolia House and trying to practice magic on the sly.”
“What did your father say?”
I laughed, although there was no humor in the sound. “My dad? He shut himself away, shamed to death over his scandalous wife.”
“What about you,chéri?” Zelda asked quietly.
“I got a nanny, and he got a new job.” My voice was flat.
“I am so sorry,” Zelda said. “Your father didn’t come out of his grief to care for you. So you have cared for yourself. You should be proud of yourself.”
“Proud of what? I haven’t done a thing! I’ve been so scared, so afraid to be tarred with the same brush as my mom, even though I’m always going to be tarred with that brush! I haven’t done anything wrong!” I shouted, throwing up my hands and stomping over to the window to glare out into my small courtyard. “And yet the minute bodies are missing, where does the coven look? Right here at that Cormier girl. Necromancer mom, you know.”
“Well, you did take the bodies,” Zelda said.
“That’s beside the point,” I snapped. “They didn’t know that.”
Zelda was silent, and then she said, “Since we have returned the bodies, there is no evidence left in your home. And perhaps you are correct, the man didn’t steal from you. It might have been the curse.”
“I don’t remember what the curse said,” I told her. “How do you know it was a curse?”
“Well, you said she was banished from the coven for dark magic?”
“Yes,” I’d told her as we were moving the bodies out of my shed.
“Do you think it likely she showed up to share a blessing with her former coven?”
“No,” I said slowly. “You’re probably right.”
“Tomorrow, we need to find out the exact wording of the curse.”
“Or?” I asked.
