Page 64 of Will It Hurt?

Jinn

“You did that on purpose!”

Her shields went up reflexively, and the small mental connection between us splintered with a savage snap.

I would argue that there was nothing more satisfying than watching recognition dawn on her old lover’s face as she stared up at me, mid-applause. The O of shock as Afiyah registered my presence on the parapet and understood who had been making such noises was… Priceless.

“Need I remind you that I didn’t choose to be out here? That was your decision.”

“But you knew Afiyah was down there.”

There was no question in her voice. Only accusation.

I shrugged.

A punch landed on my shoulder.

“You’re such an annoying arsehole!” she seethed, her curls delightfully wild around her face. “Did you do this to embarrass me?”

I studied her with a tilt of my head.

“I did this to remind your little human lover that she needs to stop fantasizing about you on the end of her strap-on.”

Aisla’s gasp echoed in the silence.

“She… You, uh, read her mind?”

“Yes. It was not pleasant. ”

I’d be lying to myself if I said I hadn’t known that Afiyah was standing just beneath us. I’d heard the crunch of her thick-soled security boots and the rhythm of her breathing from twenty feet above.

I hadn’t planned to slip to my knees for Aisla while her ex was in listening distance, but I could hardly bring myself to regret it, even if it came with Aisla’s ire.

When I’d requested access to the little wytch’s mind, it had been a reflexive move. Something inside me craved the intimacy of a kiss or soft words, but we weren’t quite there yet.

Imagine my surprise when she’d let me in for something deeper than a merging of tongues. She was so much more than the barbs she wore around herself like an armor, and I felt her softness as I’d stroked across her mind.

“Whatever.” She turned away, embarrassment and anger still trailing behind her.

Neither of us said a word as we stepped back into the darkened halls of the School of Divinity.

If the way she’d slammed her mental shields down was any indication, she was angry.

And after accusing me of making her come with a night-splintering scream only to annoy her ex, she was refusing to speak to me.

She walked several steps ahead, tugging her coat on and buttoning it with enough fanfare to let me know just how angry I’d made her.

How odd. If I’d been tongued to a screaming orgasm, anger would be the last thing I’d feel. Humans—even the wytchy kind—were strange creatures indeed.

Anitha, a lithe woman in her fifties, greeted us with a spider-y fake lash glued to her arm and her blonde wig askew. She seemed in no hurry to correct either as she perched on the edge of her vanity and regarded us curiously .

She still wore the red sequin flapper dress from her stage performance, except her heels had been kicked off somewhere in the cluttered space.

She pulled Aisla into a long hug.

“Thank you for seeing us,” Aisla began, shoving her hands into her coat pockets when she pulled away. “I won’t keep you long, I promise. I just need to know—”

Anitha’s gaze left her granddaughter’s and moved to me warily.

“How do you know each other?” she asked, her gaze raking over my clothes with a kind of curious confusion.

“Jinn tried to kill me and now we’re working together.” Aisla’s explanation wasn’t particularly helpful. I watched suspicion creep into Anitha’s gaze.

“A vamp tried to kill you?” Her fingers clasped over Aisla’s arm, and I saw the protective mask fall over her features. “You know that’s an offense against the Night Council and the High Coven.”

“I’m aware,” Aisla said, offering Anitha a tight smile. “We’ve moved past that. Somewhat.”

“What have you gotten caught up in, Aisla hen?” Anitha’s knuckles touched the high points of Aisla’s cheek. “I told you to stay out of trouble, didn’t I? We promised your grandmother.”

Aisla’s smile was rueful.

“I’m looking for a spell,” Aisla said as the tucked her curls behind her ears. “One that involves forbidden magick.”

“You know we don’t dabble in such things,” Anitha admonished.

Aisla agreed quickly. “Usually, yes. But I was hoping you could help anyway. This is important.”

“Forbidden magick is not something to be messed with, my darling. ”

“I know. But I… I think I made a mistake. Someone I neutralized wasn’t…”

“You neutralized someone by mistake?” Anitha’s sculpted brows rose higher on her forehead, threatening to disappear into her hairline.

“Not by High Coven standards, no. But Jinn, she thinks Belle was compelled to make a hasty decision and she shouldn’t have been neutralized. We came across a spell…”

“No.” Anitha shook her head.

“No?” Aisla and I echoed together.

“Leave it alone. This person—Belle—she’s gone. It would be easier to accept that.”

Anitha stood and faced the mirror, plucking the eyelash from her arm and pasting it alongside several others along the edge.

“How can I accept it?” I demanded, irritation curling in my belly. “I know that Belle made a hasty decision, but the consequence of it shouldn’t be eternal death.”

Anitha’s gaze met my quivering, murky reflection in the mirror. “That’s how this works.”

My teeth gnashed together. “If you had a child who was ill and wanted to take their own life, wouldn’t you stop them?”

Anitha slipped the wig from her head, baring a perfectly laid wig cap. “What’s your point?”

“My point is… Have a heart. We need your help. We’ve tried, but we can’t seem to make sense of the spell.”

Anitha’s sigh was long-suffering. “The spell will only work if Belle wants to come back. If she made the decision to leave this earth, then it’s highly unlikely she’ll want to return.”

“But what if she already regrets it?” I asked, knowing in my unbeating heart that Belle had always regretted her emotional decision-making .

“How could you possibly know that?” Anitha frowned, turning to me in a brush of sequin. “How can you guarantee that all the effort going into this spell won’t be wasted?”

“Because I’m her mother.” For the first time in a long time, I felt like I needed a gasp of air in my lungs.

“I’ve cared for Belle for over forty years, and I know her like the back of my hand.

She does things like this—hasty, stupid things, but at the end of the day, she is mine to protect.

Even if I have to rely on the help of strangers. ”

“A very moving speech.”

Anitha’s words were devoid of emotion.

“But you ask for far too much,” she continued. “As you said, we’re strangers. Why should I use my powers to bring back someone I don’t even know?”

“I’m not asking you to use your powers,” I corrected her. “I’m asking you to explain what a spell means. The instructions are unclear.”

“They always are.”

Anitha’s gaze lingered between us, sharp and assessing. I fought the urge to move, to break the stillness, but I could feel the weight of her stare settling over us, pressing in to determine the nature of our relationship.

“Grams,” Aisla said, brushing a hand over her grandmother’s shoulder to flick off some glitter. “Maybe we could speak in private?”

With a sigh, Anitha fell back into her chair. I stepped away until they couldn’t see me in the chaos of the dressing room.

It was pointless, though. I could easily hear everything they said, and I didn’t even have to strain myself.

“So what’s really going on, hen?” Anitha asked, her tone dipping a notch as though she knew that I could hear every bit of their conversation .

“She’s paying me,” Aisla explained quickly. “The money is going to help me leave the coven.”

“You’re leaving the coven?!”

“ Shhh. ” I heard a shuffle. “I’m trying to. And her money will last me a long time.”

“They’ll kick you out of the covenstead if you do,” Anitha warned, concern evident even from afar. “You’ll lose your home.”

“I know. I’ve thought this through, Grams. I’m going to get my own place… Like you did.”

There was a moment’s silence.

“And how do you know that the vamp doesn’t mean you any harm?” Anitha continued. “You just said she tried to kill you.”

“That’s because I neutralized Belle.”

“Isn’t that your job?”

“Well, yes, but she—” Aisla let out a sigh. “It’s complicated. But if it makes you feel any better, she’s already paid me half my fee as a downpayment. So she means business.”

There was yet another long pause.

“Fine,” Anitha said reluctantly. “I know better than anyone else how hard your job is. I don’t blame you one bit for wanting to leave. I wish Amala had done the same. Maybe we wouldn’t have fought so much.”

I thought I heard a hint of humor in Anitha’s voice, but I couldn’t be sure.

“Go on, then,” Anitha sighed. “Since you’ve come all the way here, I might as well try and help.”

The fist that had tightened in my chest loosened a little. I let the wall support me as I listened to Anitha explain how to start a forbidden magick spell.

Yet again, I tried not to let myself think about how easy this would have been if my mother, my own creator, had agreed to help me bring Belle back. But instead, I was at the mercy of stranger.

Well, a stranger and Aisla.

I could only hope I’d placed my trust in the right person.