“I need to talk to you about the spell you performed on Henrik and I.”
There were a few beats of silence, and then her mother took in a deep breath before sighing. “Well... that’s... certainly a way to start a conversation.”
“We could have had a delightfully boring conversation filled with pleasantries first if you had answered your phone when I called a few days ago, but given how I set my bed on fire last week, I—”
“Youwhat? Violet, how—”
“Like I said: what spell did you perform?”
Her mother was silent for a few minutes, which worried her. Normally, if her mother was going to keep something from her, she would speak in a riddle or a story. It was always about maintaining an air of mystery, and never telling exactly the truth while also not lying. It was a skill Violet had never understood and had blindly trusted in her youth.
Now, as an adult, she hated it... which was why the silence was so worrying.
“It was a mistake.”
Violet paused, trying to figure out the hidden meaning in her mother’s words. Did she mean, perhaps, a miscalculation? An error? A misunderstanding? A flaw? Only four words, so, the hidden meaning had to be within the last one. A mistake. It was a mistake. The spell was a mistake. What could that mean?
“What do you mean by that? Do you mean you miscalculated the spell? Miscalculated the results? Was there a flaw in the spell? I don’t understand, and I have no mood for your riddles and games.”
“Performing the spell. It was a mistake.”
... Which meant her mother regretted it.
“Can it be undone?” Violet questioned next. That was the important part. Whether or not the spell itself could be undone. Whether or not it was even possible. Was she supposed to live the rest of her life dreaming of a man she could never have? With her magic going haywire?
“I made a mistake.” Her mother’s voice was eerily calm and quiet, as though a whisper. Mabel never admitted to making mistakes. Everything in life was a lesson, and if an error was made, a lesson could be learned from it. Calling something she had done a mistake rather than a lesson?
“Why was it a mistake? Why do you keep saying that?”
“I took a risk, and you have to know I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“Mother?”
“It’s not normal or natural for a wolf and a witch to be bonded. I know I told you it was rare, when you told me he already knew, but I hoped he was wrong. I needed him to be wrong. I mean, we’d all known it since the two of you were little, but Violet… A witch and a wolf? Yes, you’re both of nature and of the earth, but you are meant to sink your nails into it and to become a part of the elements, while he is meant to roam and defend it. The two of you together—”
“What did you do?” Her mother’s words were almost painful to hear, and Violet’s heart broke as she spoke, even her voice cracking a little. “You said it would be okay! We trusted you! Henrik trusted you!”
“I just wanted to buy you time, until you were older! Wolves and humans... it happens sometimes, but they’re always older, so the drive... that mating instinct, it’s normal at their age. And with two wolves, it’s never until the second one shifts, when they’re older. Sometimes, when it’s two of the same gender, one will be delayed, normally the older one. I hoped, since Henrik was older than you, he wouldn’t shift for a few years, to give you time, but he came back the next morning, and—”
Violet could remember the next morning so clearly. He had come straight to her doorstep and picked her up, a grin spread across his face. He had said the words she longed to hear—that she was it for him, they were soulmates, and they would spend their lives together.
Ten minutes later, they were out in a field, casting a spell her mother insisted would help. And after it was done, any time they touched... a small bit of pain, to remind them to keep separate.
“Henrik is here,” Violet breathed out, unbelieving of her next words. “My soulmate found me after fifteen years, and when he touched me, the pain was agonizing, and literally flames burst up.”
She was eerily calm as she spoke, but then, reality set in. There was likely no way to break the spell. Likely nothing she could do to change it. Nothing she could do...
“I’m so sorry,” her mother gasped, her voice cracking a little. Violet could hear the tears in her words, but they didn’t help any. “I’ll... I’ll ask around. See what anyone thinks. We’ll figure something out.”
“Forget it,” Violet snapped. “I think you’ve done enough.”
Hanging up the phone, Violet stared at the electronic in her hand, trying to remind herself to breathe.
A spell that was untested on two paranormal entities, resulting in years of pain and loneliness and loss of their powers... all because her mother was, what, afraid of teen pregnancy? If they had even given into their desires, which... wasn’t a given, seeing as how, despite years of being close, they had never gone beyond a few cheek kisses before the night of his first Full Moon.
Her mother had made a mistake... and it was costing Violet her future.
She set down the phone carefully, then looked around the room, and screamed.