Page 18 of Love Spell (Witches of London #3)

Julian, a sharp-featured, black-haired man in his late twenties or early thirties, faced Noah across a table, tapping with a gel pen and making notes on the chart printout and a second sheet with a symbol key and more notes that he kept adding to.

They were in his office, a dimly lit, stone-walled space of candles and astrology-related prints in an old church in Bromhurst.

“Well, at least Saturn will move on from your natal Venus pretty soon, that should generally mean a more relaxed vibe when it comes to connecting with others, also romance, of course. Saturn restricts and puts up limits, so it can feel claustrophobic, and Venus prefers a more flowy existence. Once he’s moved on, your love life and general pleasure level are going to get a boost or at the very least return to normal.

Couple months, maybe? The pressure should already be easing.

And there’s a lot going on in your ninth house at the moment — great for higher education and long-distance travel.

You might also question and update your belief system and overall philosophy of life. ”

Noah grimaced. “I wish I was travelling a bit less. I don’t want to leave London but I have to with my visa running out in a month. I could do with less travel and more stability right now.”

“Ah, yeah, with Uranus in the fourth, where you live and overall family life has been somewhat turbulent and subject to abrupt changes. The bad news is Uranus stays seven years in every sign, but the good news is you’re five years into this transit.

The best way to deal with Uranus is to stay open-minded and flexible and put some trust in the universe.

It can feel like Uranus is just flipping tables, but the goal is to upgrade that area of your life and liberate you from restrictions.

The bad news is, as the saying goes, resistance is futile.

He also brings plenty of new experiences.

It’s a perfect time to meet new people or try new things. ”

“That’s been happening. Honestly, I’ve been experiencing too many new things lately. Graduation, new job, lost my flat, and now my boss is hitting on me and driving me crazy.” Noah sighed.

Very slowly, Julian looked up from his notes. “Your boss wouldn’t happen to be a Russian named Timofei?”

Noah wasn’t stunned that Julian might know who Timo was since he’d possibly just been in touch with Julian to arrange a reading for Noah. But he was stunned because “boss” and “hitting on me” shouldn’t have been part of Julian’s toolkit of information if that was how he knew Timo.

“Uh… yeah. Timofei Volkov. He runs a prop shop in London. How do you know that?”

Julian sat back, staring at Noah. It took him a moment to reply and, when he did, it wasn’t to answer Noah’s question.

“How’s that working out?”

“How’s what working out?”

“Your boss. Is he bothering you?”

“Bothering me?” Noah snorted. “Timo’s a menace. I know I should have reported him for harassment, and then the whole assault thing, don’t get me started —”

Julian, who’d been very businesslike and direct all through the meeting, almost brusque, now stared at Noah with his eyes slowly widening as Noah talked.

“— but I’m just trying to get through the next month and then I’ll be gone anyway. I want this job. I have the chance to bring home tens of thousands if I do it well, so it’s no small matter to walk away just because the boss is a jackal.”

“He assaulted you?”

“It was …” Noah shrugged. “We’d been drinking. I got away from him. I’ve told him no again and again, but he won’t back down. I can deal with him for another month, it’s just damn hard to feel like you’re being circled by vultures all the time. How do you know Timo?”

When Julian only looked at him, the silence growing uncomfortable, Noah glanced down at the pages. “So, anything else I should know? Can you tell me more about moon sign influences? I’ve never really been clear on how the sun sign and moon sign affect you differently.”

Julian abruptly stood. “Ever had a tarot reading?”

“No, but that’s okay. I’m more interested in astrology.”

“On the house.” Julian was back in his seat in a flash, shuffling the cards.

“Okay …” Noah watched while Julian plunked down the deck and turned over the first card.

Both men gazed at it for a moment in silence: the devil.

“Yes,” Julian said quietly, “but him or me?”

Noah looked between card and card reader. “What’s going on?”

Julian flipped another card. Seven circular flowers or coins interwoven through vines.

“Are you a gambler, Noah?” Julian still didn’t look up.

“I’m a prop trader. So yes, gambling is my job right now.”

“Right now?”

“I’ve been in school and working in IT, still not totally sure where I’m going. Especially after a lousy day like today.”

He glanced up. “You’ve been losing?”

“Yeah.”

Another card, a golden wheel with runic-looking symbols on it, and Julian laughed. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t worry about what?”

“Never mind.” Again, Julian sat back. “I’m really sorry about what’s happened to you. That was shortsighted of me.”

“Happened to me?” Noah glanced from the three cards to Julian’s face. “You’re only the messenger. You didn’t do anything.”

“Oh, but I did. Are you familiar with the practice of modern witchcraft?”

“Heard of, not familiar.”

“My skill set is not limited to astrologer and coffee connoisseur. About a month ago, I attended a friend’s wedding, where I ran into one of life’s little critics.

I should have walked away, but there’s no fun in that and I was in a bad mood.

He called me a charlatan, said he wanted proof, so I said okay and put a spell on him as soon as I got home. ”

“Come again?”

“He was there alone, had a bad nosebleed that he got under control while standing in a corner alone, and I’d a hunch he was trying to pick me up when he first addressed us.

With that information, nicking one of the blood-soaked paper towels from the bin that he’d used, and learning his name from Lars, I decided what such a poor lonely soul needed was a love spell. Really just doing him a favour.”

“You’re joking.”

“Do I look like I’m joking?”

Noah stared at him. Julian stared back.

“Okay —” Julian shrugged. “So I didn’t mean it as a favour.

But how was I supposed to know he’d go for you?

To be clear, we’re talking about nudging existing energies and influences in our perceived waking reality.

Not fireballs and summoning flesh-and-blood dragons.

Your boss had it in him to fall for you, or there’d have been nothing on Earth or beyond I could have done to push him your way by magick.

But he did and I did — and it looks like you’re the one suffering for it. I’m sorry about that.”

“You’re serious? You cast some kind of spell on Timo? Like a long-distance hypnosis, a power-of-suggestion thing?”

“Sure, something like that.”

“And made him obsessed with me? Won’t leave me alone?

Like a damn stalker for a boss?” Noah’s voice kept rising as he went on.

He had no idea if he even believed Julian, but it made more sense than anything else that had happened between Noah and Timo in the past month.

“No subtlety, either. I’ve had to put up with his advances, my co-workers’ mockery and back-stabbing, and now I can hardly even get away from the man for an hour at a time because, in addition to working together all day, I’m living with him! ”

Julian sat back, eyebrows raised. “I can’t take the credit for that. If you want to move that fast it’s up to you.”

“I don’t want to live with him!” Noah was on his feet. “I don’t have any other good options! I happen to be homeless right now!”

Julian gazed for a moment at the ceiling, as if considering offering a space, as if wondering how sorry he really was. Either that wasn’t it, or he decided he wasn’t sorry enough to actually do anything about it.

“I shouldn’t have kicked all this off,” Julian said calmly. “You’ve every reason to be upset, but it was never meant for you. You said you’re soon returning to North America?”

Noah snorted and started pacing in a circle around his own chair. “As if that would stop him. He’ll probably follow me. Even if I leave prop trading. He’s certifiable. Don’t you know the Spider-Man quote?”

Julian frowned. “Does whatever a spider can?”

“‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ You can’t go around doing that kind of thing to people. Saying it’s only a little energetic nudge is no excuse. Hypnosis can lead someone to walking off a bridge!”

“Voltaire said that.”

“Well, Spider-Man made it famous to a modern audience.”

“You mean Stan Lee?”

“Shut up!”

Julian opened his mouth, dark eyes glinting, but he again sat back, lacing his fingers together, making a point of demonstrating that he was going to let that one go, which only annoyed Noah more.

“You did this.” Noah faced him. “You have to put it right. How do you undo the spell or lift the hypnosis or whatever? What has to be done?”

Julian regarded his own locked fingers for several seconds that seemed an age in Noah’s furious turn of mind.

Finally, he said, “I can lift the spell.”

“Yes, please, now —”

“ If … Timofei makes a full apology.”

A chill spiked down Noah’s spine. “Apologise for what?”

“For doubting. For how he acted at the wedding.”

Noah mouthed at him like a fish. “Am I hearing this right? This spell you’ve worked has trashed my whole life, and you’re not going to lift it because Timo hurt your feelings?”

“I will be more than happy to lift it. Just as soon as your boss owns up and apologises for being the arrogant, judgmental, obnoxious prick that he is; and begs my forgiveness for ever doubting me.”

“That’s never going to happen.”

Julian shrugged. “Too bad for him.”

“No, too bad for me . You just said you were sorry this was affecting me so much. So do something!”

“You may be underestimating the influence you have over this man.”

“Influence?”

Julian rolled his eyes. “Exactly. Yes, you can get him to apologise. Tell him what I told you. I met with him yesterday and he thought shouting at me would get me to lift the spell.” Julian added this last rather pointedly.

“Of course, that didn’t get him anywhere, but you can tell him the solution and see if he doesn’t jog right out to see me. ”

Noah gripped the back of his chair, facing Julian with the chair between them, thinking fast. “Timo came to see you about all this?” That explained the website. “Why hasn’t he told me that he knew he was under outside influences?”

“Because he doesn’t want to believe he’s being impacted by outside influences at all.

He knows what I’ve done, but he’s loath to acknowledge it.

Sweep it under the rug and pretend there’s no magick is his policy.

You, on the other hand, are more open-minded and you can explain what he needs to do to lift the spell. ”

“And if he won’t?”

Julian smiled at that. “In the state he’s in right now? If you bat your eyes at him, you could probably get him to feed his leg to a shark.”