Page 31 of Cursing My Cheating Husband

“Didn’t you?” She raised an eyebrow. “Be honest with yourself, Calliope. You left because you felt trapped here. The only life I showed you was one of isolation and secrecy and endless rules. No wonder you were ready to run to anything else.”

I couldn’t argue with that. It was truer than I wanted to admit.

“I was angry at first,” Astrea confessed. “How dare my daughter reject everything I’d built? But then I realized something important. Even if what you left for wasn’t working out, you were still brave to take that risk. You rejected tradition and forged your own path.”

“I never thought you’d see it that way.”

“I didn’t initially, but I should have.” She returned to the window, lightning illuminating her profile. “After that birthday party, after watching you try so hard to pretend everything was wonderful when it clearly wasn’t, I called an emergency session with the council. And I told them it was time for things to change.”

I had to smile at that. “And they agreed?”

“Not immediately. But I can be very persuasive when I want to be.” Her eyes glinted with mischief. “And I may have had some additional motivation to move quickly.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Hellebore Coven.” She practically spat the name. “They were already making plans for something similar to this.” She gestured at the thriving Cove out the window. “I heard whispers through my contacts.”

“You have spies in the Hellebore Coven?”

“Darling, please. I have spies in every coven. And I would be damned if the Hellebores were going to be the ones to make this unilateral decision for all of us, dragging us into the public eye because they decided it was time, and then be the ones to reap the biggest financial rewards.”

There was the mother I knew. Competitive, calculating, and always three steps ahead.

“So while they were mired in bureaucratic slowdowns and infighting—which I may have caused—I struck fast. We voted, we built, and we opened to the public. By the time the Hellebores realized what was happening, we had already become the gold standard for witch tourism, and they can only struggle to keep up.”

I smiled with admiration. “You’re devious.”

“I would say strategically minded.” She sat back down on the couch, and I followed her there. “But the point is, none of this would have happened without you. Your choice to leave, painful as it was for both of us, showed me I had created a cage. And I needed to tear it down and build something better.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. Just know that I’m proud of you for having the courage to choose your own way.” She squeezed my hand. “Even if the choice didn’t work out the way you hoped.”

We sat in silence for a moment, watching the storm rage outside the windows.

“I just wish I knew what to do with myself now,” I said finally. “I still feel so all over the place. One minute, I’m confident and excited for the future. The next minute…” I trailed off. “Moving back here feels like the right choice, but the way it’s happened, sometimes it feels so… defeating. Like I’m crawling back with my tail between my legs.”

“Is that really what bothers you?” Astrea asked quietly. “Or is it something else?”

I looked at her, surprised. “What do you mean?”

“What are the terms that would allow him to lift the curse?”

“He would have to win my forgiveness.”

“Interesting.” Astrea tilted her head. “You gave yourself all the power. He’s permanently cursed unless your feelings change.”

“So?”

“So even in your rage, even casting impulsively, some part of you structured it so that he’d have to come to you. Have to try to win you back.” She met my eyes. “Why do you think that is?”

“I don’t want to stay with him,” I protested.

“Of course not. But what do you want?”

I felt something shift inside of me. “I want him to realize what he’s lost.”

“You want him to realize what a pathetic excuse for a man he is,” my mom continued excitedly.