The Ex Hex (Ex Hex #1)(74)

It was like trying to push a boulder uphill, and there was something pushing back. Whether it was the remains of the Penhallow magic or the curse itself, Vivi didn’t know, but she pushed just as hard right back, feeling sweat break out on her brow as she concentrated.

And then she heard Gwyn cry, “It’s working!”

Opening her eyes, Vivi looked down at the ley lines, watching as purple light sparked, strengthened, the black sludge receding, and she held on tighter to her aunt and her cousin, thinking of Aelwyd, thinking of Piper McBride, even thinking of the college witches, all of whom had power and just as much of a claim to the magic of Graves Glen as anyone.

There was a sudden flash of light, so bright that Vivi gasped, dropping Gwyn’s and Elaine’s hands to cover her eyes, and then, just as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone, leaving her vision a little distorted and dazzled.

But in front of her on the cave floor, the lines ran straight and clear and purple, humming now.

“Rhiannon’s tits,” Gwyn breathed, and then turned to Vivi with a blinding smile. “You did it!”

“We did it,” Vivi corrected, and then threw her arms around both Gwyn and Elaine, laughing even as tears sprang to her eyes.

“I love you girls,” Elaine said, dabbing at her own eyes. “And now promise me you will never, ever mix vodka with witchcraft again.”

“Solemnly swear,” Gwyn said immediately, and Vivi nodded.

“Lesson more than learned, trust me.”

“So . . . it seems like I won’t die?”

They turned to see Rhys poking his head in the cave, and Gwyn pointed at him.

“Hair still does The Thing.”

“It does,” Vivi agreed, earning her a wink from Rhys before he jerked his thumb at the entrance of the cave.

“In that case, can we get out of here? Uncursed or not, this is not where I’d like to spend what’s left of Halloween.”





Chapter 34




Vivienne was glowing as they drove back into town, and Rhys had trouble keeping his eyes on the road and not on her.

“It was just like . . . like there was a river inside me, only the river was magic, and I could feel it, actually feel it as it left my hands, like whoosh,” she enthused, gesturing with both hands, her cheeks pink, her eyes bright, and Rhys laughed.

“So you’ve said, cariad, so you’ve said.”

Dropping her hands, Vivienne grinned at him. “Sorry. I’m getting a little overexcited, aren’t I?”

“I mean, you saved an entire town and my life with your magic,” he reminded her. “You’re allowed.”

Tipping her head back against the seat, Vivienne laughed again. “I did. I did that. I am a certified badass witch.”

“The baddest of asses,” Rhys agreed, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, “and also possibly a little Magic Drunk.”

“That is a distinct possibility, yes,” she agreed, and then smiled at him again, a smile Rhys felt warm every inch of him.

He was more than a little euphoric himself. Cheating death had that effect on a man, and even though he wasn’t sure how his father was going to take the news that Graves Glen was no longer Penhallow territory, he didn’t really care right now. That was a problem for Future Rhys, and surely that cheeky bugger would be able to work it out.

Vivi suddenly reached over, grabbing his arm.

“Pull over.”

Rhys eyed her suspiciously. “You’re not going to vomit, are you?”

“Ew, no,” she said, pulling a face, then pointing out the windshield. “Right there.”

Rhys followed her instructions, bringing the car to a stop on a dirt pull-in at the edge of a hillside, looking down into a valley. The moon was bright enough that he could just make out the field below them, the surrounding hills dark shapes against the navy-blue sky.

“This is where we met,” she said softly. “The summer solstice. Right down there in that field.”

Rhys had known that from the moment he’d parked the car. He remembered those hills, remembered sitting with her and looking up at them, remembered that flower crown that sat crooked on her hair, and her sweet smile.

“Can I tell you a secret?” she asked, her voice quiet, her mood a little more subdued.

“It’s not that you didn’t actually reverse the curse, and you’ve brought me here to kick me off this hillside, is it?”

She laughed, lower this time, her hair brushing her shoulders as she shook her head. “I loved that summer,” she said. “I held it up as this perfect, wonderful moment, and told myself it’s only because it was a first, you know? First magical rite I ever went to, first summer of college, first boy I ever fell in love with.”

When she turned to him, her eyes were filled with something Rhys couldn’t name, but whatever it was, it warmed his chest, his heart.

God, he loved her.

“But this time was even better,” she said, leaning in close. And then she smiled.

“May I kiss you?”

Rhys’s heart jerked almost painfully against his ribs. “Now?”

“I’m open to whatever your schedule allows.”

“Well, lucky for you, I am currently free as fuck,” he replied, and she laughed as he pulled her in, clambering over the seat so that she could straddle his lap.