“And shrinking his dick.”
He snort-chuckles.“You know, I don’t think she ever did lift that curse.”
I cough, but I can’t stop the smile that stretches across my lips.All curses are breakable as long as you follow the rules.The more powerfula curseis, the more simple it is to break – on paper.Whereas, weaker ones can have whole paragraphs outlining what must be done in order to break it, stronger ones are restricted to one short sentence that can be interpreted a variety of ways – all of which are able toend the curse.That’s why paragraphs of specifics areoftenneeded.
But they can also be broken by a more powerful witch.
Unless you’re cursed by Evangeline.There’s no one more powerful than her when it comes to twisted magic.
“Redric!”Jace exclaims, snapping his fingers, and I nod.“I wonder what he’s up to.Maybe with this peace treaty, I can pay him a visit.”
“Not a chance,” I cut in, giving a king’s order.The last thing I need is him starting another war.Redric didn’t quite see the humour in Evangeline’s “jokes” then, and I doubt decades of having balls the size of his fists has made it any funnier for him.
Jace chuckles.
I grin.
But just as I focus back on my work, he innocently says, “I bet Nicholas is going to kiss her with tongue.It’s been years since he’s been shown any affection.”
The earlier sexual frustration slams back into my body.I glance at the sharp half of the pen on my desk.If I’m quick, I might be able to stab him now that he isn’t standing.
Grabbing that half of the pen, Jace twiddles it between his fingers.
The dull half will still work if I shove it hard enough...
Laughing, Jace tosses the pen back on the desk.“Alright, alright.I’ll drop it before you sprain that muscle ticking away atyourtemple.”
When he leans forward to poke it, I swat his hand away.“One of these days, I’m going to call my debt to you done.”
He smiles with all the confidence of a falcon spotting a mouse.“No, you won’t.Your guilt will push you to pay me back across multiple lifetimes.”
“Did you do it?”
Istill struggle withthe haunted look hecast me that day.The weeks of silence.The year he disappeared.
“Although,” Jace says as he stands, “if you attend your own wedding as the groom, I’ll count one of those lifetimes paid.”
I push away from the desk, not even pretending to study the bilateral agreement anymore.“Why do you even care?”
He heads for the door, his smile long gone.His eyes as empty as they were that day, he murmurs, “Because Aurelia would’ve.”
My heart stops.
I glance at the only photo in my study, sitting on my desk.I curl my hand into a fist.After all these years…
Her bright smile, radiant and pure, looks back at me, frozen on a day I’ll never forget.A day neither of us will ever forget.
“Did you do it?”
He doesn’t look me in the eye.Barrelling past me, he is the epitome of a haunted man.A broken one.
“Jace!”I call out after him.
He spins.A knife buries itself into the door behind me.My cheek burns from where it grazed me.I stand in shock as I stare at my best friend.He glares back at me, breathing hard.Shaking harder.
And then he said the only words he would utter to me for weeks.
“You owe me.”
