Page 201 of Whispers of Wisteria
That got my attention—I’d been expecting questions of a different nature. I looked up.
His mouth was drawn, and his forehead was wrinkled.
“I’d been trying to break it for fifty years.” Uncle Gregory sounded genuinely frustrated. “Caleb and Kathleen, too. It must have been difficult.”
Difficult?
Was it though? Once I figured it out, everything was relatively simple.
I shook my head, glancing back at my slowly melting food.
In fact, truth be told, breaking Gloria’s curse had been easy and was, by far, one of the least-stressful aspects of our adventure.
But, still, I couldn’t answer.
“Bianca?” Uncle Gregory was being so patient, more than I thought he could be. “Are you able to tell me about it?”
I shook my head.
“Can you sayanything?”
My throat closed.
“It’s okay, it’s expected that you’re unable to speak,” he continued calmly. “It’s not important that we discuss Gloria.”
No!
He’d bought me ice cream! This was the least I could do.
“I said it’s fine.” Uncle Gregory frowned.
I breathed in hard. It wasn’t fine!
His features were stern and his voice more commanding. “There is no reason to stress about this. We can move on to other—”
I pulled Julian’s arm, trying to ignore his tension, and pointed at the necromancer.
“Mr. Julian?” Uncle Gregory’s frown deepened. “I don’t understand. He wasn’t there. What does he have to do with—”
I turned to Julian. He was staring at me, eyes wide, but I ignored him. Instead, I straddled him and grabbed his arm. He didn’t fight me as I pulled, holding it out until I saw the mark near his elbow.
I pointed at it and looked at Uncle Gregory.
Was I making any sense? He glanced at Julian’s mark, his brows drawing together.
“Necromancy?” he asked.
I nodded, my heart racing.
“Youused necromancy?” There was a thread of doubt in his question. His reasoning was clarified when he added, “How can a necromancer break a witch’s curse?”
I bit my lip and sat back. I wasn’t sure how to explain.
Plus, it wasn’t like I was the expert.
“There are ways,” Julian said cautiously. It seemed like he was weighing every word. “When blood magic is involved.”
Dr. Kohler shot Julian a strange look. “I wasn’t aware of that…” she said slowly.
