I slid into my chair. “Depends on what mood she’s in.”
Marcia sat across from me and dug in her bag, pulling out a piece of folded parchment. “Are those the truths?” I checked. “The spell to ward off backlash is complete, so we are good to go. In a few short minutes, you’ll have your love back, and you can discuss your issues like normal couples.”
Indigo snorted.“With snark, memory spells, and naked shenanigans under the full moon.”
“Shut it.”
Marcia glanced at Pete. “I’ve been thinking.”
Oh no.
“If we leave him, then he’ll have no choice but to stay with me.”
“You can’t be serious.”
Her hand tightened around the parchment. “It’s the only way to keep him forever.”
Ugh. I was being tested today. “Marcia, I’m about to give you some hard truths, so listen up.”
She twisted her lips and stayed silent. I took that as permission to continue. I pointed at the frog. “This here is a result of your trying to keep hold of a man who isn’t worthy of your love or attention. If he strays, it’s not on you, it’s on him. You are a capable, smart, beautiful woman, and he is a fucking idiot if he can’t see that. I don’t mean that relationships aren’t hard, or that there aren’t daily bumps in the road, but you ride them out together. If he is not your person, the one who would catch you when you fall or raise you up, then he is not your ‘one.’ Turn him back and turn him loose. Make room in your heart for the right person.”
She dragged her teeth over her bottom lip before pushing the parchment into my hand like it was a live grenade. I unfolded it, read the three truths, and raised a brow. Well, those were certainly different, and it might answer why she was so nervous.
“I could include a gag spell on these?” I offered.
Marcia’s shoulders relaxed. “Thank you.”
I plucked the prepared ingredients from my drawer that had been waiting for her return.
“I’ll need you to recite these at the appropriate time,” I told her.
She grimaced. “Fine.”
I had questions. So many questions. None of which I wanted answers to.
I rose from my chair and circled my desk, rolling my sleeves up as I called on my element. The air cooled, the moisture thickening like I’d dragged the Mississippi indoors by the scruff.
Marcia sat still. Bella sat even stiller, watching with murderous curiosity.
“Okay, Pete,” I announced. “Time to unfrog you. Try to resist the urge to lick your own eyeball mid-transformation.”
Marcia whimpered.
I lifted the parchment, let the water ripple through the runes, and began.
“By truth confessed and idiot’s plight,
Undo the frog, restore him right.
Three truths bled and bound to me,
Break the curse and set him free.
Let shape return, let voice be clear,
But all he knows stays locked from ear.
What Pete has learned, what Pete has seen,
