Page 26 of Wicked Love
“You’re welcome,” I said, making my voice deep.
We both laughed, and it was the laugh of two people who had recently been naked, and would hopefully be naked again.
“What are you working on? The Magnolia House thing?” Melasina asked.
“Yes. I think we’ve figured out that everyone who heard Thea is cursed.”
“That makes sense. It was a hell of a spell. What’s the focus of the curse?” Her voice changed, and I wondered if she noticed.
“You are in trouble until you face your fear.”
“Really?”
I heard it again. Yep, definitely something there.
“Yes. I figured out something had gone wrong when I did a cleaning spell on myself and my boss told me I smelled like a skunk.”
There was a silence on the other end, and then Melasina burst out laughing. “I’m sorry,” she said between laughs. “It’s not funny, but it is!”
“It’ll be funny later. I tried to do a cleaning spell on my boss,” I said.
“And?”
“She smelled like a skunk, too.”
“Is that what’s happening to everyone?” All the laughter was gone from her voice.
“No. People at the house were having different reactions. The best guess of the librarians is that you have to face your biggest fear to put things right.”
“Some people will never be the same,” Melasina said.
“No, they won’t. Have you noticed a change in anything?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“What?”
“I can’t use magic.”
“What?” I whispered. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I tried to make coffee, do the dishes, do some… cleaning, and I couldn’t do any of it. These aren’t hard spells, either. I’ve known them forever.”
I found myself nodding even though I knew she couldn’t see me. “I understand. I’ll need to let my bosses know.”
“Fine,” Melasina said, and there was a definite change in her voice.
“What’s wrong?” I asked immediately.
“I’m not a fan of your career choice,” her voice was tight.
“Why? Oh, uh… well, that makes sense,” I said, remembering Talia. It was Talia who’d singlehandedly sent her mother away. Well, not single handedly. I’d helped.
I hadn’t paid attention to the details in the file when I’d first seen it. I was busy, the grave disturbances were at a really inconvenient time, I had to go pick up my suit—on and on. I didn’t even remember my late night stake out until this morning. “Listen, I need to talk to you.”
“I need to talk to you, too,” Melasina breathed over the phone.
Everything else was forgotten. The sound of her voice, that breathy tone, made me instantly hard and I could hear my heartbeat pounding at the thought of her naked body under me.
