Her husband.
It was like the room tilted. She pressed her hand against the wall, like it might keep her from collapsing.
I have the love I deserve.
“You motherfucker.”
Chapter Fourteen
Soraya
Sometimes a witch needs some hot hex.
—Rules for Witches
She had been sitting in the mostly dark, empty room for longer than she would ever want to admit to anyone. Aggie had taken her upstairs after work to show her the apartment space, and Soraya had asked her permission to linger. She hadn’t left yet. She was afraid that if she did, she would have to face that all this was really happening. But as long as she sat upstairs, on the floor in front of an old coffee table—the only piece of furniture in the room—with a few candles set on top and a matchbook to their side, then she wouldn’t have to face this.
David was really throwing her out. Levi and Jaden weren’t speaking to her. She squeezed her eyes shut, tears pushing against them. Her kids were too old for her to make them engage. She texted them, and they didn’t respond. Because he’d done it. He had succeeded in making everyone think she was the one who was bad.
She was helpless. Screaming into a void she’d once calledfriends. But they’d closed ranks. They didn’t listen. She knew exactly why. They’d been warned about her. She might lead them astray! She might make them dissatisfied with their marriages or grind their bones to make her new sourdough starter.
She could remember, years ago, a man at their church had been coming without his wife, and when asked where she was, he’d said, “She’s just kind of doing her own thing right now.”
He hadn’t vilified her in so many words, but it had been a powerfully cutting statement in the right crowd. A crowd where they’d been taught that theirown thingwas only ever wicked and sinful. Herown thingwasn’t at church, and he was.
Was that what David would say?
She’s doing her own thing.
Like he’d had nothing to do with it. Like she’d just decided to go off in a fit of selfishness because she’d woken up one morning and gotten tired of her life, and not like he’d betrayed their vows or anything.
She hadn’t questioned it when that man had said those words to her. No one would question it about her either. No one would demand accountability from David. She, Soraya Nichols, was a cautionary tale because she’d pushed back against her husband’s infidelity, and she just felt ...
She had never felt so powerless.
Her phone screen lit up. It was the Discarded Witches Club chat.
He *is* cheating on me.
Soraya unlocked the screen and stared at the message. There were three dots at the bottom, and she waited for Nora to continue.
I found pictures of him on Instagram, this other woman’s Instagram.
He’s touching her.
A screenshot came through, and Soraya grimaced. There he was, clinging to a mostly naked woman. Soraya would have lost it if it wereher husband. But there was some plausible deniability, she supposed. It could be ... friendly.
She took a breath, then started to type.It’s not his penis. It could be worse.
It can’t be worse.
A message from Daisy popped up next.What is happening tonight? Is it a full moon?
Are full moons significant?Soraya typed out.
Sweet baby.That was from Nora.
Jonnathan tojld me he’s marrying her. Ambgerly.
