Bewitched on Bourbon Street Read Online Free PDF Page A

thing I knew, I had one of the bottles cradled in my palm. The cool air of the shop caressed my skin, soothing me, as I undid the top.
    A sweet wisteria fragrance permeated the air. The stress of the day faded away, and I could no longer remember, nor care, why I was at Bea’s shop. The only thing that mattered was the potion. A thirst overwhelmed me, and my mouth watered. Nothing had ever smelled so good.
    Just one taste. That was all I needed.
    Tipping my head back, I lifted the bottle to my lips and—
    “Jade!” Bea’s stern voice echoed through the shop.
    I jerked, spilling the contents down the front of my dress. The fog clouding my judgment lifted, and I shook my head, trying to get my bearings.
    Bea stared at the bottle still clutched in my hand. “What were you doing?”
    “I…” I glanced around, frowning. Then I focused on the potion bottle and dropped it as if it had burned me. The remainder of the liquid splashed onto the floor. “Omigod. I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.”
    Bea’s eyes narrowed. “You were spelled?”
    “Maybe.” My hands shook, and it pissed me off. I was stronger than that, dammit. “I was intent on drinking the fertility potion, but I don’t know why.”
    “It’s the curse, most likely,” Lailah said as she crossed the room with a roll of paper towels and floor cleaner in her hands. “It wants your child, and the potion is a way to speed up the process.”
    My heart stuttered in my chest. “You mean I’m going to start doing things that will result in a pregnancy, even if I want to avoid one?”
    “It’s possible,” Bea said, her tone raspy as if she hadn’t slept the night before. She cleared her throat. “Lailah didn’t cast the spell on you. At least there’s no evidence to support that theory, since the potion on her lab table has no traces of black magic.”
    Too afraid to help Lailah clean up for fear I’d go into another potion-drinking trance, I frowned and joined Bea near the counter. “Then why did the spell target the potion?”
    “It’s angel magic,” Lailah said.
    “What?” I spun around and stared at her open mouthed.
    “The curse. It’s angel magic.” Lailah stood up, clutching the wet paper towels in one hand. “I bet you anything that’s why it went after the last thing I worked on.”
    I braced myself against the counter, clutching the edge so hard that pain seized my fingers. “Angels use black magic?”
    She pursed her lips. “Only as a last resort. If one is that desperate, the angel usually ends up falling, you know? But the remnants of the revelation spell Bea cast are still in there. I felt it clear as day. There’s a pureness to it that could’ve only come from an angel.”
    Well, wasn’t that just the cherry on this shit show of a day? I was already a slave to the high angel, at her beck and call, and now one of her minions had cursed me. Wanted my child for some nefarious activity. “Can you tell who?”
    She shook her head. “No. Someone who wants power, though, that’s obvious.”
    Bea reached behind her desk and pulled out a notebook. “Is there dissent among the council?”
    Lailah shrugged. “No more so than usual as far as I know. But if anyone else is investigating Chessandra, then maybe.”
    A heavy foreboding weighed in my soul. Chessandra was the high angel, and for months she’d been overstepping her authority. In addition to almost getting her sister killed while trying to seal a demon portal, Chessandra had sent a group of angels on a dangerous mission to the shadows, and Lailah suspected she was the reason another angel, Avery, was missing. For the past two months, Lailah had been looking for the missing angel while investigating Chessandra. So far no luck.
    No one had dirt on the high angel. But if someone else was going after her, they’d need all the power they could get. I ground my teeth. “You don’t think Chessandra did this, do you?”
    “Why would she?” Bea asked.
    I shrugged.