Page 106 of The Prince's Curse

Heat tickled up Stella’s spine. Lux wouldn’t be so smug when Stella cracked her worktable in half with a snap of her fingers and sent that grimoire into the dark sludge she was stirring.

Instead, she took a deep breath and settled herself, the way she used to when her mother was on a bender. Alcohol, barely repressed rage, and magic were a bad mix. Sometimes it was better to swallow your pride and show your belly to live another day.

“Do you have a list?” she asked calmly.

Lux held up her phone and said, “Sending it now. Hurry back.”

Heart pounding, Stella snatched her keys from the nearest counter, hurried out of the cabin, and practically leaped into her car before finally drawing a deep breath. She backed out of the gravel driveway, then pulled onto the curving mountain road. Spindly dark branches hung over the road, nearly devoid of their dried fall leaves.

“I should just go,” she told herself. Just like Scarlett. As if Armina had heard her from a mile away, a shiver prickled down her spine. We don’t think like that.

She knew what she was getting into, didn’t she? When she’d tracked down the legendary—and infamous—Night Weaver, she’d known she was getting into dangerous territory. Not that she had much of a choice, but she understood she wasn’t going to be brewing herbal teas and communing with the earth.

Still…she had thought there might be some sense of loyalty, given how hard she’d worked for Ms. Voss. And they’d just left her with a house full of vampires out for blood…

“Quit being a little bitch,” she told herself, though it was Lux’s voice she heard.

It wasn’t Lux who’d gotten jumped by Scarlett and Julian, shoulder nearly torn out of socket, and face smashed into the bars to shut her up. It wasn’t Lux who’d watched Julian Alcott fight Carrigan Shea and tear his head off like it was a doll’s, and it wasn’t Lux who’d nearly given herself a stroke trying to get Kova and Scarlett back into the house.

And even when she survived and gathered up some of Armina’s books and supplies and made the drive to the mountains, Armina wasn’t relieved to see her. There was no thank you for trying to recover that shitshow. Instead, she’d all but blamed Stella for the vampire raid.

Tears pricked at her eyes. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Yeah? Well, what the fuck else was she supposed to do? Scrape out a living and end up a loser like her mother? Maybe sell her neck to some hungry vampires and hope they didn’t lose control? Hawk potions on the Internet and try not to get caught by the Grand Guild?

This was her life now, all three acts of the grand shitshow.

She took her time running errands, picking up groceries and first aid supplies. In the dark of night, Lux had traveled back to the house with Jordan to gather what remained of the workshop, but Armina’s spellbooks had been ransacked, and the refrigerators had been unplugged, leaving the house smelling of decayed food and inert potions.

At least Stella had enough sense not to say I told you so, even though she’d been telling Armina and Lux for months that they should digitize all of Ms. Voss’s print materials. One misfire in the workshop could destroy centuries of brilliant research.

They’d ignored her, but every time Ms. Voss let her use a book, Stella stayed up all night scanning it into her tablet. She wasn’t taking that kind of risk even if they were.

And unbeknownst to either of them, Stella had helped herself to quite a few more when Ms. Voss was out of town or otherwise occupied.

Turned out she was right, same as she was right about not using Carrigan Shea as a puppet. He’d tried to turn on her the first chance he got.

But if she wanted the older witch’s approval, an I told you sowasn’t the way to get it. All she wanted was to learn Night Weaver magic. She had a powerful gift, but her mother had been a disgraced witch who stole from her mentor and embarrassed herself in front of the Grand Guild, and that meant Stella had no business seeking out the tutelage of the tisserande. Normal life was straight out of the question, so Armina Voss was the only answer if she wanted to learn magic and use the one gift she had to make a life for herself.

She didn’t want to torment vampires or play games with Scarlett or do any of this crap. She just didn’t want to be afraid anymore. She wanted to use her power with the same ease she wrote her name, like Armina did.

And that meant jumping through her hoops. That was tradition; find a powerful witch and learn from her. Lately, that meant spilling blood. It meant rolling up her sleeves and slicing open some innocent man because his blood would lead them to Armina’s enemy.

Never let anything stand in your way, Armina told her. When your cause is righteous, there is nothing that should stop you.

Not even grown men pleading for their lives, apparently. Not a conscience screaming that he’d done nothing to hurt her, that this was wrong no matter how she lied to herself.Not a vampire who was drained nearly dry who managed to be nicer to her than anyone had been in ten years.

She shook off the unpleasant memories as she strolled the aisles of the grocery store, stocking her cart with the items from Lux’s list. They didn’t have the correct brand of tea bags, and she chose a suitable replacement even as she knew Lux would scoff at her selection.

At the end of the aisle, a young couple was closely examining coffee pods, and she overheard the man suggesting a toasted caramel. His partner teased him about his “girly coffee” before they both dissolved into laughter. After a light-hearted debate, they picked up a standard box and a box of “girly” coffee and rounded the corner.

As she stared at the box of tea bags for her furious mentor, she couldn’t help thinking of the way Julian Alcott had stormed through that house. And stranger, how Scarlett had clearly trusted him.

They cared for each other.

What would it be like to have someone care for her in that way? She’d never experienced it; there was always an angle, always something for others to gain at her expense.

Her eyes stung, but she gritted her teeth, grabbed a plastic honey bear, and shoved her cart back down the aisle. Magic danced in her veins as her emotions roiled. She had to get herself under control if she was going to be of any use to Ms. Voss.

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