Page 194 of Sky’s Edge

“To be sure, they’d underestimate the females,” Aleece said bitterly.

“Okay, you should know, I got really angry at Aleksei when he told me what Bainon did to you,” Laura announced.

“And full disclosure, I learned about it too, only recently,” I put in. “And Tanyn was just bottom line angry Bainon did it.”

“Aleksei was too,” Laura added. “It was simply…he didn’t feel he could intervene between mates.”

“Same with Tanyn,” I said.

“I’m not mad at you guys,” Aleece told us, and focused on Laura. “Though, I am at Aleksei. He’s my brother.”

Laura grimaced in solidarity.

Oh my Laura, stuck between the male she loved and the overall sisterhood, not a good place to be.

“Mostly, I’m pissed as shit at Bainon,” Aleece went on. “I mean, what the actual fuck?” she turned to Zyra and mumbled, “Sorry about the language.”

“You’ve a right to be upset, lass,” Zyra said. “And no one has a right to ask you to temper it, especially not so soon after learning of this. Also”—she grinned—“that’s one of my favorite words.”

This had all of us laughing, some of us more freely than others, but we laughed. Even Gayle.

“Well, I’m in to suss out a spy,” Gayle said. “It’ll take my mind off things.”

“Mac is such a total ass,” Aleece mumbled to her plate before shoving more egged toast smothered in syrup in her mouth.

“Aleksei’s determined to get him to back off,” Laura shared.

“I’ve ordered a spell,” Gayle announced.

And again, that got all our attention.

“You’ve what?” Laura asked.

“It cost a fortune,” Gayle said. “But…this has to stop. The way I feel. I can’t concentrate on work. And now, I’m away again. I might lose my job. I mean, they’re being cool. It doesn’t happen often that an employee is fated to the prince and future king of an entire realm. And two of my bosses are already mated, so they get it. But there’s only so many times I can disappear to another realm.”

“So you’ve…ordered a spell?” Aleece forced out.

As she would.

There were ritualistic spells that witches conjured, but they’d been doing those for centuries, so ordering those up was commonplace, and it was very rare any of them went awry.

There were other spells that were downright illegal. For instance, love and revenge spells. But for the right price, and if you were able to access the wrong witch, you could still get them. However, if it was found you did something like that, the penalties were pretty severe—for the witch and the customer.

Then there were other spells that could be iffy, if the witch wasn’t well-trained and experienced. Like, if you wished to lose weight, a witch could spell you to lose interest in food. Or if you had a test to study for, a witch could give you a spell so you’d stay awake and alert. There were also environmental spells, like you lived in a noisy area of the city and wanted to block out the noise so you could sleep.

Or, apparently, if you wanted to dampen the link you had to your fated mate.

As such, it wasn’t verboten to go to a witch, and if they spellcast for a living, they had to be accredited, and the accreditation process, to my understanding, was thorough.

It was still widely considered reckless, unless the spell was lowkey.

“I’m sorry,” Gayle said, perhaps misreading Aleece’s reaction. “That was insensitive, since you’ve been living under one unknowingly for forever.”

Oh yes.

Then there was that.

It was illegal to cast a spell on someone without their permission.