Dark Secrets - Linsey Hall Page 0,27
If the boss was so dangerous, and she worked for him…
I desperately needed her help—Mac and Seraphia needed her help—but I couldn’t help worrying about her.
Madame Duvoir waved her hand. “Don’t fret. I do what I want.”
“Come on.” Neve scaled the ladder.
I followed her, with Grey bringing up the rear.
Madame Duvoir’s place was a large, open space and dimly lit, outfitted with Bohemian décor.
“This way.” Madam Duvoir led us toward a round table.
We sat, and she leaned forward, eyes gleaming with interest. “So, what do you have for me?”
I pulled the book out of my bag, along with the two locks of hair. I put them on the table in front of her and told her the tale.
Her expression was impassive as she listened. When I finished, she looked at Grey. “And you’re cursed, too?”
“My memory has been modified.”
“Could be a spell,” she said. “Not as degenerative as a curse, but it would get the job done.”
“Can you determine what it is?” he asked.
“For the right price.”
“Which is?”
She named a number that made my brows go up. It had more zeros than I usually saw in a year, but Grey just nodded. “It will be transferred immediately.”
She pursed her lips and stared at him.
He smiled blandly and raised his wrist to his lips, speaking into his comms charm. “Miranda, could you transfer fifty thousand pounds to the account of Madame Duvoir in Magic Side, Chicago?”
“Immediately, sir.”
“Excellent.” Madame Duvoir said. “Everyone knows how efficient your Miranda is.”
“Indeed.”
“Now, let’s see this book.” Madam Duvoir pulled it across the table and flipped it open. She reached for the two locks of hair as well, frowning as she touched them. “You said these are cursed?”
“Yes.”
“They’re not cursed.”
“Yes, they are.” Confusion pulled at me. “Mac and Seraphia were surrounded by the same shadows that hovered around the city wall. Then they became ill.”
“It’s not a curse. I would feel it.”
“Try harder.” Frustration surged through my veins.
“Mind your manners.” Madame Duvoir glared. “I’m never wrong.”
“The book.” Grey’s tone was soothing, and he gripped my hand under the table. Gently, as if he were trying to soothe me as well.
It didn’t work. Much.
But I could see his point. We needed whatever info we could get out of Madame Duvoir. I could grill her on Mac and Seraphia once we had more.
Madame Duvoir leaned over the book, studying it, absorbing it. She breathed deeply through her nose and stared at it with a dagger glare. “This is definitely cursed.”
“But not the same curse that’s on Mac and Seraphia?” I asked.
“Like I said, they aren’t cursed.”
It made no freaking sense, but I pressed my lips together and waited.
Madame Duvoir held out a hand to Grey. “May I?”
“Yes.”
She touched his free hand, closed her eyes, and focused. “You are cursed as well. The curse is similar to the one on this book.”
“And therefore, similar to the curse on the wall,” Grey said. “They feel identical.”
Madame Duvoir nodded. “I’m going to look into this more closely.”
She rose and carried the book to a table on the far side of the room, which was covered in a variety of crystals and silver tools.
Placing the book in the center of the table, she circled it with a ring of red powder, lit two pale green candles, whispered an incantation, and blew them out. The smoke was much thicker than it should have been. Trails of it spiraled toward the book in strange patterns. Madame Duvoir turned to us, her eyes gleaming with interest. “You’ve got quite the problem on your hands.”
I leaned toward her. “Who cast the curse?”
“That, I cannot tell you, but it was likely a sorcerer, given the type of magic. However, I do know how you can break it.”
Elation surged through me. “That will save my friends.”
“They’re not cursed, honey.”
Irritation prickled my skin, followed by the chill of fear.
Grey’s grip on my hand tightened, bringing me back to myself before I snapped.
“If you can break the curse on the wall, you might learn more about your friends’ situation,” Madame Duvoir continued. “And you may fix the Devil’s memory as well.”
“You can’t break the curse on my mind?” Grey asked.
“I cannot. Messing around with minds is beyond my power. But I can give you a spell to break the curse on the city wall. From there, you are likely to find more clues.”
Even if that was all we’d get from her, it was still a lot.
Madame Duvoir scribbled something on a piece of paper, then collected a small bag of crystals