Casually Cursed

by Kimberly Frost

  “Except for the eyes, you look just like your mother,” my grandmother said. “You inherited my grandfather’s bright red hair.”

  “But not his personality, thankfully,” Edie murmured.

  My grandma’s gaze, cool green and sharp, turned to Edie. My stomach dropped. The locket that had held Edie’s soul had been passed down through the family. For a time, this lady and her sister would’ve been the keepers of the heirloom. She knew Edie. If she recognized her in Vangie’s body, would Grandma reveal her identity?

  I moved closer to the president’s desk and put myself between him and them. “So, um, what did you want to talk to us about, Mr. President?” I asked, trying to turn the focus back to our WAM visit and away from my double-great-aunt the body snatcher.

  “The first order of business is to discuss a rumor we’ve heard that’s raised some concerns.” He extended his arms toward me. “May I have your hands, please?”

  I hesitated and felt Bryn’s magic as he approached. The power current was restrained, but readying itself. The heart of WAM was probably the last place a wizard should start a magical fight, and I knew Bryn wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t smart unless it became absolutely necessary. So his readying magic made every muscle in my body tighten.

  “Sure, okay,” I said, putting my hands into Anderson’s palms.

  Mercutio brushed against my legs. Zach, too, walked casually closer.

  “A ring to bind you to Mr. Lyons?” he asked, brushing a thumb over the band on my right hand.

  “We have magical synergy. That’s such an incredibly rare phenomenon, I’m sure the Association wouldn’t want its potential to be neglected,” Bryn said, a note of challenge in his voice.

  “My predecessor made it clear that your involvement with Ms. Trask was to have its limits until formally assessed by the association. Our caution is understandable, yes? You’ve proven a volatile combination.”

  “We’ve brought justice to bear,” Bryn said.

  “You also blocked Association efforts to secure a powerful tor in a town whose magical significance has long been kept hidden from us.”

  Bryn shrugged. “There is no legal mandate requiring WAM members to report sources of power outside the U.K.”

  “No. But if the Association has stated an objective, for an individual wizard to counter that objective is against the law.”

  “Prior to attempting to create an overseas magical colony, the Association should have announced its intent to do so, and there should have been a vote by the general membership. If the original action was illegal, our efforts to circumvent that illegal act can’t be considered illegal. I cite Whalley, 1543.”

  “You looked up your defense.”

  “My caution is understandable, wouldn’t you say? Conclave activities in the U.S. have proven volatile,” Bryn said, echoing what the leader had said to us earlier.

  Mr. Anderson studied Bryn for a moment in silence. Then he said, “Would you have interfered with a magical colonization of Duvall, Texas, if this young witch had not so strongly objected to the idea of her friends and neighbors being relocated?”

  “The residents of Duvall have a long history in the town.”

  “That was not the question,” Anderson said with a smile. He raised my left hand and looked at the ring that I’d mostly been trying to keep out of sight. The giant yellow diamond sparkled. “Are you now engaged to this man?” Anderson asked me.

  My cheeks flushed, and I barely kept myself from looking apologetically at Zach. Not that I owed him an apology. Our marriage had been over a long time ago. And our romantic relationship was finished, too, though recently enough for things to be real awkward.

  “Yes, I’m going to marry him.”

  Anderson gave my hands a brief squeeze and returned them to me. “Your grandmother, Mrs. Josephine Hurley, has made a formal objection to the match.”

  “No disrespect,” I said, giving my grandma a sharp look. “But she doesn’t even know me or Bryn. This is the first time we’ve met her. And actually, even if she’d raised me, that wouldn’t give her or anybody the right to interfere. Who Bryn and I decide to marry is our business and nobody else’s.”

  “That’s not true,” Anderson said with an apologetic expression. He took a file from his desk and handed it to Bryn. “There is legal precedent. For magical lines that are ten generations or older, and in which mixing with a different magical line could damage the integrity of the power of future generations, family members may petition for dissolution of a match.”

  My jaw dropped. “Um, we’re not breeding stock. We’re people.”

  “Nevertheless, we have two very important magical legacies to consider. The Lyons magic is an excellent blend thus far. We want to cultivate that power in future generations. And you are sixteenth-generation McKenna with exceptional earth magic. You may not realize, but we’ve seen several lines of earth magic die out in the past sixty years. If you and Mr. Lyons marry and his magic were to force yours into recession, we could, in another fifty years, see earth magic become extinct. It’s been completely unexpected, as it used to be the most common. It’s the legacy not just of your family, but of the entire Association.”

  Bryn tossed the folder on the desk. “Our magic is synergistic. There’s no reason to think our children would have dominant celestial magic. Earth magic would likely be strong in some of them,” Bryn said.

  Some of them! Just how many was he thinking we’d have?

  Not that it mattered yet what he had planned, since I wasn’t even sure I could have babies with anybody. After Zach and I had gotten married, we’d never used birth control. We’d made love a lot, and I’d never gotten pregnant. I’d slept with Bryn a few times without protection, too, and so far nothing. Maybe my lady parts were broken like my magic.

  “But there is a risk that one magic or the other would be sacrificed. If you each married and had children with someone of similar or compatible magic, or married someone nonmagical, the integrity of each line would be assured,” Anderson said.

  “No magic could be considered more compatible when we have synergy.”

  “The synergy can be explored, and I would personally support that. I would be negligent in my duties as president, however, if I ignored a legitimate concern raised by a learned member of the Association about the fate of future generations of members.”

  “But my magic is already—” I began.

  “Spoken for,” Bryn interjected, giving me a pointed look. I’d been about to blurt that my magic was already mixed-race and messed-up. Which would’ve been disastrous! I had to keep that secret at all costs, and I’d almost let it slip out.

  “There’s also a prophecy and some other considerations. Put your emotions aside for a moment. In my position, what course of action would you consider the most prudent?”

  Bryn scowled. “I wouldn’t insert myself into a deeply personal matter of any Association member. If there was matchmaking to be done, it should’ve already taken place.”

  “I didn’t deem matchmaking necessary. She made a good choice once before,” Mrs. Hurley said. “A healthy, strong, handsome young man whose family wasn’t magical. Despite the unfortunate divorce, she continued to be involved with him. There was every reason to believe they would settle and remarry. There was no reason to suspect she would choose someone inappropriate.”

  Did my grandma know my first husband was in the room? Zach stood with his arms folded across his chest. He was everything she’d said. And yet we couldn’t make our relationship work. Bryn and I could, even against terrible odds. In times of trouble, Bryn and I had gotten closer and closer. I hooked my pinkie around his and gave it a squeeze of support.

  His hard blue gaze swiveled from the president and softened when it met mine. “For life or longer,” he whispered.

  “Yep. That’s the deal, and we’re sticking to it.
”

  He smiled and his magic poured over me.

  I love you, too, I mouthed.

  “I think you’ll find that it’s impossible to effectively separate us,” Bryn said, turning his attention back to the president.

  “Perhaps that will be the case. But although I don’t condone some of the methods used by the Conclave in the past, I believe you know they are often quite effective. Naysayers have many times been proven wrong when they’ve claimed they could withstand Conclave persuasion.”

  “If your objective is to preserve the magical legacy of both lines, it would be a mistake to attack people who have proven they’re willing to defend each other to the death,” Bryn said.

  Lars Anderson tapped his fingertips lightly on the desk. “Well, your concerns have been explained, Mrs. Hurley. There will be more time for private discussion later, but I’ll ask you to excuse us while I speak to Mr. Lyons and Miss Trask about a different matter.”

  My grandma nodded, but held up a hand. “Mr. Anderson, may I have a private word with you before I leave?”

  “Of course. Excuse me,” he said to us, and walked to her. They retreated to the other side of the room and spoke in lowered voices with their backs to us. He nodded, touching her elbow as she turned to leave.

  “Mr. Sutton, Ms. Rhodes, would you and your cat like to take refreshments in the private dining room? Mr. Knobel, will you make them welcome and see to their every comfort while they wait? This conversation won’t take long, and then Ms. Trask and Mr. Lyons will be free to continue their travels.”

  Edie scooped Merc up, giving the top of his head a kiss. “Come on, darling. Let’s see whether the wretched reputation of English food is exaggerated or deserved.”

  The door closed, and we were alone with the most powerful man in the world of magic. I took a deep breath and braced myself, hoping that things would go smoothly and peacefully. My body was still healing, so it would be inconvenient for me to have to tackle a politician.

  8

  ANDERSON EXTENDED A hand to indicate that we should sit in the chairs across from his desk. They were steel framed with white leather cushions. To me they looked like they belonged on a patio.

  We sat. The chairs weren’t uncomfortable, but they would never be cozy. I suppose people meeting with the president of WAM weren’t meant to feel relaxed.

  Bryn moved his chair closer to mine, and I rested my hand on his forearm. His magic thrummed under my palm, familiar and reassuring.

  “Mrs. Hurley intends to make things difficult for you. There are plenty of people who’ve heard about what occurred in Texas and would like to see your partnership, both magical and otherwise, put to an end. There are those who feel that if the Association doesn’t take some action, it’ll open the door for others to defy this governing body. ‘A path to anarchy’ was the phrase put forth at one point in the discussions.”

  “Um, we’re not trying to rebel. We just want to be left alone,” I said.

  “For that to happen, you would have to disappear. Are you prepared to go underground?”

  Yep, in many ways we are. Only not for good, I thought.

  “Duvall, Texas, is our home. We may be away from there for a time, and if it allows frustrations to die down, all the better. But we don’t intend to live off the magical grid,” Bryn said.

  “I’m not interested in extinguishing a magical union that’s synergistic, nor in seeing a Granville prizewinner destroyed for protecting the witch with whom he fell in love. But there are obstacles, and I suspect that if the issue were forced today, Mrs. Hurley would win. Miss Trask would be ordered to live in Revelworth to be trained as an earth witch and you, Mr. Lyons, would be banned from visiting.”

  “I’m not moving to England to learn magic! Who do you people think you are?”

  “We are your government, a sovereign body over the nation of magical practitioners. The only nation that truly matters,” he said with a calm that was infuriating. He looked at Bryn. “She can be taken by force. There are seventeen members of the Conclave ready to act. You could fight, but it would be no contest and you know it.”

  I stiffened. “You don’t have any right! If you kidnap me, I’ll escape. I’ve done it before!” I snapped, my hair falling around my face from the force of my jerking forward.

  “Tamara,” Bryn said, putting a hand on my arm to keep me from standing.

  “What? I’m not moving here. And they are not going to break us up. Not just because we love each other, but also because it’s not right. They can’t just go around—”

  “Hang on, sweetheart. Let’s hear the rest of what he wanted to say to us in private. Plenty of time to fight later, if that’s what it comes to,” Bryn said.

  Fury and adrenaline had me ready to pounce. I trembled as I forced myself to be still. I folded my arms across my chest.

  “So,” Bryn said. “What do you want?”

  “One of the Trasks, Marlee or Melanie, it’s not clear which, was in the Scottish Highlands and knows the location of a certain valuable artifact that rightly belongs to the Association. Melanie denied knowledge of the object, but the Conclave was not convinced she was telling the truth. She was barred from leaving England because we intended for her to retrieve it herself, or to contact her sister to do so. But she left, despite her magic being bound. The fact that she fled makes it likely . . . Well, it’s not relevant.” His gaze turned from Bryn to me. “Find out from your mother or aunt where the artifact is hidden, retrieve it, and turn it over to the Association. If you do so, I will convey to everyone that you’ve performed a valuable service to the Association, and I’ll block any actions Mrs. Hurley takes to prevent your marriage.”

  “What are you talking about? My aunt Melanie wasn’t here about artifacts. She came over to see my momma. And Momma came to see an old flame.”

  “Regardless of why they came originally, one of them stumbled onto the location of this valuable object.”

  “I don’t know anything about that. And listen, we don’t really have time to go looking for treasure. We’ve got our own plans,” I said, thinking that WAM didn’t know what it was talking about. Momma had been in the Never for more than a year, and Aunt Mel had just come from there, too. Neither of them was romping around in Scotland discovering WAM artifacts.

  “Mr. Lyons, can I count on your cooperation?”

  Bryn tipped his head back to look at the ceiling. Silence stretched through the room. I fidgeted.

  Bryn’s gaze returned to Anderson. “If the Conclave operatives haven’t found the artifact, it would be foolish of us to agree to take on the assignment. And by accepting your proposal, the implication would be that we acknowledge that you have legal grounds to force us into a negotiation. No, I’ll fight you in open court. I’ll put our conduct up against that of your operatives and trust my peers to decide in my favor.”

  “Would you make this a public battle?” Anderson asked.

  “Yes!” I said. “Let’s let people hear the truth and see what they think.”

  “If that’s what you’re determined to do, the price will be high. And not just for the two of you,” Anderson said.

  I froze. “What are you talking about?”

  “Andre Knobel has accessed top-security files without clearance. To assist you, I think. He’ll be prosecuted. And Mrs. Hurley believes that your friend Ms. Rhodes is not who she claims to be. A ghost may be sharing her body. Knobel and Rhodes have been taken into custody. We’ll launch a full-scale investigation—”

  I jerked out of my seat and dived across the desk. Bryn grabbed me and pulled me back, but not before I socked the president of the World Association of Magic in the face.

  “Let me go!” I yelled. “He tricked them into leaving the office so we couldn’t help them! I—Let go of me, Bryn!”

  Bryn wrapped his arms around me, and I felt his furious magic vibrat
e around us. “Wait,” Bryn whispered. “Just wait.” Even when really angry, he’s able to control himself. Me, not so much.

  My breath came harsh and fast, but I stopped struggling. “What am I waiting for? Are you going to zap him with some magic?”

  “We can’t win a fight here.”

  “I was winning. See that bruise on his cheek that he’s rubbing?” I whispered fiercely.

  “Show us the artifact,” Bryn told Anderson. “It costs us nothing to ask Melanie and Marlee about it.”

  “He has to let Andre and Edie go, or we’re not going to talk to anyone about anything. They have to leave here with us.”

  “No,” Anderson said. “They stay. But no investigation will be started. They’ll be treated as guests of the Association until you return. If you have the artifact, you will have my goodwill and so will your friends. If you make an effort, but the artifact can’t be recovered for reasons that can be verified by the Conclave, I’ll still release your friends and will remain neutral toward your marriage. But if you attempt to mislead us . . . if the item is not recovered by lack of effort or by some design of yours or your family’s, then you and all you care about will be considered enemies of the Association.”

  I glared at him.

  Anderson slid a paper across the table. There was a drawing of a pendant with a smooth golden-brownish center and a setting that had small gold slats pointing outward.

  “The stone is amber,” Anderson said.

  I peered at the picture. The amber wasn’t uniform in color. Parts were lighter, others more shadowed. As I studied it, I realized that the geometric spikes of gold were rays. The pattern was shaped like the sun.

  “You may take the sketch. We have others.”

  “Does it do anything we should be worried about?” I asked.

  “Excellent question,” Bryn said, looking at Anderson.

  “Its value makes it dangerous for a person to have it in his possession, but not because of its magical properties. You should be very discreet in your inquiries and, once you find it, keep it hidden until it’s safely here at headquarters. There are those who would kill for it.”