Page 20 of Wicked Love
“What are you waiting for, girl?” Zelda asked.
“I don’t know,” I said slowly. “I’ve cast it twice, and nothing is happening.”
“Oh, for Goddess’ sake,” Zelda grumbled. “Let me.”
The dirt moved itself toward the door, pushing itself into a small pile.
“There? See? What’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Let me try again.” I cast a spell to open the door.
The door didn’t move.
“I’m broken,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Zelda asked.
“I can’t cast. Nothing I’ve cast since I’ve gotten up has worked.”
“He took your magic along with your maidenhead!” Zelda shouted. “Never trust men with magic!”
“Be quiet,” I hissed. “No one needs to hear your shouting. And he didn’t take my maidenhead.”
Zelda was silent and then asked, “But did he take your magic?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hmmph,” she said. “No marriage, and you lose things. Nothing big, just your magic. Intimacy without promise is such a good idea.”
“I don’t need shade from a skull,” I snapped back. “Let me think.”
“He might have taken that too,” she grumbled.
“Jasper didn’t take anything,” I said.
“Then why—” Zelda stopped.
“What?”
“The curse,” she said.
“What are you talking about?”
“Last night. At the ball. Where the mischief began. You fell on him, remember? I realize he’s sent you into some sort of physical haze, but you were at Magnolia House tonight, and a witch cast a spell? A curse, to be more specific?”
“Goddess, that feels like ages ago,” I said. “I’d forgotten for a moment.” How could I think about anything else when I’d had the night I had? I’d never met anyone like Jasper. I’d never met anyone who made my clothes fall off and made me feel nothing but fabulous about it. Not ever. He was special.
“Oh, no, he didn’t take a thing from you. Not your magic, your reason, your sense,” Zelda said.
“What do you have against Jasper?” I asked, forgetting that earlier today, I’d had something against him as well.
“He’s a man. And women are stronger witches. They want our magic. They always do,” Zelda muttered.
“That may have been true before, but men and women work together now,” I said.
“Hmmph,” Zelda said again. “So you think.”
“We’ve had a man as the leader of our coven before,” I turned the skull toward me. Strangely, it didn’t even feel weird to be talking a skull anymore.
