26. Speak Your Curse, Say Your Vow #3
“Risible,” Wormwood answered. “Here we are.” He gestured down a dark, domed aisle.
“Hexes, bad luck charms, curses, baneful magic, and unluckiness in all its forms await you. Shall I curate a few starter books for you? There’s a nice little table there by the window.
I’ll tell Crescent and Star Anise to light the lanterns for you. ”
“That’s nice, thank you…” I looked around, hearing squeaks from all directions. “Who are Crescent and Star Anise?”
“My wife and daughter,” Wormwood flashed his buck teeth proudly. “We reside here with a hundred others in our risible community. Feel free to ask any of us if you need help finding anything. I shall have your books at your table shortly.”
After thanking the strange little not-mouse, I found my seat by an arched and drafty stained glass window.
My chair was worn, and the table was a scuffed mahogany.
Outside, raindrops rolled down the glass, and the graves looked gloomier than usual.
Willowspire spread out in the distance beyond, and I could faintly make out the furls of smokestacks from folks building fires to keep warm.
My heart ached, wishing I were with Prism, in our cottage, with stew in the cauldron.
Wherever she was, I hoped she was warm and safe.
I hoped she knew I was coming for her, no matter what.
Moments later, heat roared to life in an adjacent hearth, and the candles in the lantern on my table flickered to life.
Three books surprised me as they floated through the air, as if weightless and tied to an invisible string, before they landed gently on the desk in front of me.
The magic in the air left a faint sparkling trail of green shimmering dust. A smile warmed my face. I wished my sister had been there to see such a beautiful display of simple but pretty magic—like our mother used to conjure regularly.
With a bittersweet tinge in my soul, I pulled the first dark purple book from the stack.
Hex Responsibly: A guide to foolproof foraging, potent potions, and horticulture horrors for vanquishing your enemies.
“Huh, this looks good. Thanks, Wormwood,” I muttered, cracking open the spine.
Something squeaked in the far, echoey distance. “You’re most welcome!”
An hour passed, and I hadn’t even made it halfway through the singular book of thousands that surrounded me.
The information was smart, all encompassing, and thoroughly researched by covens of witches and spell crafters.
The sense that I was too dumb to even be reading such a text weighed like a heavy shame blanket on my shoulders.
Maybe that’s why Riot gave the library so easily—he knew I wouldn’t be able to understand anything in here.
Pushing those thoughts away, I decided to use advice that Matri had given me in regard to magic and pull from my intuition instead of my brain. Matri used tarot cards to weigh the fates, applying the same intention based logic to her practice as a sea witch, a huntress, and a parent.
Hope swirled in my chest that some bit of Matri’s magic lived within me.
The blood of both Mother and Matri existed within me, light and dark, land and sea.
Closing my eyes, I lifted my palm over the open pages.
“Show me what I need,” I breathed. My fingers tingled as my magic spoke with the book, the book pulsing with purple dust in response.
Suddenly, its pages turned, flying as if moved by a great gust of wind.
As quickly as it came, the blowing stopped, and my palm hovered over an illustrated page with a cursive, painted title and description inked into the old paper.
Reveal What is Hidden
Take What is Yours
Receive What You Desire
Delight fluttered through me as my magic still tingled in my bones. “That sounds good enough to me.” I ran my forefinger over the paintings of plants.
Wolf’s Bane
Fox Flame
White Stag Hair
A promise not yet kept
A desire not yet spoken
A wish not yet uttered
Bury in grave dirt and rub the dirt on your chest under the light of the moon and your hex is complete.
A sigh of annoyance left my throat. “Wolfsbane, Fox Flame, and White Stag Hair? Where am I going to find those lying around?”
The pitter-patter of paws sounded on my desk as a round white mouse with beady red eyes perched on the top of my book stack, meeting me at nose level. “Hello, miss. I’m Star Anise, and I believe I can answer your question and help you find ingredients for your spell.”
Resting my tired chin on my palm, I replied, “Can you? Do you know where to find these things?” I pointed to the illustrations.
Hopping from her stack, Star Anise sniffed the pages and looked up at me, wiggling her whiskers.
“Wander’s den would have wolfsbane around it, being that he’s a lycanthrope and the flower follows their kind.
” She squinted at the other two flowers, one orange, one white.
“The other two, well, you’re in luck because they are counterparts as well.
White stags eat fox flame before their mating season.
There’s a patch growing behind the lycanthrope’s den.
If you find it, you’re sure to find stag hair near. ”
My eyebrows rose with astonishment. “You’re amazing, Star Anise, thank you. I’m sure Wormwood, your dad, is proud of you.”
The plump risible smoothed her fur and grinned. “Very proud, miss. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“No…” I started before second guessing myself. “Actually…” I pulled the white dagger from its holster on my thigh and laid it before her. “What can you tell me about this? I have a feeling it’s more than a common dagger?”
Star Anise scampered forward and sniffed the blade before giving the hilt a small lick with her tongue.
Her spine straightened and she looked up at me with wide red eyes.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know who you were.
” The risible bowed quickly. “I’m not allowed to talk to you without prior approval from my dad. ”
“Wait, what do you mean? Why do you say that?” I asked in confusion. “Please tell me what this item means? I thought it was only a key to the library?”
“Having this dagger, given to you by a lord, is not only a key to the library, miss.” Star Anise squeaked, still bowing on her paws. “It means that wherever he goes, you may go. It means no door should be closed to you. and a part of his magic resides around you. It is a mating gift, miss.”
“A mating gift?”
Her next words rendered me frozen to my seat.
The risible nodded. “The dagger is a key to his closed doors and his heart. It means he’s chosen you as his—to be his wife.”