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The drunk woman swayed, her head shaking as she raised the bottle once more.

“What proof do you have of Daisy’s involvement in your ruined engagement?”

Marigold waved the bottle in the air between them. “He left me!”

“And she had nothing to do with it! Whose fault is it for talking about Gary nonstop to someone who expects to have a future with you?”

“Hers!”

Tessa shoved an accusatory finger towards her. “Yours, Marigold!”

Marigold sputtered before flailing into the loveseat once more, the bottle falling out of her grasp and clattering against the floor.

Some of the remaining liquor spilt, but it was the very least of their problems. Marigold stared up at the ceiling, the tears streaming down her temples, her attention no longer holding onto them.

If they wanted to get an answer from her, they were steadily running out of time.

Daisy glanced in Tessa’s direction.

“You can say whatever you want,” Tessa said in a quiet voice. “But at the end of the day, Daisy didn’t do those things to you. You did.”

Marigold covered her face with her gloved hands.

“And you know as much as we do that putting a spell on Daisy for revenge is wrong ,” Tessa continued. “Don’t you realize what that could do to you? If the Witch Council managed to find out? You’d -”

Marigold’s head rolled forward, her brow knitted together quizzically. “What spell?”

“The potion you sent to Fields’ Herbals,” Tessa explained. “It was cursed with something. You hid yourself well, Marigold, but we aren’t stupid. Reverse what you’ve done.”

Daisy watched Marigold’s face contort into undeniable confusion. She glanced between the pair of them, blinking as if she had been caught in a daze.

“I-I didn’t do that,” Marigold mumbled. “You think after everything I’ve already lost I’d risk my magic?”

Daisy’s brow shot up. It was the first near lucid thing Marigold had said since they arrived.

Daisy wasn’t an empath like Tessa was, but something about it told her that Marigold wasn’t the one they were looking for.

It seemed as though she was merely a heartbroken woman, left alone in a great big house that was still full of the memories she would never be able to relive.

Standing from the couch, Daisy passed by the coffee table to stand in front of Marigold. The woman flinched away from her and crossed her arms.

“Marigold,” Daisy said in a gentle voice, “let me perform a Truth-Binding Spell to -”

She jerked backwards, managing to slip out of the chair despite being drunk and weighed down by hefty skirts. “Y-You think I’m stupid?” she drawled, the words more slurred than they were before. Marigold moved as if she was stuck in slow motion. “I-I didn’t curse you!”

Daisy sighed. “Then there’s nothing to hide!”

Marigold watched her closely for a minute, her arms stretched out defensively in front of her.

The longer she stared, the more her shoulders relaxed and her limbs lowered.

Eventually, Marigold looked too tired to stand upright, and she waddled back to the chair, falling back against the crunching cushions with a frown on her face.

Daisy reached out and laid her palm over the top of Marigold’s head. The veil was scratchy and uncomfortable beneath her skin. Pressing her thumb into the square center of her forehead, Daisy closed her eyes, the incantation coming to her instantly.

“Blessed be the soul’s truth,” she said. “Show me the path to within!”

Energy stretched between the two of them. A blur of color appeared within Daisy’s mind, diving deep into the secrets Marigold held within. But, unfortunately for Daisy, there was hardly anything on Marigold’s mind that wasn’t dreadfully sad.

Her days were spent how they had found her: wallowing in the life she missed out on and blaming it on the only person she could. Marigold had never brewed a curse-inducing potion and never mailed anything to Fields’ Herbals.

Daisy pulled her hand away, the connection falling between the two of them. Marigold looked up at her with wide, brown eyes, the tears glossy as they welled up.

“Well?” Tessa asked.

Daisy turned to face her. “She was telling the truth. Marigold didn’t send the potion.”

Tessa’s shoulders fell. “Blessed be, I’m relieved.” She glanced behind Daisy. “Honestly, Marigold, you need some help.”

Daisy’s brow shot up. “Be respectful!”

Tessa grumbled under her breath and rubbed her stomach. “I’m starving , Daisy. Let’s go!”

Shaking her head, Daisy motioned towards the front door.

Tessa was already halfway there. Daisy found herself hesitating for a moment, but didn’t dare to turn back.

There was only the image of Marigold crashing her wedding in the back of her mind.

The unfortunate reality she saw in Marigold’s mind was the consequence of her actions.

“Wait!”

Daisy froze. When she turned around, Marigold was standing, the drunken haze slowly dissipating from her eyes. The tears fell silently and effortlessly.

“I understand,” she whispered, the words barely carrying between them.

“I…I wanted a life that was not mine. I thought Gary was meant for me, only me, but I was selfish. I was selfish and yet,” Marigold paused, taking a few small steps closer to Daisy, “you were with him in his last days, and you never once complained. You were so strong in the face of everything going wrong, and I was so stupidly selfish. Wanting to trade places. Wanting to steal what you had, blaming you for everything I threw away.”

Marigold’s shoulders shuddered as she bent forward and desperately clutched at her chest. “Gary was more than loved in his lifetime,” she said through her tears. “And I need to carry on. I need to move on.”

Daisy’s heart softened. She stepped forward and rubbed her hand over Marigold’s back as she cried. Her shoulders trembled and shuddered with each breath she took, but Daisy never once moved, never once ceased in giving her as much comfort as she could muster.

“To live is a blessing,” Daisy whispered, the words her therapist once spoke drifting back to her. “And you cannot waste it. Not when there’s so much life to live. Alright?”

Marigold straightened herself, managing to pull a half smile across her lips. “Alright.”

With the case on Marigold Shadowbrook closed, Daisy and Tessa made their way out of her house, shutting the doors behind them.

They marched silently across the untrimmed lawn to Tessa’s car and slid within the hot compartment, listening to the hum of the air conditioner as they waited for it to turn on.

“Well,” Tessa finally said, “we can mark her off the list.”

Daisy nodded slowly.

Suddenly with a crazed speed, Tessa turned the ignition, and the car hummed alive. Tessa whipped out from in front of Marigold’s house, testing the speed limit as she raced through the quiet afternoon neighborhood.

“What’s the rush?” Daisy squeaked.

Tessa grinned. “It’s time for lunch .”

And they curved out of the neighborhood, rushing towards downtown Willowbrook.