I stepped toward her suddenly, and she flinched, her perfect bob swinging over her shoulders. “I’ve always wanted to ask you.” My voice trembled with emotion. “How did you find out I was a shifter anyway?”
She recoiled a little at the word “shifter.”
I sniffed. She couldn’t even bear to hear me say it. “Peeping through my windows?”
She looked up at that and met my gaze. She straightened her spine and glared at me. “You know, before you came along, Zale and I were close. He was about to ask me out. Then you started here, Miss Perfect!” She leaned across the desk and jabbed a slender finger at me. “I didn’t steal Zale—you did!”
I smirked and gestured at my wrinkled and stained outfit. “Well, clearly that Miss Perfect ship has sailed.” I crossed my arms and shook my head at her. “You must be so happy now that I’m out of the way.”
She lifted her little chin. “You know what? I am.” Her throat bobbed as she looked me up and down. “Though… I never thought you’d fall so low.”
I nodded. “Great, thanks.”
Her eyes darted to her desk, then back to my face. She smoothed her pencil skirt. “I just meant….” She licked her lips and looked at me with an earnestness that took me off guard. “I didn’t intend for this to happen to you. I just wanted Zale back… and for the company to see you weren’t the perfect little lawyer you pretended to be.”
I stuck a hip out, bristling at her comment. “You know, I only had to pretend to be something I wasn’t because of people like you, who’d use what I am against me. Being a shifter had nothing to do with my abilities as a lawyer—I earned every opportunity I got here through hard work.” I shook my head at her. “You know, if you’d spent half as much time and energy becoming a better lawyer—and person, while you were at it—as you did concocting that heinous curse you used on me”—I raised my brows—“You probably would’ve been the one getting the promotion.” I threw my hands up. “And who knows, Zale probably, too. He clearly moved on pretty quickly.” I threw a hand at the diamond engagement ring on her finger.
She looked down, then hastily covered it with her other hand. She kept her eyes down and her slender shoulders hiked toward her ears. “I—I didn’t make the curse.”
I snorted. “Oh all right, I’m sure that must’ve been a harrowing journey to the night market to buy it then. It’s where I live now, but you know—”
“If I knew what the curse was, I’d tell you.”
My mouth grew dry. “What?”
Her nostrils flared and her chest heaved, but she looked me straight in the eyes. “I—I didn’t know it’d take your powers. I didn’t even know, before I threw it on you and you—you turned, that you were a shifter.”
I’d momentarily transformed into an owl that night, right in front of the whole firm. This was a frankness I hadn’t expected from her. I was momentarily thrown off-balance.
“Then how do you know I’m powerless?”
She sighed and slumped into the leather chair behind the desk—the one I used to sit in. I moved a few steps closer.
“The night you came to my townhouse, I saw you struggling with things you could’ve just magicked, like climbing over gate. I knew then, but I hadn’t known ahead of time.”
She lifted her palms and looked at me, almost imploringly. “The guy just said it’d give me everything I wanted—Zale, the promotion, a raise, recognition—I didn’t know it’d leave you so powerless and ruin your life.”
Thoughts raced through my mind. I was too upset for several moments to even know what to say. I paced in front of the desk, opening my mouth several times to speak before words would form. “You used a curse on me without even knowing what it was? And that’s supposed to be an excuse?” I whirled on her. “It could’ve killed me for all you knew, don’t act like you cared!”
Her chin quivered.
I frowned. “And whatguy?”
She shook her head. “I, uh—I don’t know who he was. He came to me one night when I walking home alone. It was dark, and I’d popped by the pub after work and wasn’t totally lucid.”
I arched a brow.
“I’d never seen him before, and I’ve never seen him after. He gave me the potion, told me to use it on you, and—he disappeared.”
I shook my head, winding up to tell her off, but I didn’t seem able to think of words strong enough. I bit my lip and resumed my pacing. I glanced over at her and sneered. “Well, I hope you and Zale are happy together—at least until he finds out what you did.”
Eve’s chin quivered harder, and tears tracked down her cheeks. “He knows.” Her voice came out quiet but it hit me like she’d shouted in my ear.
I spluttered, aghast. “What?” My ex knew she’d cursed me, could’ve killed me even, and didn’t care? Wow. I couldn’t believe I’d ever thought he’d cared about me.
She dropped her head into her hands and stared down at the stack of paper in front of her. “I told him. When things started getting serious, I couldn’t take the guilt anymore. I told him and he—he took some time to think about it, but he eventually understood.”
I licked my lips, my entire body thrumming with so many strong emotions I could hardly stand still. “Let me get this straight—he knows you ruined my life with a curse some guy down an alley gave you and he’s okay with it?” Did he ever have real feelings for me? “So glad you finally found your conscience.”
She jerked her head up out of her hands and leveled me with a teary look. “I’m sorry, Jolene.” Her throat bobbed and her voice trembled, but she wrangled it under control enough to speak
