Page 61 of Warrior Witch
The coven is gone.
In the days since the Sorcerer took our beloved priestess in a wicked blast of dark magic that razed all but the most protected corners of Spells Hollow, the families of our Priestess’s consorts have had the most devastating and deadly of curses fall upon them.
I came upon Levina Torann crying over the corpse of her brother, Donahue, consort to the high priestess. His once handsome features were warped and burned. I am ashamed to admit I hurried on with my chores while the sounds of the lady’s grief echoed through my bones.
The cows have lost their milk, and the chickens refuse to lay. The talk of the very land having absorbed the curse was incessant.
The first families left under the cover of darkness, the moon bearing witness as they slunk away from the home our mothers made a safe haven for all.
Safe haven no more.
Those who have not yet succumbed to the curse have fled in hopes of escaping its devastating reach.
We who are cursed… there is no escape. I know this in my core, but still I write this in hopes that future generations may bear witness to the words laid down by our priestess and know that we lived and loved.
The sorcerer took our future, and I believe sealed his own fate at the same time.
You who read this know that no curse can withstand the strength of love.
We will endure.
We shall return.
Harlow
The air buzzed with the promise of a storm coming tonight. Dark clouds covered the sky, blocking the sun’s summer heat and making my fingers tingle. No sparks, though. I only did that on command now.
I waltzed through the doors to Cassandra’s Bane as the cleaners worked to remove the evidence of last night’s debauchery, then hopped up onto a bar stool next to the owner.
“I want my job back.”
Kedron’s mouth quirked up at one corner, but he didn’t look up at me from his open folder of stock delivery forms. “And why’s that?”
“What do you mean ‘why’? I’ve worked here since I turned eighteen, and I’m good at it. You know I am.”
“That’s not a reason.” He scribbled his signature at the bottom of a form and closed the folder, spinning on the stool to face me properly. “I employed you here because I saw potential in you and knew it would guide you in the right direction. But now your curse is broken. You have your whole life ahead of you, something no one in your family has had in centuries. Why do you want to spend it working security at a nightclub?”
“Steady income and an excuse to throw out drunken douchebags?”
He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed by the flippant answer.
Sliding off the stool, I moved to the other side of the bar and poured myself a soda while I thought about it. Why did I want my old job back? It had felt so obvious when I left the apartment earlier.
“It’s what I’ve always done,” I said slowly. “This job is my outlet.”
Kedron nodded. “Your outlet for your unstable magic and the rage you never learned to deal with.”
“Yikes! Don’t hold back, boss. Tell me how you really feel.”
“Neither of those things pose a problem for you now, so why do you still need an outlet?”
I sipped my soda and gave him a mock glare. A philosophical discussion over my life choices hadn’t been on the agenda for today.
He smiled, joining me behind the bar and grabbing a pair of shot glasses. “You’ll always have a place here, if you want it. I never filled your position, and honestly, you’d be doing me a favor to take it back. I’ve been borrowing staff from Eclipse ever since you left.”
“Since you fired me,” I corrected him.
“Potato, po-tah-to.”