Page 41 of The Cursed

“Then how did you gain access?” Della asked, her brow furrowing in that way that said she thought he was full of shit.

“Susannah asked me to catalog everything for her over the summer. She gave me the key and swore me to secrecy. I wasn’t physically able to speak of the room with anyone except the Covenant until…”

“Until I became the Covenant last night,” I said, huffing a breath of disbelief.

Nova stepped closer to him, blocking our way through the empty halls of the school. Most of the students had made their way to their next class, being that as much as our entire world had been disrupted, Hollow’s Grove wanted to pretend that it was business as usual.

I couldn’t very well attend classes as a student when I was meant to be leading the Coven. I’d just have to learn another way, but I still felt guilty that my friends were missing an essential part of their education.

“What was in it for you?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Her face was stern, solemn, as she studied him as if she already knew.

"I was able to read about the strongest magics in the world,” he said, but the uncomfortable smile on his face made my body freeze. He’d made a deal with the Covenant and agreed to do this for her in exchange for something he wanted.

“Iban, what did you do?” I asked as he stepped around Nova. I grasped his arm, pulling him to a stop. “What did she give you?” The possibilities were endless, and none of the gifts the Covenant could have offered could be trusted. Any of them could have ulterior motives.

“You,”he said finally, staring at the floor in shame. I blanched, a gasp leaving me. I’d known the Covenant had preferred Iban as my mate, but I hadn’t realized that Iban was actively participating in that plan. “She told me there was another Madizza witch, and that she would be attending Hollow’s Grove in the fall. She promised to make it clear to the other Bray males that I had earned the right to first courting.”

Della groaned, rubbing her temples in frustration as she turned and strode up the stairs. Gripping Nova’s arm, she dragged her friend with her to give us privacy, muttering a soft, “fucking idiot” as she went.

I considered his words, going over the timeline. In thedaysafter my mother’s death, before the Covenant had sent Gray to come for me, Iban had been negotiating to marry a woman he hadn’t even met. I expected that behavior from Gray, the literal Devil in the flesh. Whereas I’d somehow expected better of the man who claimed to be my friend. “You didn’t even know me,” I said, attempting to ignore the hurt.

I wasn’t naive enough to believe my last name hadn’t played a role in the way Iban had approached me. I knew I was the only Green witch he could pair with. I’d just thought he’d been above such politics, and I’d bought all his lies about finding someone he loved. “Didn’t you ever wonder why none of the other Brays approached you? You’re our only hope if we want our children to have the same magic as our families,” he asked.

“I didn’t think anything of it at all. Your uncle hated me, so I just thought you were different from your family,” I said, turning away from him. I continued on my path to the library, determined to make something of the news that someone I’d considered a friend had acted so selfishly. If what he said was true, the other Brays still hadn’t approached me for a reason.

He’d laid his claim over me when he had no right.

“Willow, listen to me,” he said, reaching out to grab my hand. I shook him off, spinning on him with a glare. He raised his hands placatingly, a silent apology for touching me. Nova and Della continued on toward the library, leaving us to our spat. “I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I figured you’d come and I would have a chance to get to know you before the others. If there wasn’t any connection, then I would have told your grandmother that I wasn’t interested in being chosen as your mate.”

“Then why didn’t you tell her that? Why did the other Brays never approach me?” I asked, my anger fueling my words. I was too hurt to realize I shouldn’t have asked the question when I wasn’t ready for the answer.

I was too angry to realize I’d opened Pandora’s Box, and I’d never be able to put the truth back in.

“Because then I met you. You came here, and you were…” he trailed off, looking toward the window that looked down on the gardens. Life had returned to them since I came to Crystal Hollow, my blood the sole reason for the return of vibrancy to everything that surrounded us. “Full of life,” he said, letting me know that his thoughts had gone to the same place mine had. He looked toward me, taking a step closer though he didn’t dare to touch me.

“Iban,” I murmured, closing my eyes as I tried to think of a way to undo this.

“You’re beautiful and intelligent. Youcareabout the people here more than most who have spent their lives in petty fights for power. Most witches would have looked at me only to evaluate me as a mate. I have no power, which means I have nothing to offer to anyone besides being a husband and a father. Ichosethat life, but I didn’t stop to consider what I was giving up outside of my magic. People stoppedseeingme,” he said, slowly taking my hand in his. “My own family stopped treating me like I mattered to them, but you were different.”

“Stop.”

“You looked at me, and you saw a person. You looked at me, and you saw me. You made me realize everything I’d given up, seeing as the magic I abandoned was nothing like yours! But it could have been if I’d had someone like you to teach me. You gave me hope, Willow. You made me hope that one day I would have a little girl whofeltthe plants around her the way you do. I’m not saying I’m in love with you. I’m not saying that you’ll be the woman I marry one day, but I’m saying that I wasn’t ready to let go of the hope for that future just because you were distracted by a Vessel that I thought wouldn’t last,” he admitted.

“You should have told me about your deal with the Covenant,” I said forlornly. The unfortunate reality that Iban hadn’t faced yet, was that neither of us knew what my magic would do to my children when it passed on.

I might have been the last Madizza, but I was also the last Hecate. I was the first witch with more than one magic in her veins, and I didn’t know what that meant for my children. Would they inherit both? Would they inherit one?

Iban could have just as easily ended up with a child who summoned the dead being the life he so desperately wanted.

“I should have told you,” he agreed with a subtle nod of his head. “However, I thought, if nothing else, I could keep the rest of the Brays at bay for a while.”

I smiled with a little laugh. “There is that. I was never interested in marriage, to begin with.”

He brushed his finger over the ring on my hand. “All the more reason to get rid of your husband then,” he said, releasing me to make his way up the stairs that led to the library. I followed behind him, not daring to say another word.

If getting rid of my husband was exactly what I wanted, then why did the thought of it make my stomach hurt?

CHAPTER 23

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