My Forbidden Desire by Carolyn Jewel Page A

left. It’s impossible to know its condition until it’s too late. But if we live through it, we honor the one whose body died. Their magic lives in us. With us.”
    “You’ve done that?”
    He laid his knife across his lap, and his gaze unfocused again. The pit of her stomach turned cold. He stroked the knife from hilt to tip. “No.”
    “But you intend to.” With her amulet. She realized she was stroking the carving through her shirt.
    “Yes.”
    How did she even begin to address this? “I… I didn’t know. I didn’t know what this was.”
    “I know,” he said.
    She felt about an inch high. “Even if I wanted to, Xia, I couldn’t trap someone’s magic in a can of tuna fish.”
    His head swiveled until they were looking at each other again. “You’re still a witch.”
    “My magic doesn’t work.”
    He gave her a dismissive look. “The talisman is changing that.”
    “No, it’s not.”
    “That thing’s working on your magic. I can feel it. Sooner or later, you’ll be pulling just like Daddy.”
    “No,” she said. Her heart shriveled to dust. “I refuse to accept that. For me, it’s just a bit of carved rock. That’s all. It doesn’t do anything.” That was a lie, though, wasn’t it? The talisman had done something to her. Or did she have a nonmagical explanation for her inability to take off the amulet? She pulled the amulet from under her shirt. The stone leopard stared at her with lifeless eyes. “Rock,” she said, more to herself than to Xia. “Nothing but a carved rock. Maybe there used to be something in there, but there’s not anymore.” She was rationalizing, and that made her feel dirty. Actions had consequences, sometimes, oftentimes, unintended ones, and consequences ought to be faced. “Whatever it was, it’s gone.”
    She knew as well as he did that she didn’t believe that. Not really. He leaned toward her. “Take it off.”
    “Bet you say that to all the girls.”
    “Come on, Alexandrine Marit.” He gave her a look. She knew better than to think he meant anything sexual by it, but she still had a sexual reaction. “If it’s just some carved rock, take it off for me, baby.”
    Denial rose up, swift and hot and burning. The damn thing wasn’t magical, if it ever had been. And yet she couldn’t make her hands move to the cord that held the talisman. Right now, this minute, she believed to her core that taking it off meant she’d die. And that was just plain crazy, because she hadn’t thought that thirty seconds ago. Alexandrine slid off her chair but grabbed its top rail when her legs wobbled. “Why is that?” she whispered. She hadn’t felt any of this happening to her. “Why can’t I take it off?”
    “Because you’re a witch,” he said. “The talisman has been leaking into you for months. Changing you so slowly you never noticed what was happening.”
    “No.” With anger and terror mixing into sheer nerve, she yanked on the thong. The leather bit into the nape of her neck, cutting her. The pain was a relief that cut into her panic. The leather broke with a faint snap and a scrape along her skin. She heaved it at Xia with everything she had in her.
    She watched the talisman arc through the air. And she saw Xia catch the leather thong. The amulet spun from the end, dark then light, dark then light. The breath in her lungs froze. Her skin prickled. Fire flashed in her head, and the heat grew until she was convinced she was going to go up in flames. Every inch of her body burned. A shudder ripped through her, and on its heels came more searing heat. Just like that, the amulet was back in her hand.
    From the bed, Xia said, “Don’t ever tell me again you’re not a fucking witch.”
    “I didn’t do that.” But there the amulet was, on her palm, with the two ends of the broken thong dangling toward the floor.
    “Put it back on,” he said.
    “I don’t want it.” Her voice trembled. “I don’t want it near me. It’s horrible.” She fought back