Page 40 of Bewitched By the Voodoo King (The Bewitching Hour #7)

In my entire life, I’d never experienced magic like Maple’s.

Nothing could have prepared me for the bright light that had burst from her chest and then pierced the wolves around us.

It was like she had golden tendrils pulling the curses from all of the wolves.

It was magnificent. It was… nothing I could have ever imagined.

Our little Maple wasn’t a null after all.

Louis was already barking orders, dragging the injured toward the tree line. The newly freed wolves looked between me and their leader, uncertain if they were still enemies or something else entirely.

“She’s the curse breaker,” the leader said again, voice hoarse, as if the truth itself was a burden he didn’t know how to carry.

I looked down at her—my Maple—unconscious but somehow still alive in my arms. My father was right.

I could feel it in my bones now, the way her magic had answered not just the wolves’ suffering but mine. The way it had wrapped around the battlefield and shifted the tide without spilling any more blood than necessary.

“We need to talk, I suppose,” The leader of the wolves said to me as I lifted my gaze from my wife.

My wife, whom I would worship and praise, not because of her magic, but because of who she was.

I should have known better. I shouldn’t have ever pushed her away with my anger.

I should have taken as much stress off of her plate as humanly possible, but instead, I’d only broken her heart.

Adelle broke through the treeline and openly scowled at me. I knew what was coming. I’d purposely sent her and my other sisters on a fool's errand. I didn’t want to worry about them on a battlefield. Rage rolled off of her in waves. I would deal with her later.

“What would you like to discuss? How many of my witches you stole or my father’s life you took?”

Remorse flashed across their leader’s face. “Yes, because you should know there are many in your ranks that do not serve you. They’re the ones that brought your witches to us, they spilled their blood, and they killed your father.”

“A wolf killed my father,” I couldn’t speak for the other witches, but I knew this to be true.

The man bowed his head. “That may be true but only because he was lost to the curse that one of your people put on us.”

“Who?”

I could practically feel Adelle advancing on us, and I knew I was running out of time before she erupted at my back.

“You call her Babette.”

My blood ran cold. I knew his words were true even though I didn’t want to accept it.

The leader met my gaze with a steadiness that was almost defiance. “We didn’t choose this war, Voodoo King. It was brought to us. We bled for it. We lost our children to it. And now you’ve seen the truth with your own eyes.”

I adjusted Maple in my arms, her head resting against my chest and her breath warm against my collarbone. Every instinct in me screamed to get her far from here, to shield her from more pain, but leaving now would mean walking away from answers that my coven deserved.

“Babette,” I said, tasting the name like poison. “She did this to you… and to us.”

“She will keep doing it,” the leader warned. “Unless the curse breaker stops her.” His gaze flicked to Maple, reverence and fear mingling in his expression. “She has more power than even you understand.”

I tightened my hold. “She’s not your weapon and she’s not yours to use.”

“Protect her well, because once the swamp knows you have a witch with pure magic… Every cursed thing will come looking for her.”

“Are you hiding Babette with your people?” I asked, unsure of where to go from here but feeling the pull of revenge tight in my gut.

The leader’s expression hardened. “We would never hide her. She doesn’t need us for that. Babette moves through the swamp like smoke—never staying anywhere long enough to be caught. She has allies in places you wouldn’t think to look.”

I felt my jaw clench. “Allies like my own people?”

His silence was answer enough.

“She’s gathering power,” he said finally. “Not just through curses, but through bargains. She’s using dark and twisted magic.”

One of my brows lifted. “Then the ancestors are going to want her back.”

The man smiled with all of his teeth. “Good.”

I braced myself for Adelle’s anger when I turned around, but she had already simmered down slightly. “You put us on a wild goose chase.”

“And where are the twins?” I looked over her shoulder, finding them missing.

She rolled her eyes. “They went home. They were tired of your coven games and wanted to get back to their shop.”

My lips lifted slightly. They liked their freedom and space. That was fine by me, I had enough to deal with when it came to Adelle. “You missed all the action.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t even start. I’m hearing whispers of a curse breaker now! I missed it all. You will never live this down.” Her gaze softened as she looked down at Maple in my arms. “Is she okay?”

“Her magic ripped through her. She was never prepared for such a force. Ancestors, I don’t think any of us could have prepared for that.”

She grumbled something I couldn’t hear. “I hate you. I hate you for allowing me to miss all of that!”

“And what if you’d died? I couldn’t risk it.”

“You act like I’m a fragile doll instead of a powerful witch.”

I shrugged as I adjusted Maple in my grip again and began our trek back to the coven. We had a lot we needed to do moving forward, but we needed to regroup, assess our losses, and get rest.