Dominique slipped beneath Ronan’s arm and nudged him to the side. “Please come in, Zephira.”
While she understood why Ronan was upset, Dominique was curious as to what the sorceress had to say. As the woman entered the apartment, her appearance shifted subtly, making Dominique gasp.
“It’s you!” she said.
Ronan did a double take as well. “What the fuck?” he asked.
Zephira smiled, but it wasn’t an expression of amusement. It was sadder than anything else. She smoothed a hand over her dark auburn bob. Her black eyes lacked the joyful sparkle that Dominique remembered from the first time she met the woman.
“You were Zelda?” Dominique asked.
The sorceress nodded. “Yes, I was. I am.”
Blinking rapidly, Dominique gestured toward the couch and chairs in the center of her living area. “Let’s sit down because I have a feeling I’m going to need to while you explain this to me.”
The other woman nodded and took a deep breath, smoothing her hands down the front of her black blouse and slacks.
Dominique settled on the couch, Ronan sitting right next to her and stretching an arm across the back of the sofa. Zephira took the chair that faced them.
“Why?” Dominique asked when the enchantress didn’t immediately speak.
“Why did I come to you as Zelda? Or why did I curse you to begin with?”
“Both,” Ronan answered before Dominique could.
Since she was curious about both of those, Dominique just nodded in agreement.
Zephira clasped her hands together on her knees. “Let me start at the beginning,” she said. Her dark eyes landed on Dominique. “A long time ago, I wasn’t a sorceress. I was a fairy godmother.”
Dominique’s eyes widened at the confession. She’d heard of fairy godmothers gathering more magic and becoming spell casters rather than just magic users, but Zephira was the first she’d met personally.
Zephira’s mouth quirked. “Yes, I know it’s difficult to believe, but it’s true. I also had a son. He was my only child and the light of my life. Somehow, he became involved with a married fae woman. Another fairy godmother.”
Ronan reached over and curled his fingers around Dominique’s. She clutched them tightly, knowing exactly what was coming.
“When the woman fell pregnant, he was overjoyed, thinking that she would leave her husband, and they would raise the baby together.” Zephira cleared her throat. “Instead, when she confessed what she’d done to her husband, he grew angry and insisted that they kill my son. Together.”
Dominique’s eyes filled with tears, but she didn’t speak.
“I didn’t find out exactly what happened until the fairy godmother gave birth to a daughter. I had been travelling at the behest of one of the other monarchs in Magic. When I confronted them, they threatened to kill my grandchild. At the time, I didn’t have the power to fight them. I was only a fairy godmother myself.”
Zephira shifted in her chair, her hands moving to clutch her knees. “I spent the next twelve years amassing magic, gathering enough power to be able to fight them. When I was finally strong enough, I tracked them down, only to discover that they intended to use my granddaughter as a pawn in their political machinations. Not to arrange an advantageous marriage for her, but to sell her off to the highest bidder when she reached the age of sixteen.
Then, when I went in search of the child to rescue her, I found her with her soulmate and surrounded by a spell thatwould prevent me from taking her away. My only option was to make her undesirable in the eyes of the fae. The only thing that would work was a curse. A curse that threatened not only her future, but the future of anyone that became involved with her. I had to make it so no male would want to touch her. Which meant I had to make her a pariah in Magic. I hated to do it, but it was the only way I could protect her.”
Tears trickled down Dominique’s cheeks as Zephira continued her story.
“So, I cursed her and the fae prince she was with, ensuring that they would both remain alone and shunned until they were old enough for the spell on my granddaughter to fade. When it did, I made sure that her path would cross her soulmate’s again, hoping that the magic of their connection would outweigh the curse. That they would be able to break it.”
“And if we couldn’t?” Ronan asked, his voice gruff.
Zephira looked at him. “I intended to take the curse upon myself.”
Dominique’s hand clutched Ronan’s harder. For a caster to take a curse upon themselves…it meant they would face the curse, thrice increased. Zephira would likely have died if she’d taken their curse, no matter how powerful she was.
“Why didn’t you come to me?” Dominique asked before Ronan could speak again. “Why did you tell me who you were?”
“Would you have listened? Believed me?” Zephira asked.
