A raven-haired worshiper of the Titans--Hekate and Nyx--is determined to save her lover from an ancient curse, she must prove to him that life is worth living and that being a werewolf has its perks.
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First of all, I'm so excited to be at the halfway point to getting to 1000 reads. Thank you guys so much for coming this far and enduring the weight of Lycius and Rhea's feelings for each other. Now on with the chapter!
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"The patchwork was shoddy, but with some fine-tuning (if I can call it that) I'll be able to seal together holes in my clothes by sewing them up with dark magic. Ha! I love calling it that. Makes housework seem like I'm doing dark bidding. Alex gets mad whenever I use it and says I'm cheating."
I chuckled and ran my finger down the page, tracing the letters my mother had drawn. If I could get this right perhaps some paintings would be salvaged with a little bit of dark magic. Memories of her brown fingers darkening to a midnight black, as they carefully handled a chore with her shadows, made me so proud that I had been able to achieve the same look. Such a small and insignificant part of the role as a Hellenic witch and yet it summoned the memory of my mother and me digging a hole in the woods to make an offering to the goddess Hekate. Where compared the colours of our skin, the turquoise that ran through her black skin and the violets that would glimmer through mine like stardust.
There were no grim robes, rows of candles, or even a blade to cut open our hands to my disappointment. It was a mother and a daughter in jeans and hoodies with a shovel, a jar of honey, some wafers, frankincense, and a cake. Sometimes the traditional amphiphon cheesecake but on occasion, a nice chocolate mud cake would just as easily do the trick. She drilled in the rules when we came down for the rituals. The biggest one was that you had to walk with intention, with confidence and have no doubts. Never look back the moment you enter the forest. Never look over your shoulder when you're digging the pit even when you feel like someone is there watching you. If it was someone nefarious, Hekate would be watching too.
It was nothing like the movies.
'We only offer blood in dire emergencies,' she had said. 'Otherwise, cake is good. Cake is always good.' I had also learnt that Hekate really liked garlic. I had never felt more connected to a primordial woman before.
If we wanted to acknowledge Nyx, Mum would bring down a nice expensive bottle of wine. She wouldn't put it in the pit...
Actually, I'm not sure what she did with the wine.
Arianna had come with us only once, as she was too fussy when we ventured into the cold night so late. And yet no matter how many times we told her not to look back, her eyes would focus on every shift and shuffling of the night and would cry every day we went without her.
"The first trial was a disaster! When I tried to patch up Alex's dress the darkness spread like it wanted to eat up the fabric. Alex hates me now, but honestly, I think it's an improvement. The peach tones didn't do her skin tone any favours."
It was weird to see my mother mention Theia Alexandra as a beloved sister. She didn't quite describe her affectionately—or more affectionately than I do of my own—however, she implied they were close and that is not the vibe I ever got from Theia herself. My mother was the only magic user in the family and she struggled because of it. She was all alone before she met my dad, another mere mortal who was a wizard with technology and a very bad poet according to the collection of letters in the back pocket of her journal.
