Chapter 8

Colin peaked into the study. Maddy sat at her computer, but her attention was on the cursed cup. “Getting your work done?”

Maddy jumped and then turned to him. “I’m not used to anyone else being here.” She looked at his damp hair and cleanly shaven jaw, “feel better after a shower?”

He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. “Cleaner, yes, but I won’t feel better until I’m no longer cursed.”

She pushed the chair back from the desk and sighed. “I know how you feel.” She motioned to the Quaich, “This isn’t the first curse I’ve had to survive.” She frowned, “Although there was no withering involved in the first one.”

Colin straightened up and held out his hand. “Take a break from your work and curse research and come sit with me outside. It’s almost dark, and the stars will be out—let’s just take a few minutes to relax.”

Maddy looked at the blinking cursor on the data update she was supposed to be doing. She sighed, “I do need a break, I’m getting nowhere with this tonight.” She clicked to save the little work she’d managed and stood up. “Would you like some wine? Do you drink wine?”

Colin shrugged. “Not often, but a bit of wine would be nice right now.” So would several shots of scotch, he thought, but alcohol wasn’t going to make this go away.

~

Whiskers bounded across the yard heading straight towards them, and then, at the last second, turned and ran back the other way.

Maddy grinned at Colin. “She’s never complained once about the speed she acquired with her new size.”

“I think she likes to scare the holy hell out of people,” he said, looking into his glass.

Maddy nodded. “Yes, she does.”

“Tell me about the first curse, I know things are backward now, but how did it happen?” He glanced over to see her staring off into the darkness.

Maddy rested her head back against the chair. “I don’t know the exact moment. It wasn’t a smooth period in my life.” She watched Whiskers for a moment and then continued. “I could have had it for a month or more before I knew it. It was during our school break, so I don’t remember exactly when I’d last done anything magical. I think they send us to school to take the fun out of it—so we don’t want to use it.” She took a sip of the wine. “As you’ve probably noticed, my parents aren’t really here.”

Colin grinned. “I noticed you keep your parents in a mirror inside a cupboard.” He winked at her. “You could be rich if you could share the how with half the teenage population on the planet.”

“It’s hard to hug a mirror when you need reassurance from your parent, but I’ll keep the idea in mind.” She smiled when Whiskers did another near miss by them. “In my community, a select few elders pass on to the high council.”

“What happens to the other elders?”

Maddy looked over at him. “They pass on and cease to exist, but not for much longer than those from your community.”

“Huh—so how much is much longer?” He sipped the wine, which wasn’t as bad as he’d thought it might be.

“The oldest I know of was around one hundred and fifty, but they stop being seen in public around eighty or ninety. It’s easier that way.” She smirked at his expression.

“So, you could live to be a hundred and fifty?”

Maddy shrugged. “I could die tomorrow too. We’re not invincible. We get ill just like everyone else.”

Colin snorted. “That’s still pretty fantastic...I keep interrupting, please tell me the rest.”

“Okay. My mother passed on to the high council when I was fifteen. It’s supposed to be an honor and a great privilege to be chosen. To a fifteen-year-old, it just sucks when one of your parents is suddenly gone.” She shrugged. “I guess that sounds selfish when I can actually still see and talk to her, people not from my world never get that option, but it’s still hard.” He nodded, but didn’t interrupt her this time. “Da was wonderful, but raising a daughter alone hadn’t been on his list of things to do, so it took a few months for both of us to figure out how and who should do what around here.” She waved her glass around, “to get to the question you asked, I found out a few months after that when I went back to school and very nearly blew up the herb lab.”

He raised his eyebrows at her. “So what happened? Do they know?”

Maddy raised her hands and shrugged. “They know someone put a blocking curse on me, it messes with my magical abilities, so they don’t work in a normal way, but no one, and there were a lot of people trying, could figure out how it happened.”

He leaned forward and looked at her, “You’ve been living with this for—twelve years?” She nodded. “Have you tried, since it first happened, to figure it out?”

“Not really. I finally got used to how I had to do things, I was afraid I’d have to start at the beginning for the third time if things changed again.” She set the empty wine glass on the table between their two chairs. “Usually, a spell can be traced when it’s reasonably new, or the high council can track it down, but not with this one.”

Colin sat back and watched her for a moment. “I can’t imagine living with something like that for a year, let alone twelve.”

“It wasn’t much fun, I can tell you that.” She clasped her hands together. “My mother’s best friend, Alice—who I’m sure you’ll meet tomorrow- spent much time with me after Ma left when the curse was discovered.” She touched the citrine pendant that always hung around her neck. “She gave me this when my mother went to the high council. They’d exchanged them when they kids. Alice thought I’d like a little something that had been my mother’s at the same age I was.”

“This Alice woman sounds nice.”

Maddy chuckled. “She may have been then, but reserve those kind words until after you meet her.” He gave her a puzzled look. “She’s changed. She’s going to look you up and down like you’re sludge in the bottom of a pond.”

“Because I can’t do magic?”

Maddy nodded. “Partially, and that’s how Alice looks at everyone.” Sighing, she continued, “Her daughter Ronnie, Veronica, has been my best friend since we started at the academy, we always waited for her mother to change her name to something more sophisticated than Alice.”

Colin gave her an amused look. “I can’t wait to meet them.” He frowned for a moment. “Is it going to be a problem that I’m here? You know, discussing magic and witchy secrets.”

Maddy leaned forward in her chair and gave him an amused look. “Witchy secrets?” She laughed. “I really don’t care if someone has a problem.” She stood up and picked up the glass. “Until this curse is removed, you and I are staying close to one another.”

Colin stood up and looked at her. “It has a few pluses, I think.”

She felt her cheeks heat and was glad it was dark out. “There are a few, but I’ll be honest, letting spirits express themselves through us, freaks me out.” She turned to see where Whiskers had gone. “I’m afraid even to get too close just in case—” She felt his hand run down her arm lightly. Turning her head, she felt his breath on her cheek.

“I don’t like it much either, but let’s get it over with so we know it’s just us when we do touch.” Colin watched the starlight reflect in her eyes. Touching her shoulder, he stepped around in front of her and leaned down to place a lingering kiss on her cheek. “I’m still me,” he whispered as he, brushed his lips over hers. “Still feel like yourself?”

“Yes,” Maddy whispered against his mouth.

He took the wine glass gently from her fingers and set it back on the table. As he straightened, he pulled her tight against his chest.

Maddy sucked in a breath as she came against him. One hard arm was wrapped around her and kept her snugly against his very well-muscled body—making her feel feminine and delicate. She searched his dark eyes and felt her own grow heavier in reaction to what she saw.

Running her hands up into his thick hair, she lifted her mouth to his again. He kissed her so softly it took her breath away. She expected another gentle kiss, but his lips barely touched hers, and then he plunged roughly into a kiss that demanded she yield to him. Maddy felt dizzy with the sudden heat crashing through her. Never had a kiss excited her so quickly before. She gasped as his mouth moved urgently down her neck as if he was starving and only she could fill him. She moaned when his lips found a sensitive spot on her throat.

Colin grasped her hips and pulled her into him as his mouth moved back up to hers. “Let me have you.” He whispered against her lips.

He gentled his hold when he realized that hadn’t been his voice. Determined to follow through and find out more, he kissed her again before she pulled away.

Maddy moaned when his hand grasped her hair and kissed her until she forgot how to breathe. Her head was reeling with the need he was creating. “We can’t...” His lips moved down her throat. He should stop, she should stop him, she knew this, but she’d wanted him for so long. “Your Da,” she gasped, “you know he’ll not allow it.” He pulled her blouse free and ran his large hand against her heated flesh. His mouth came back to hers, and devoured it again.

“He’ll have no choice, I’ll see to it,” he growled against her lips and kissed her again. She moaned softly as his hand caressed a hard nipple.

“Robert...”

Colin returned his hand to her waist and rested his face in her hair. “Maddy, come back.” He took a few breaths and tried to slow his breathing. She clung to his neck, hiding her face in his shoulder. Her breathing was as erratic as his. “Are you back?” he whispered.

“Yes,” she said breathlessly against his neck.

Colin hugged her tightly, not ready to release her just yet. “I thought I could continue, it was still me mostly, but—”

“I called you some dead relatives’ name,” she finished blandly.

He stroked a hand lightly down her hair while willing his body to return to normal. “Did we get anything helpful out of that? I am going to be really pissed if some ghost is just using me to get off.”

Maddy smirked against his warm skin. “Me too.” Lifting her head, she looked at him. “We know one name and that they weren’t supposed to be together.” She tried to ignore the way his eyes were devouring her mouth and continued. “I’m guessing Robert was from a higher class than she was. Otherwise, it would be her father that wouldn’t allow it.”

He smirked. “Much like yours isn’t?”

Maddy blew out a breath. “A little early to be going there, isn’t it?”

Colin watched her face as he gently pulled her against his hips and ground himself into her. “There’s that to be dealt with, and I don’t mean it the way you’re thinking. I’m talking about the attraction and—” He kissed her quickly, “have you given any thought at all to what we’re going to do if we can’t remove this curse?”

Maddy frowned. “Yes, how could I not? Removing the first one never happened—” She blew out a breath. “I don’t plan on watching either of us wither and die.” She didn’t bother mentioning the rules of her community and mixing with people who were not from magical lines.

Colin ran his thumb over her lower lip. “We still have time. I just want you to be prepared if things don’t go well.”

Maddy bit his thumb firmly. “I will be, don’t worry.”

He grinned and reached around, grasping her butt and leaning into her. “Don’t make it sound like it would be worse than withering, you might actually like it.”

She pushed away from him. “I might, but I’d still prefer to be in charge of decisions like that and make my own choices.”

-Am I interrupting?

Maddy turned and looked at Whiskers sitting three feet away. “Practicing your stalking skills now?”

-I would rule if I were a wild cat.

Maddy tilted her head and gave the cat a speculative look. “If you didn’t eat out of a refrigerator, I’m sure you would.”

-You are such a killjoy.

Colin looked from Maddy to the cat. “I feel like I’m being left out of some sort of discussion.”

Maddy picked up the glasses as she glanced at him. “Nothing too important.”

He went over to Whiskers and knelt. Looking into the eyes staring back at him intently, he rubbed a hand over her head. “I think you should consider a name more fitting for something as beautiful and graceful as you are.”

-Please can we keep him?

Maddy stopped and looked down at the man and her familiar. “If you’re trying to get on her good side, you’re succeeding.” She turned towards the house.

-Where are you going? Ask him what name he has in mind.

Maddy held the door open and waited for them. She smirked at Colin. “She wants to know what name you have in mind.”

Colin hurried in behind them. “I don’t know. There are several that I’ve thought of when I look at her. Storm, midnight, shadow, or are those too common?” He looked from the cat to Maddy, but neither answered. “What about Sarabi?”

-I loved that movie!

Maddy looked at Whiskers for a moment. “You want to be called Sarabi?”

-As opposed to Whiskers?

Maddy sighed. “I guess you did outgrow your name. You do know Sarabi was a lioness right?”

-She was graceful and no pushover.

“Okay.” She turned and looked at Colin. “Go feed Sarabi; her fresh kill is in the fridge.”