The Cursed Fae (Accessory to Magic Book 2) Read online

  The Cursed Fae

  Accessory to Magic Book 2

  Kathrin Hutson

  Copyright © 2021 Kathrin Hutson

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Design by Covers by Christian

  Formatting by Jennifer Laslie

  ISBN: 978-1-7331613-7-4 (Exquisite Darkness Press)

  Contents

  Books by Kathrin Hutson

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Acknowledgments

  A Note from the Author

  Connect with Kathrin

  Check out Kathrin Hutson’s Other Series

  About the Author

  Books by Kathrin Hutson

  Accessory to Magic (Dark Urban Fantasy)

  The Witching Vault

  The Cursed Fae

  Gyenona’s Children (Dark Fantasy)

  Daughter of the Drackan

  Mother of the Drackan

  The Unclaimed (NA Dark Fantasy)

  Sanctuary of Dehlyn

  Secret of Dehlyn

  Sacrament of Dehlyn

  Blue Helix (LGBTQ Dystopian Sci-Fi)

  Sleepwater Beat

  Sleepwater Static

  To those who find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

  Your purpose here is greater than you know.

  Chapter One

  It was only a table, but it felt like another prison cell.

  What was she doing? She shouldn’t be here right now. She shouldn’t have come at all.

  Jessica Northwood slumped back in the chair at her table for two, which currently only sat one, and tried not to stare at the front door of Café 19. Any minute now, her past would be catching up with her in ways she’d sworn she’d never allow. Any minute now, Mel would walk through that front door, smile at her, and undo the last six months of Jessica’s painstaking attempts to reinvent the witch she used to be.

  The pendant of clear glass with small, glittering black specks rested heavily on Jessica’s chest beneath her brown leather jacket.

  At least one thing had changed on parole. She owned a magical pain-in-her-ass bank the whole damn city was trying to take from her. Way to climb the ladder, Jessica.

  It wasn’t the whole city of Golden, Colorado who’d burst into Winthrop & Dirledge Security Banking a week ago and tried to wrest a stupid gold coin and a fae man and maybe even control of the bank itself from Jessica’s grasp. Just the unlucky thirteen cult members of the Requiem—whoever they were—and another nameless squad of seriously misguided magicals who also knew Leandras. Or thought they did. Jessica didn’t know the infuriating fae any better and hadn’t seen him once since they’d fought to protect the bank that afternoon. But she did know one thing for sure.

  She’d killed them all with the bank’s magic, the bodies disappeared, and now she was sitting here for a lunch date like it was just another day in the life.

  What was wrong with her?

  Nothing. She was the newest in an apparently long line of Winthrop & Dirledge’s owners. Her job was to run the witching vault. To protect the Gateway. And whatever the hell the Gateway was, she’d already made a stand to do just that, and she’d survived.

  Now she was here.

  The glass front door opened into the café, and Mel Thomas stepped inside with a hesitant smile, searching the tables along the wall. Jessica fought the urge to leap from her chair and barrel out of the place like her life depended on it.

  It didn’t. She’d been through life and death before. This was lunch with a friend. Time to pull herself together.

  Mel’s gaze landed on the far table in the corner where Jessica sat, and her eyes lit up with recognition, happiness, and surprise. Then she grinned and gave Jessica a hesitant little wave before crossing the café with an extra bounce in her step. “Jessica.”

  “Hey, Mel.” Jessica swallowed thickly but couldn’t look away as her friend approached and spread her arms. The chair scooted noisily back across the floor as Jessica stood, then she accepted the other woman’s hug and tried not to flinch away.

  Jessica was sure her friend didn’t actually want to hug her. This was just an attempt to be polite after a year and a half of absolutely nothing.

  Mel released her, her hands lingering on Jessica’s shoulders as she looked her over with wide blue eyes. “Wow. I can’t believe. This is…” A nervous laugh escaped her. “You look good, Jess.”

  They sat, and Jessica felt the weight of the bank’s pendant dipping away from her chest as she bent to pull in the chair behind her. Then it settled back into place again. No, she didn’t really believe she looked good. More like she’d end up looking like Tabitha by Christmas if things kept going the way they had been.

  “Thanks.” Jessica tried to smile and took a drink of her water instead, looking her friend over. “You changed your hair.”

  Mel laughed and swiped her wispy blonde bangs out of her face, the edges died with a light, barely visible pink before darkening into fuchsia on one side of her short, asymmetrical bob. “Yeah. Yeah I did.”

  “I like it.” Jessica cleared her throat and drank more water.

  “Thanks. It was just one of those things that felt right to do. You know, after…” Mel stopped herself, her mouth working open and closed as a blush almost the shade of her bangs crept into her cheeks. She chuckled and slipped her purse off her shoulder to hang it on the back of the chair. “Well, I liked it too. So I just keep going back to get it cut. The pink’s a fairly new addition.”

  “It’s definitely you.”

  “I think so too.”

  They stared at each other, and Jessica had to look away. This was a seriously bad idea. What the hell were they supposed to talk about? Mel wasn’t about to come right out with something like, ‘Hey, haven’t seen you since Mickey threw you under the bus for the rest of us, but now that you’re out of prison, how’s life?’

  Mel shifted in her seat and looked around the café. “This place is pretty new, huh?”

  “Well, it’s been here at least six months.”

  “Right. Well, it’s new for me.” Mel blinked at her, then turned in her chair to gaze around the half-full café. “Do we have to order at the counter, or…”

  “A server should be here. I think. Here.” Jessica grabbed a paper menu from the caddy on the table and laid it down in front of her friend, fighting hard not to down the rest of her water in two gulps.

  She might as well have been dying of thirst. Jesus, this was a bad idea.

  “Okay. We’ll wait.
” With a wry chuckle, Mel turned forward in her chair and folded her forearms on the table, leaning toward Jessica. She glanced briefly at the menu, then looked up. “So what are you doing now, Jess? What are you up to? I wanna hear all about it.”

  Jessica raised her eyebrows. “You do?”

  “Well, yeah. It’s been a long time. I… I’ve missed you.”

  Lowering her gaze to the table, Jessica ran her palms down her thighs and forced herself not to say the first thing that came to mind. That it was pretty damn convenient to miss a person when Jessica had been the one to reach out first. After a year and a half.

  “Jess?” Mel studied her face with a small frown.

  “Yeah, I—”

  “Welcome to Café 19.” A server in his late teens or early twenties with a full-length black apron stopped in front of their table and set down two sets of wrapped silverware. “How are you guys doing today?”

  “Great, thanks.” Mel flashed him a winning smile. “Hungry.”

  “Well, you came to the right place. My name’s Chuck. I’ll be taking care of you guys. Either of you want anything besides water?”

  Jessica sat back in her chair. Yeah, she’d take a handle of vodka and a Mindsweep spell.

  “Water’s fine for me,” Mel said sweetly.

  “Yeah, I’m good.”

  “Great. I’ll give you a few more minutes to look at the menu.” Chuck nodded, looked back and forth between them, then headed off for one of his other tables.

  Jessica puffed out a sigh.

  Mel stripped the paper off the straw beside her water glass and stuck it into her drink, but she didn’t seem all that interested in actually using it. She leaned forward over the table again and nodded. “I really did miss you, Jess. And I’m glad to see you looking so… Well, the last time we saw each other was just…”

  “Shitty?” Jessica offered her friend a crooked, humorless smile.

  The other woman licked her lips and glanced at the ceiling. “I was gonna say different, actually. But shitty works.”

  They both chuckled, more out of a tense discomfort than any real amusement.

  At least Mel wasn’t trying to cover it up. Screw the euphemisms.

  “We can forget about the last time we saw each other,” Jessica muttered.

  “Jess…”

  “No, really. I’m over it.” With a shrug, Jessica picked up her water and took another long drink. “It’s over and done with, right? I did my time so the rest of you wouldn’t have to, and now I’m out.”

  Mel leaned away from the table and wrapped her arms around herself like she was cold, despite the café cranking up the heat inside to make up for the autumn chill. “It’s not like Mickey gave any of us a choice. We were just as surprised as you were—”

  “Yeah, I know. Only my surprise shipped me off in spell-damp handcuffs, and everyone else walked away to keep making their own choices after that. I had all mine made for me for the next year.”

  Pressing her lips tightly together, Mel stared at her.

  Great. Jessica had taken the invitation for lunch and sat here now making her friend feel like shit for something that wasn’t her fault.

  She sighed and shook her head. “Sorry.”

  “You don’t have anything to be sorry about.” Mel pressed her fingertips down on the sides of the paper menu and slid it closer across the table. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Or at least not any worse than the rest of us.”

  Jessica snorted.

  “I just hope you don’t still blame yourself for what happened.”

  “No, I blame Mickey.” Jessica gritted her teeth when her friend looked sharply up at her and blinked in surprise. “A hundred percent.”

  “Yeah.” A tiny frown flickered across Mel’s brow. “Yeah, so do I.”

  Big bad boss wanted to take credit for everything else they did together. He should’ve taken the blame for what happened to them too.

  “You haven’t…” Mel swallowed. “…heard from him at all, have you?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Jessica huffed out a laugh, and Mel’s self-conscious smile looked more like a wince. “I haven’t seen that asshole since my hearing.”

  “He didn’t visit you?”

  “In prison?” Jessica scoffed. “Come on, Mel. I stopped meaning anything to him the second the cops showed up that night with my name on a warrant.”

  “I don’t know. I mean, he kinda seemed pretty torn up about it—”

  “Don’t.” Clenching her fists, Jessica folded her arms and sat back in her chair. “Whatever he seemed, none of it was real. You know that.”

  “Yeah. I guess.”

  “He ruined my life. Not like I didn’t do anything to deserve it. We all knew the risks. But Mickey didn’t have to give them my name. He chose it. And I think he just wanted to get back at me for Rufus.”

  “Rufus was an accident,” Mel whispered harshly, leaning forward over the table again and glancing quickly at the other patrons of the café. Of course nobody gave a crap about two witches sitting at a table for a walk down memory lane. “Everyone knows that. Including Mickey.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Jessica ran a hand through her long dark hair and cocked her head. “Didn’t stop him from making his choice.”

  Tears shimmered in Mel’s blue eyes, and she blinked quickly as if to hold them back as she stared intently at Jessica. “None of us held that against you back then. I can’t speak for the others anymore, but I still don’t hold it against you. You have to know that.”

  “I do.” That didn’t make it easier to let herself off the hook, though. “I really hope you didn’t ask me out to lunch to talk about Rufus. So let’s not, okay?”

  Mel searched her friend’s face. “Have you talked to anyone about it? After, I mean.”

  “No, Mel.” Jessica frowned. “You shouldn’t either.”

  “Jessica, he was—”

  “I know what he was. To both of us.” Jessica leaned forward over the table, trying to lower her voice despite the anger and resentment building inside her all over again. “I spent a year in MJ Pen, and that place isn’t exactly a five-star resort.”

  “I’m just—”

  “You just think it would’ve been a good idea for me to sit down with a magical shrink and spill my guts out about the whole thing? To what? Get it off my chest? They would’ve pinned me with two murders on top of everything else—”

  “You guys ready to order, or do you still need a few minutes?” The server grinned down at them, his pen and notepad at the ready.

  Both witches turned slowly to look up at him, and his smile faded a little.

  Jessica gestured curtly toward the menu. “Yeah, I’ll have the soup and half a sandwich. Grilled cheese.”

  “Great. Our soup of the day is—”

  “Sounds good. Thanks.” Jessica sat back in her chair and downed the rest of her water. Nothing about this was a good idea.

  “And…for you?”

  “Caesar salad with chicken.” Mel’s smile was tight and painful-looking. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll have those right out.” Chuck dipped his head and practically scampered away when Jessica shot him a warning glance.

  Mel brushed her bangs out of her face again and let out a long, heavy sigh. “You’re right. I didn’t think that through.”

  Jessica huffed out a laugh. “Why would you? For you, being locked up is just one of those far-off possibilities. Not something that actually happens.”

  No, that shit was reserved just for her.

  Mel bit her bottom lip and frowned. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “It’s not, really. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Dipping her head toward the straw in her glass, Mel blinked furiously and gulped down half the water without coming up for air.

  She’d better think of something pretty damn quick. This lunch was about to end up in the toilet.

  “So what about you?” Jessica asked.

&nb
sp; Mel jerked her head up and swallowed thickly. “What about me?”

  “Come on. Your turn. What’s going on with you these days?”

  “My turn.” The pink-haired witch snorted. “If we’re sharing stories about the present instead of the past, Jess, you haven’t even started.”

  “All right, fine.” Jessica sat back in her chair with a smirk. “You go first.”

  It would probably be a lot easier for both of them if Mel didn’t have to follow up after what could only be described as the most ludicrous two weeks of Jessica’s life. Including the four years she spent working for Mickey Hargraves and his insatiable need for more.

  If she ever even decided to tell the other witch about the bank.

  “Okay.” Mel tossed her hair out of her eyes. “What do you wanna know?”

  “Everything. Duh.” They both chuckled, and Jessica felt the tightness that had clamped around her chest since she’d sat down at this table loosen just a little. “When I called you last week, you had someone with you. A guy.”

  “Oh. No…”

  Jessica raised her eyebrows. “Start with that.”

  “We don’t have to get into all that.”

  “So he’s not a part of your life?”

  Mel stared at her old friend with the barest hint of a smile. It was the exact same smile Jessica had seen more times than she could count—right before they headed off with the others to pull off one of Mickey’s new jobs. The sight of it made Jessica’s stomach clench.