Night Witch (Weatherstone College, #2)(58)

I’d have been embarrassed that he’d outed my sex life to my family, but it was really the least of my worries. A curse was one of the deadliest, most difficult spells that could be enacted. They were rarely used due to how dark and destructive they were.

What the fuck was Rafael thinking?

Staring at the table, I couldn’t look away from the phone as I waited for the next revelation. When Logan laughed, I almost fell out of my chair again.

Had he lost his damn mind? Or did he miss the part about a curse?

“You fool,” Rafael said, clearly thinking the same. “Did you not hear what I just said? She’s cursed and you did it.”

Logan’s laughter cut off abruptly. “There’s a fatal flaw in your plan, old man.”

Rafael didn’t answer for so long I wondered if we’d lost the connection. “There’s no flaw,” he finally said. “This is exactly as I planned, from the years of research into the right curse, to waiting for Paisley’s magic to bloom. I could have, of course, just killed them all years ago, but revenge is a dish best served cold and drawn out.”

“Paisley and I bonded when we were children.” It was a simple statement, and it fell into a silent room. “Through magic,” Logan continued. “Your curse, it’s affecting me as well. I’m weakening alongside her, and if that’s the case, and it impacts family lines, guess who’s next. You just set forth your own fucking downfall.”

As I lurched up in my chair, Jensen once again kept me from face-planting as I panicked like an absolute pro. Logan was weakening too! He’d never said a damn word, and I hadn’t noticed, but his power was so vast that it’d take a while to be obvious. In my own weakness, I’d missed his.

It was clear that he had been protecting me, but after our little conversation about not keeping secrets anymore, I was going to kick his ass.

“This can’t be right,” Rafael murmured, and it was low enough that it sounded as if he was talking to himself. “I planned for every scenario. I had backup plans if you didn’t sleep with her. There was another spellcaster under my control as well.”

Another spellc— Fucking Hel. Was he talking about Marcus? He had Marcus there as a backup plan if I didn’t sleep with Logan. No wonder that asshole offered me help over the winter break.

“How are you powering this curse?” Logan asked him, and I couldn’t understand why he sounded so calm. This was bad. Big and super bad. We were all going to die.

“The spellcasters of Europe are pooling their power, causing trouble, and I’m siphoning off their magic.” We’d guessed Rafael was behind that unrest, and he’d just confirmed it. “With a secondary purpose of keeping the council busy while I buy up their land and assets.”

“What’s your plan now, Dad? How do we end this curse before it takes us all down?”

It sounded as if Rafael was pacing across hard timber, a tap-tap-tap of shoes as he walked. “This is an ancient curse that took the power of many spellcasters to enact,” he mumbled, still seemingly shocked by us being bonded, none of the usual bluster in his tone. “The path to breaking it is just as difficult, though without the same input of energy. It’s the opposite, actually. You have to unravel it by using ingredients that oppose the original ones that cast it.”

“What are the steps?” Logan pushed, still seemingly calm, though I felt tingles of his rage within my power.

Weatherstone College didn’t have any classes on curses. All I knew was that they required immense power to create and were notoriously difficult to unravel.

As we were about to find out.

“There are only two steps, but they’re not easy ones,” Rafael said with a deep breath. “First, you need to gather these ingredients.” There was silence for a moment, and I assumed he’d handed Logan a piece of paper. “Then you cast this spell. That starts the process.”

“Is that all?”

Rafael’s voice grew louder. “Did you look at the ingredients, son? You’ll be lucky to get everything before she dies. And once she does, the rest of us will fall. The curse has to be stopped with Paisley.”

“Should have fucking thought of that before you punished an innocent family for an accident.”

The way my breath whooshed out of me would have been embarrassing, but I was too busy trying not to cry. Logan wasn’t angry with me.

Rafael ignored Logan’s recriminations. “I have to be there for that final step, as the one who initiated the curse. I believe it’ll take my blood to end this.” His voice grew even louder. “Do not sleep with her again. Every time you do, you are weakening her further and strengthening the curse.”

My family were absolutely staring at me now, and I ignored the heat rising in my cheeks.

“How long does she have before the curse will kill her?” Noah asked.

“There’s no time frame. It depends on the power of the magical being, but it was a guarantee that each death would be slow and drawn out. That was the only way I could ensure Tom truly suffered.”

Logan and I had first slept together last year, only once though. Clearly, our recent activities had sped up the process.

“Just know, Father,” Logan said, the rumble of his voice vibrating through the phone. “The only reason you’re still alive right now is that we might need you to break this curse. But when I’m done saving her—my fucking soulmate you tried to murder—I’m coming back for you. I will destroy you and take everything you’ve worked for.”