Flour, Eggs, Sugar and Magic
Author: Daniel de Lorne
Date: 2019-12-02 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Holiday; Romance; M M Romance; Contemporary; Christmas; Gay; Magic; Lgbt; Paranormal
Description: A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2019 Advent Calendar collection Homemade for the Holidays. Wannabe witch Will Brand’s attempts at making magic cookies for the kids at a local shelter go awry when his ex-boyfriend messages and turns Will’s good energy to anger. Will has no idea there’s anything wrong with the cookies until his hunky roommate, Lucas, scarfs three of them, cursing himself with bad luck, unfettered hate, and ill health. In a race against time, Will must find a way to break the spell before accidents, ex-lovers, and a sudden illness make this Christmas Lucas’s last. Cover Artis
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Table of Contents

Blurb

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Text

About the Author

By Daniel de Lorne

Visit Dreamspinner Press

Copyright

Flour, Eggs, Sugar, and Magic

By Daniel de Lorne

Wannabe witch Will Brand’s attempts at making magic cookies for the kids at a local shelter go awry when his ex-boyfriend messages and turns Will’s good energy to anger. Will has no idea there’s anything wrong with the cookies until his hunky roommate, Lucas, scarfs three of them, cursing himself with bad luck, unfettered hate, and ill health. In a race against time, Will must find a way to break the spell before accidents, ex-lovers, and a sudden illness make this Christmas Lucas’s last.

To my dear friend Dion, whose passion for food and cooking is truly inspirational (and as far as I know he’s never poisoned anyone).

Acknowledgments

MANY THANKS to TJ Nichols, Nikki Logan, and Glen Lo for their invaluable feedback.

WILLIAM BRAND had all the ingredients laid out in front of him. The oven was heating, and the sacred circle—though a little shaky—covered him, the kitchen counter, and the oven. The protective sphere would contain the magic he raised, intensifying it like sunlight through a magnifying glass and imbuing the space with power and intent. But the magic seemed the easy part.

Making three types of cookies was the bigger challenge.

He measured out cups of brown and white sugar into three separate bowls, whisked in melted butter, eggs, and vanilla essence, then sifted flour and baking soda, all done while checking the recipe multiple times before adding the next ingredient. They were just cookies, but his past baking experiences hadn’t always been successful, and these had to be perfect. Not only because he wanted his gift to the kids at the Rainbow Shelter in Eugene to be edible, but because he wasn’t sure if the magic he put in them would be effective if they crumbled.

He focused, sweat dripping down his back even on this freezing December day. It was Winter Solstice, holiday of rebirth and renewal, but also the shortest day of the year and the longest night. Darkness abounded, spirits roamed, and the temperature plummeted. Getting to the store had been a test of endurance. Like Christmas, the Solstice celebration involved gift-giving. He figured there’d be more power if he made the gifts by hand, rather than grabbing premade cookies off the shelf.

In the first bowl he added cocoa and chocolate chips, in the second peanut butter and peanuts, and in the third rolled oats and raisins, but the magical ingredient would make all the difference. Double chocolate for good luck, peanut butter—his favorite—for love, and oatmeal raisin for good health. Those kids needed—deserved—all three. No matter how much time he spent at the shelter, whether he was cleaning rooms, helping get residents into long-term accommodation, or just talking to them, he always wanted to do more. Working elsewhere as a waiter took up more hours than he cared for, but every spare moment, he was at the shelter. Especially at this time of the year.

He closed his eyes and centered himself with a few deep breaths. He couldn’t think about what the kids must be feeling with no home to go to over Christmas. He couldn’t think about how he’d be there on Christmas Day serving turkey and potatoes. He couldn’t think about how he’d be feeling as alone as they would this year. It took a couple more breaths to wrestle his mind into a safe stillness.

Then he was ready.

He stirred the ingredients clockwise, holding one word in his head per bowl—luck, love, or health—repeating it over and over, blocking out everything else. He went nine times around for each, scooped out twelve servings of each dough, and rolled them into balls. He placed them on parchment, holding his intention in his head as the trays filled—

His phone shrieked on the counter, shattering his focus and dragging his attention to the flash of his ex’s name on the screen. He scrunched his mouth and nose. What the hell did he want? If only Cal could see him now, messing around with magic. Four and a half years ago he’d shown Cal the spark he could make by rubbing his thumb and forefinger together and Cal dismissed it as static electricity. Cal didn’t understand how it felt jolting through Will’s body. Sure, that’s what electricity did, but it was more than that. It was something different, something he could do. Magic existed, but Cal called him crazy, and so Will stopped and lost the spark.

Along with everything else.

Cal left six months ago, but rage hummed through Will’s body at remembering how he’d allowed himself to be controlled and manipulated, how he’d bent to Cal’s will for so long while his so-called boyfriend charged through without a care.

The only care Cal ever had was for himself.

Power coursed through Will’s arms and into his palms as he rolled the dough. Righteous rebuttals to old arguments barreled through his head and found their release in the air streaming through his nostrils.

All those wasted years!

And Cal still hounded him, demanding repayment for tuition, rent, and groceries, and to hand over a box of stuff he left behind. Their roommate Lucas had taken possession of it months back and was meant to give it to Cal. Not his problem. Only there Cal was, invading his phone.

He clamped his hand tight and mashed the ball of dough until it oozed out of his fist. His ears prickled with the heat in the small kitchen, the hair on his skin raised in the localized power.

What was he doing?

He barked a harsh breath and peeled his hand open. He scraped the remains of the dough off his palm and reformed it into a ball. He couldn’t let Cal get to him, not now, not ever again. He was gone. He’d chosen to leave. Will cracked his neck, rolled his shoulders, and breathed easier. He put the ball of dough onto the tray, then reached over and flipped his phone, flicking it to silent. He’d deal with Cal later.

He refocused his intention on the cookies—the temperature in the kitchen now much higher with the oven at 375—and finished doling out the dough. He was nearly done, but there was one final piece of the spell to go. He held his hand over each tray, speaking aloud “Luck,” “Love,” and “Health.” Power flowed out of his outstretched hands and sealed the magic into the cookies, setting off a thrill that tingled over his scalp. He shivered, put the trays into the oven, and set the timer for ten minutes.

He took down the sacred circle, clapped to dispel the vestiges of the magic, and cleaned the kitchen. It soon filled with the smell of baked goodness, his heart rising out of its mellow mood.

The timer beeped, and he pulled the trays from the oven. His mouth watered at the mixed aromas, and the cookies looked so delicious he almost scoffed one right up, hot from the oven. Didn’t he deserve a little love too? But he refrained and left them to cool. He picked up a red apple from the counter, took a bottle of water from the refrigerator, and grabbed his phone. His lips crinkled as he reread Cal’s demands and went into his bedroom to find the best way to tell his ex to go to hell.

WILL LEFT the message from Cal unanswered. What could he say that hadn’t already been said? Even if he wanted to repay Cal for the money he’d spent on him during their relationship, he didn’t have it. He earned barely enough to cover his rent. Cal would tell him to use his accounting degree and get a “proper” job, but that would never happen.

And then there was the box of stuff—a jacket, a watch, jeans, a couple of books, a pair of sunglasses. After six months, why was this junk so important?

Even though Will didn’t reply, he lay on his bed staring at the screen, scrolling through old messages, hunting for the ones that had been kind and nice and loving. None came from Cal. Five years of texting, and he struggled to find one that showed why they stayed together. Even back at the beginning. Why had he kept them? Hope, maybe? Hope that he hadn’t wasted all that time and love on someone who didn’t return it. Hope for what it could have been.

Well, he was done. With a firm finger, he deleted all the messages and blocked Cal’s number. If he wanted to argue, he could come do it in person. But until then, Cal would no longer affect his life.

The grand gesture out of the way, he felt lighter than he had in days. Months! He couldn’t ignore the possibility that part of that was because of the energy he’d spent performing the spell. He’d restored a little with the apple, but his stomach growled, demanding more. He checked his watch. He had a few more hours before he headed to the shelter. That would give him time to put the cookies into cellophane wrapping and grab a proper bite to eat.

He walked out of his room and into the kitchen, stopping short as Lucas spun with his mouth full of cookies and his eyes wide.

“Lucas, what the hell? They aren’t for you.”

“I’m sorry.” Crumbs jumped out of his mouth. He did a hard swallow and dusted the evidence from around his lips. “I’m sorry, they smelled so good, and I was starving.”

“So have a protein shake or six eggs or something!” He pushed Lucas out of the way, not an easy feat considering he was over six foot two and built of nothing but muscle.

And stolen cookies!

Lucas slunk to the other side of the kitchen. “They taste really good,” he said quietly. “I didn’t know you could bake.”

Will ignored the compliment/insult and looked at the trays. One of each type of cookie was missing. If there was someone who didn’t need any more luck, love, or health, it was Lucas. He worked as a personal trainer and looked like a model with that floppy brown hair that was so much more versatile than Will’s own straw mop. He bumbled through life while people and opportunities fell at his feet. Like the way he wound up living with him and Cal. The apartment he’d been renting was put up for sale, and the next day, Cal promised him a place to stay.

Without asking Will first.

In the end, Lucas turned out to be the better housemate. He was nicer, did his share of the cleaning, and paid his rent on time. There were worse people to live with… and he’d already left. And living with Lucas had other—distracting—benefits. In particular, he wasn’t shy about walking around the apartment in his underwear. Cal had caught Will staring more than once and cut the forbidden fantasy dead with a few harsh remarks. “Dream on” was the nicest.

With Cal gone, Lucas filled the apartment more, and Will found it harder to look away. But Lucas was Cal’s friend and therefore tainted, not that he wasn’t already far beyond the realm of possibility.

“I’m really sorry, Will.” Lucas came closer, put his hand on Will’s shoulder, but Will shrugged him off. “I thought maybe you’d made them to share, and I just got back from the gym and… and… I couldn’t resist. Do you want me to make more?” Lucas wore a hopeful smile on his full lips and a plea in his eyes. Those eyes…. It had taken Will a long time to figure out why they were so mesmerizing, deciding it was because of the thin dark line bordering an otherwise crystal-blue iris. Lucas was one big honey trap.

And Will would not let himself get caught.

“It doesn’t matter.” Will would make more when he got time, but this batch had to go today, especially considering how they weren’t safe around Lucas. Since when had he ever eaten anything that contained flour and sugar? Will had seen those abs, and while they might have been made in the kitchen, it was a kitchen without cookies. He hoped he’d have enough for the kids who’d be at the shelter that afternoon. It wouldn’t be fair for someone to miss out because of Lucas’s hunger pangs.

“Were they for someone special?”

“The kids at the shelter.”

Lucas hung his head. “Will, I really am sorry. Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?”

He looked like he wanted to fix this, a significant difference between him and Cal. While Lucas couldn’t whip up another batch, there was one thing he could do.

“Forget about the cookies, but you could do one thing for me.”

Lucas’s eyes sparkled. “Sure! Anything!”

“Tell Cal what you did with his stuff.”

Lines creased his otherwise blemish-free forehead. “What stuff?”

“I gave you some of Cal’s things about five months ago, clothes mostly, and asked you to give them to him next time you saw him. He’s still pestering me for them.” Which was weird because Lucas was usually reliable. He always took out the trash without being asked, so this should have been a no-brainer.

“Oh. Yeah… um… sorry about that. I haven’t seen much of him lately.”

“But you said you would. You’re his friend, so could you do it, please?”

Lucas nodded. “Sure, whatever you want.”

“Now can you get out of the kitchen? I need to wrap these before I go, and I don’t trust leaving them where you can get them.”

“Probably wise.” Lucas eyed the cookies like he was going to make a last-minute grab but instead pulled his phone out of his pocket. As he turned to go, he swiped the screen with his thumb, and a bright flash erupted. Lucas swore and dropped the device, the tang of burning metal wafting out in a wisp of smoke.

“Are you all right?” Will rushed over to check Lucas’s hand. He hissed as he unfurled it, the skin getting redder by the second. “Here, put it under the water.” He pulled Lucas over to the sink and held his hand under the running faucet. The phone made a fizzing sound, and Will and Lucas looked to the floor to check it wasn’t about to burst into flames.

Until Lucas yelped and ripped his hand out of Will’s grasp.

“That was the hot water!” Lucas shouted, squeezing his wrist.

Will looked back to see steaming water shooting out of the faucet. His eyes widened. How could he have made such a mistake? He switched to cold. “Sorry, I must have turned it the wrong way.” Will splashed the water. “See? It’s cold now.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow and hesitated before approaching. He took one step, slipped on a puddle, and crashed to the floor.

“Lucas!” Will dropped to help him.

Lucas laughed, then bashed his head against the cabinet. “Ow!” He kept laughing, and Will allowed himself a smile.

“Since when were you such a klutz?”

“I’m not! It’s bad karma for eating your cookies.” Lucas continued to chuckle, but the sound chipped against the ice crystals in Will’s chest. His smile froze into a rictus.

What if…?

“What order did you eat the cookies in?”

“Huh?”

“What order did you eat them in?”

“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

“Think!”

“Jesus, they were just cookies. I’ll buy a ton of them to make up for it.”

“I don’t care about you replacing them. Did you eat the chocolate one first?”

“I guess?” He shrugged. “Choc chip is my favorite, so I probably ate it first. Why?”

The chill spread across his chest.

They were the good luck cookies.

Lucas’s phone shot out another spark and died.

Or they would have been if I hadn’t gotten distracted.

Could the message from Cal have ruined his concentration enough for the spells to get twisted? Or was this all a coincidence?

“Let me help you up.” Will needed time to think, and Lucas didn’t look comfortable squished on the kitchen floor.

“Only if you promise not to burn me with boiling water again.”

“Promise.” He gave Lucas his hand, expecting the fitness freak to be able to get up under his own steam, but as soon as he put weight on his right foot, he hissed and dropped his full weight onto Will.

“I think I twisted my ankle. Fuck. I’ve got to be back at work in an hour.”

“That’s not going to happen. You’d better call—you can use my phone.”

“Thanks. I only bought that one last week.”

It could all still be a coincidence, but whatever was going on, he didn’t want to risk giving those cookies to the kids.

They made it to the couch, and Lucas lowered down, settling with his foot up on the cushions. He looked comfortable enough, which was more than could be said for Will. His eyes drifted back to the kitchen. He tapped his fingernail against his teeth.

They aren’t connected. Right?

“What’s the matter?” Lucas asked.

Will snapped out of his daze and pulled his hand away from his mouth. “Nothing.”

“Come on, Will. You’re staring at those cookies like they’re about to explode.” Lucas looked at his hands, turned them over, flexed his fingers. “Is there something in them?”

Will tutted. “They’re not pot cookies!”

“Then what are they?”

“Forget it.”

“Fine. If there’s nothing wrong with them, you eat them.” Lucas tried to get up from the couch, but he buckled from the pain in his ankle and collapsed back onto the seat. A crunch followed, and Lucas’s head hit the back of the couch.

“What was that?” Will asked.

“My iPad.”

Crap!

He supported Lucas as he rolled to the side and pulled out the iPad from where it had gotten wedged beneath the cushions. The screen had cracked, and the device was bent. Lucas loved that iPad. He was on it more than his phone. He played games mostly but also used it for developing training programs for his clients. He rarely left it out of his sight, and it was hardly ever on the couch without him.

“Lucky I’ve got insurance.”

Will closed his eyes. Lucas shouldn’t have said that. He’d probably find that the policy was out of date or unpaid or didn’t cover these kinds of breakages.

“Okay, seriously, what’s the problem? You look like you’re about to be sick.”

He stared at Lucas, saliva like glue in his mouth. Instead of helping a bunch of homeless kids, he’d cursed his roommate. He sat on the edge of the coffee table and wedged his hands between his knees. He couldn’t avoid the truth any longer, no matter how unpleasant.

“The cookies aren’t just cookies.” He took a deep breath. This is going to sound so dumb. “They’re magic cookies.”

Lucas frowned. “Well, your supplier is shit.”

“I told you, they’re not those kinds of cookies. They’ve got magic in them, real magic, the kind that witches do.”

He cocked his head to the side. “You’re joking, right?”

“I wish I were.”

Lucas reached over and rested his hand on Will’s knee. “Will, I know things have been tough since Cal left, but there’s no such thing as magic.”

Great. Another Cal.

He shouldn’t have been surprised. Lucas was Cal’s friend, after all.

“If there’s no such thing as magic, that’s great and this is all a coincidence, but I charged each batch of cookies with a particular charm—good luck for the chocolate chips, true love for the peanut butter, and good health for the oatmeal raisin.”

Lucas leaned back, dismissing Will’s explanation with a wave of his hand and a smile that was almost magical in its ability to reassure. If Will didn’t know the truth, it would have worked.

“You see? They’re ordinary cookies because I’ve had nothing but bad luck since—” Lucas narrowed his eyes and slowly widened them as he looked from the kitchen to his iPad to Will. “You messed it up, didn’t you?”

Will cringed and tried to disappear into his own belly button. “Maybe?”

Lucas groaned and hid his face with his hands.

“Cal messaged me, and I got a little pissed off, and I think that altered the spell, so they’ve gone a bit… wrong.”

Lucas opened his eyes to reveal blue pools flush with disbelief. “Wrong? My phone blew up, you scalded me with boiling water, I tripped and busted my ankle, and I’ve crushed my iPad. That’s not wrong, that’s catastrophic.” He put his foot down on the floor but must have remembered what happened last time and put his leg back on the couch. “Well, what now? Make it stop!”

“I don’t know how.”

“Then find out! Isn’t there someone you can ask?”

Did he have to reverse the spell or break it? And how did he do that? Make Lucas throw up? Cook a second batch to counter the first? He’d only been doing this a short while, and Greg at the magic store said—

“There’s a magic store in town. I could ask someone who works there.”

“What are you waiting for? Go!”

Will jumped up and ran to get his coat and gloves.

“Stop! I’m coming with you.” Lucas staggered up off the couch and hobbled across the carpeted floor, putting as little pressure on his ankle as possible while watching for anything to come flying out at him.

“Are you sure? Shouldn’t you stay here and rest?”

“If what you say is true, that I’m now cursed, the roof is likely to fall down on top of me, or a herd of rhinoceroses will trample me to death.”

“So you’d rather bring all that bad luck down on me too?”

“You caused this. It’s only fair you should deal with some of the consequences too.”

He couldn’t fault him there. He helped Lucas into his coat, Lucas’s hand warm on his shoulders as he steadied himself. Lucas’s attention shone like a heat lamp and ignited Will’s skin. Lucas had been looking at him a lot since Cal’s departure. There was a small part of him—a part steeped in delusion—that liked the attention, liked Lucas’s concern.

He’s probably waiting for me to go mad. What must he think of me now?

“I’m sorry I did this to you.”

“Hey, it’s just my bad luck you bake a mean cookie.” Lucas grinned. “Really mean.” Even after what had happened, he was still smiling. Hopefully Greg knew how to break the curse before that smile faded.

Will helped Lucas outside and supported him as he got into the car. Lucas’s touch lingered and triggered a whisper of longing. He’d been missing physical contact. Even before Cal left. When the connection broke, his skin held the memory.

He trudged around to the driver’s side, boots crunching in the snow, and climbed in.

“Please drive slowly,” Lucas said. “Mind you, if a—”

“Don’t say it!” Will shot his hand up. “You’re likely to make bad things happen if you tempt fate like that, and I’d like to get out of this alive too.”

Lucas said nothing else.

The magic shop wasn’t far from home, but walking would have been taxing on Lucas’s ankle. He’d probably slip on a patch of ice and break his leg and a rib. Or be attacked by a dog. Or be electrocuted by falling power lines. The fact that they were driving did not stop Will worrying that any similarly calamitous event might befall them. If he put all his focus into imagining problems that might have happened if they walked, it might act as a guard against anything striking them for real. Either way they arrived at the magic shop without incident, and just in time too. Darkness had crept into the edges of Will’s vision from holding his breath in anticipation of some disaster.

Surely the love curse wouldn’t cause as much trouble. Lucas wasn’t seeing anyone at the moment, and if he were, the likelihood of bumping into them on the street was slim.

Will parked and triple-checked he hadn’t occupied a disabled parking spot, a loading bay, a tow-away zone, or anywhere under trees with big overhanging limbs. He rushed Lucas down the street and into the magic shop, banging Lucas’s head with the door as he opened it.

“Sorry.” Will grimaced. “I wasn’t concentrating.”

“That seems to be a problem.” Lucas rubbed his temple.

The inside of the magic shop was bright and toasty warm. A fire burned in the fireplace, and sandalwood wafted through the air. Shelves stocked with books lined the walls while cabinets filled with crystals, wands, ritual knives, and chalices formed a gauntlet to the front counter.

Will first entered the store a month after Cal left, but he’d spent years resisting the temptation to cross the threshold. The shop vibrated with power—or maybe that was the thrill of the forbidden, the excitement of the unknown. He’d visited more often since and eventually struck up a conversation with Greg, the owner, who gave him tips on where to start—and a warning to not do too much too soon.

Looks like I followed that advice well.

“Um, Will?”

He turned.

Lucas struggled with his coat’s zipper. “I think it’s broken.”

Will resisted the urge to swear aloud. How powerful was that damn spell? He tried to get Lucas free, but the zip only skidded down a couple of inches more before it jammed. “It’s stuck.”

Lucas’s eyes dimmed. They no longer shone with the hope that this was a coincidence. He pulled off his beanie, scarf, and gloves and put them on a glass-topped cabinet, his skin flushing with each second.

“Can you hurry and find out what you need before I overheat?” he said softly, calmly, patiently. Cal would never have said it like that; his words would have been thick with anger and edged with condescension.

Will nodded. He would have suggested Lucas stand on the sidewalk to keep cool, but he was as likely to get hypothermia outside as stay and get heatstroke inside. Lucas leaned against the cabinet to ease the pressure on his swollen ankle.

As Will approached the counter, Greg swept aside the purple curtain to the back of the store. In his mid to late fifties, he had hair so white it glowed, pale eyebrows to match, and piercing green eyes.

Eyes that focused on Will with a master’s insight and intensity.

“Problem, Will?” he asked as if he already knew.

He rubbed at the tension amassing in his forehead. “I think I’ve cursed my friend. By accident.”

“I’m glad you’re not going around cursing your friends on purpose. That would be even more concerning. What happened?”

He explained as briefly as possible what he’d done while working the spell and what happened to Lucas. Apart from a second when Greg’s eyes darted to Lucas in the background, his gaze didn’t leave Will’s. He didn’t interrupt, letting Will fill the conversation with the tale of his ineptitude until his voice weakened and he trailed off midsentence.

“Didn’t I say magic wasn’t to be taken lightly?”

“Yes, but it wasn’t like—”

“You weren’t concentrating, and this is what happens. Magic takes all your focus. Fancy having your phone in the circle.”

“I didn’t mean to cause trouble.” All he wanted to do was help those kids. He’d never deliberately hurt anyone.

“And yet you have.”

Will slumped his head. Greg was right. He was a failure. He had no right to mess around with magic. He should have listened to Cal.

Lucas appeared behind him and put his hand in the small of Will’s back. “Hey, go easy on him.”

“Easy? Imagine if you’d actually given those cookies away.”

“I know,” Will said, Lucas’s defense bolstering him, “but please tell me what I can do to make it right. I’ll do anything.”

Greg narrowed his eyes as he shifted his attention from Will to Lucas and back again. “At least you’ve got the right attitude, because only you can break the spell.” He scribbled a few lines on a piece of paper while he talked. “Do you know the hot spring in Lilydale Forest down the 126? There’s a buildup of magic in that area. Go there, form your circle, bless him with the water, and then read this incantation. That should lift the spell.”

“Should?” Lucas asked.

“Magic is tricky.” Greg turned to Will. “That a novice like you could bring about such an outcome is almost unheard of. My guess is that your spell was created with some powerful emotions rather than innate skill. It might require the same to reverse it.”

Powerful emotions. He had enough pent-up anger over Cal to light up a city.

“What happens if this doesn’t work?” Will took the piece of paper from Greg’s hand and stuffed it into his pocket.

Greg shrugged. “Pray for a miracle? Depending on the strength of the spell, it might wear off after a while, but who knows if you’ll survive long enough to test that theory. I suggest you hurry.”

Will’s ribs cinched his lungs, and they wouldn’t loosen until he removed the curse. Lucas, however, glared at Greg.

“You know, you might want to work on your customer service.” Lucas turned Will around and half leaned, half pushed him toward the door. He grabbed his gloves, scarf, and beanie off the cabinet, and they exited the store. Outside Lucas leaned against the wall and forced on his gloves. “What a jerk.”

“He had a point,” Will said.

“There was no need for him to talk to you like that.”

“He helped us in the end.”

“Not without some coaxing. That’s why I like you, Will. You’re always willing to give people a hand no matter what.”

He snorted. “Not that it does any good.”

“Are you kidding? All those hours you put in at the shelter? I bet you’re there more than anyone. Don’t think what you do isn’t valued.”

Lucas struggled with the zipper, trying to raise it this time, but it wouldn’t budge. He muttered some choice swear words under his breath.

“Here, let me.” Will reached for the zipper, but Lucas wasn’t quick enough to move his hands, and Will’s covered them. They paused, and a gentle breeze stirred in his chest. He kept his eyes staring forward at their overlaid hands, but he could see Lucas’s bottom lip plump up. He had a hard time swallowing. Lucas slipped his hands from beneath Will’s, and the constriction on his throat eased. Will gave the zipper a hard shove. It worked free, but he moved so fast and with such force he barely missed punching Lucas in the jaw.

Lucas laughed. “Thanks for fixing the jacket.”

“My pleasure. How about we get to that spring before anything worse happens?”

Maybe the other spells would not take effect. Perhaps he mixed them up so badly that only the luck one had unraveled. After all, he had only mangled one ball of dough. All that anger and hurt could have been contained in a single cookie.

But it was better to be safe than sorrier, and he didn’t want to hang around long enough to experience the spell’s limits.

“Good idea,” Lucas said. “You know, I was thinking this is probably the most time we’ve spent alone together since we first met.”

“Well, we’re both pretty busy.”

Plus you’re Cal’s friend.

“I know it must feel awkward for you because of—” Lucas froze.

“Because of Cal.”

Lucas didn’t answer. He was looking over Will’s shoulder. He followed his eyeline.

A model—chiseled jaw, cheekbones, tall—strode toward them with a glare that lasered in on Lucas with the precision of a sniper’s scope.

“What did you say the second cookie was for?” Lucas asked.

“Love.”

Lucas sighed. “I think it’s kicked in.” They needed to go toward the guy to get to the car, but Lucas seemed reluctant to move. He lowered his head and hobbled with Will’s help. Meanwhile Will cast worried glances at the approaching Adonis with the unrelenting gaze. He made straight for them and didn’t stop until he blocked Lucas from going any farther.

“Don’t ignore me, Lucas.”

He straightened. “Hey, Jasper, we’re in a hurry and—”

“This the new toy?” Jasper cast a disdainful look over Will like he was something the cat had thrown up on the rug.

Will glared right back. “I’m Will. What’s the problem?”

Jasper sucked his teeth. “What’s the problem? Before you I was the last idiot to think Lucas Gardner gave a shit about anybody but himself. Fuck ’em and dump ’em, isn’t that right, Lucas? What was it? You thought you were too good for me?”

“I didn’t think I was too good for you, Jasper.”

“No? You’re just an asshole, then?” His dark eyes glistened like oil on water.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call you back. I was… going through some things and—”

“Don’t even!” Jasper’s voice broke. “The least you could have done was send me a message or something. You’re a selfish prick, Lucas, and I regret ever having fucked you.”

“Jasper, please, I’m sorry.”

“Too late.” Jasper pushed between the two of them and continued down the street.

Lucas breathed heavily, watching from beneath a veil of shame as Jasper left. “I’m sorry you saw that. I didn’t—”

Jasper’s pain seared the back of Will’s throat. He didn’t want to hear Lucas’s excuses. Lucas never brought anyone back to the apartment, and now he knew why. No one ever got that far. “We don’t have time.”

“But I’d—”

“Don’t worry about it.”

What had he expected from a friend of Cal’s? And considering the way he looked, why should he be surprised to learn Lucas behaved the way Jasper described? Whatever fantasies he might have entertained about Lucas, they had little in common with reality.

He helped Lucas to the car. They weren’t intercepted by any more of Lucas’s exes in the short distance they had to go. But when they reached the car, Lucas stopped Will from opening the door.

“I really need to explain, Will.” His eyes tried to work their magic.

Will resisted and crossed his arms over his chest. “Why?”

“Because—” Lucas’s eyes drifted, then disappeared behind closed lids. “Fuck.”

Will frowned. What now? He turned, expecting to see another one of what were probably hundreds of Lucas’s exes, only it wasn’t.

Cal marched right for them like a marauding barbarian come to rape and pillage. Cal was still a way off, but it was like he was close enough to wrap his hand around Will’s throat and squeeze. It was the first time Will had seen him since the breakup. He’d avoided the places Cal liked to go, like the gym at Third and Elmore or the cafe on Riseley, but they both lived in the same town in Oregon, and there was always a chance they’d run into each other.

Unfortunately it took a giant bad luck magnet called Lucas to make it happen.

“We need to go,” Will said, but Lucas didn’t budge. It was like he’d given up. “Please, Lucas.”

But Cal reached them before they escaped.

“What are you two doing?” A sneer crept across Cal’s malicious lips. He wore his favorite wool-lined coat, the one with the wide lapels that made him look like a lumberjack. A thin and floppy gray beanie covered what was sure to be hair clipped short enough to make his head ache in winter. He was Lucas’s height, but Cal was thicker, bigger, more imposing. He used his size to intimidate anyone he could.

And Will had put up with it for five years.

“I’ve got nothing to say to you, Cal.” A shiver rattled through Will. He tried to suppress it, hating the response Cal elicited. He would not be cowed. He closed his hands into fists, pooling all his fear into their straining hold.

“Selling more of my stuff?”

“I’ve already told you, I don’t have it anymore.”

“Then you owe me for it, along with the money I loaned you.”

“You didn’t loan me shit.” His voice came out as hard and as sharp as a hatchet.

“Tuition, groceries, rent.” He counted them on his leather-gloved fingers. “I want that money.”

“Then you’ll be waiting a long time.”

“You’re not going anywhere until I get something.” Cal got closer.

Will glared back.

“Leave him alone, Cal,” Lucas said.

Cal flicked his gaze to Lucas, back to Will, back to Lucas. “What’s going on here?”

“Nothing. We have to leave,” Will said.

But Cal wasn’t paying attention to him anymore, and he squared up to Lucas. The space between them shrank.

“Cal, can we do this another time?” Lucas said with no hint of friendliness.

“Do what, exactly?” Cal’s brutal intimidation of Will morphed into sly provocation when leveled at Lucas. His sneer turned gleeful but with no less menace, and his eyes brightened like he was a wild animal scenting blood.

“Whatever this is.”

“Well, I would, but you boys keep ignoring my messages.”

Lucas is ignoring Cal too?

“Come by and see us sometime, and then we’ll sort this out.”

“Us? You two an item now?”

“That’s none of your business,” Lucas said between clenched teeth. Will recognized Lucas’s attempt to stay disconnected from Cal’s baiting, but from his own experience, it wasn’t worth it. Cal was hunting, and nothing would stop him until he had the two of them between his teeth.

“Oh ho ho, that’s quite the Christmas miracle. I always wondered why you stayed after I moved out.” Cal glanced down at Lucas’s lifted ankle. “Though I’m not surprised the only way Will could land you was if you couldn’t run away.” Cal cackled, a hideous, mean sound that scraped Will’s molars.

“You really are a prick, you know that?” Lucas spat.

“You didn’t seem to mind. You quite liked it,” Cal purred, though on him, it sounded more like a growl.

“What?” Will said.

“Nothing,” Lucas said.

They didn’t. They wouldn’t.

“You two slept together?”

“Slept. Fucked. Same thing,” Cal said.

Lucas ignored Cal, his face softening into a plea. “Will, it’s not what you think. It was a long time ago.”

“When?” Will’s jaw hinged enough to let the word out. Pins and needles traversed his skin and stabbed the soft flesh under his chin.

“Before you two started going out.”

Cal nodded, his head like the wagging tail of a hound standing over a dead duck. “Lucas here was pretty broken up about it. That’s why he begged me to give him a place to stay. Isn’t that right? Thought you could win me back?”

“Is that true?” Will’s hands cramped, but if he didn’t keep his fists closed, he couldn’t be certain what would come out. Could he hurt Cal with his magic? Could he make all this disappear?

“What? No!”

“Don’t lie to me, Lucas.” His throat burned.

“I’m not lying. Now can we go?”

“Why the rush?” Cal said with restrained triumph. “You owe Will an explanation.”

“Please, Will. It’s just the curse.”

“Watch who you’re calling a curse, pal.”

Cal’s bark jolted Will out of his funk. Lucas was right. It didn’t matter what Cal said. It didn’t matter what Lucas had done. Will had to clear the mistake he’d made. As much as he wanted to stay and fight, he had a duty to help Lucas.

Like he would have helped any stranger he accidentally cursed.

And once the curses were lifted, he’d find somewhere else to live.

“Get in the car.” Will unfurled his fists, the clouds of rage-induced smoke clearing from his airways long enough to get him moving.

“Don’t walk away from me, Will! We haven’t finished,” Cal shouted.

“Yes, we have.” Will had already reached the other side of the car, and nothing Cal said would ever make him go back to being within an inch of that manipulative, abusive bastard. “You made the decision to leave, not me, and if this is some twisted way of trying to keep me in your life, it’s not going to work. You want the money? Take me to court, but until I get the summons, you come near me again, and you’ll regret it.” He got in the car.

“And Cal,” Lucas added. “Your things went in the trash months ago. Will gave them to me to give to you, but I dumped them. Just like you dumped us. Now fuck off.”

Lucas got in the car and slammed the door. Will drove off, leaving Cal to fume on the sidewalk.

Will’s hand shook when it wasn’t gripping the gearstick or the steering wheel. Blood thundered through his arteries, heating the sides of his face. He concentrated on the road, still wary of Lucas’s bad luck, and that meant he didn’t have to engage in anything resembling a conversation.

Cal and Lucas dated?

When? For how long? How did it end? And if they dated once, did they sleep with each other again after he and Will were together? He wouldn’t put it past Cal to cheat on him; he already suspected it happened during their five-year relationship.

Snowflakes dusted the road out of town. It shouldn’t take long to reach the forest. Until then it would be better if Lucas didn’t—

“Are you okay?” Lucas asked.

“I’m fine.”

“Can I explain?”

“You don’t have to.”

“But I want to.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me.”

He could turn on the radio, but that would delay the inevitable. Almost five years of keeping the true nature of Lucas’s “friendship” with Cal a secret, and suddenly he was Mr. Chatty. Whatever. The sooner Lucas said what he had to say, the sooner Will could think about something else. He needed to focus on the spell, and he couldn’t do that with this betrayal occupying his head. Lucas took his silence as permission to talk.

“Cal and I dated, but it wasn’t for long, maybe a year. We were both really young, and I thought I was in love, but when he dumped me and started dating you… I couldn’t handle it.”

Will kept his eyes forward. Was the snow getting heavier?

“I tried to hide it from Cal, but he knew, and he liked it, so when my life fell apart, he invited me to live with you guys, and like an idiot, I thought it was because he still loved me. Really it was so he could torture me.”

Sounds like Cal.

“But I didn’t figure that out until later. At first I wanted to break you two up. I thought that if Cal saw me every day, he’d remember what we had and want me back.”

Will and Cal had moved in after only a few months together, and Lucas showed up about a month later. It was hell. Cal acted like he and Lucas were so close, the two of them making fun of Will, excluding him. He fought against Lucas being there, but Cal had so overwhelmed him by that stage that he went unheard.

“You were a real asshole when you first moved in.”

“Yeah, I was. And I’m sorry. I was surprised you didn’t kick me out, but I realized that Cal was treating you as badly as he’d treated me. Worse.”

“What did you notice?”

“The way he forced you to go to college to do accounting when you clearly wanted to do social work. He stopped you seeing your friends. He put you down in that way where the words made sense enough you couldn’t argue with him, but you knew they were off.”

A fissure cracked the constraints on his lungs. His breath shuddered. He hadn’t imagined Cal’s manipulations. Lucas had seen them all.

“Why did you stay?” Will asked.

“Because I was worried about you. I began to like you, but I also felt sorry for you and thought you needed—I don’t know—protecting. I didn’t have it in me to stop what Cal was doing. I should have, but I thought maybe I could temper him. It seemed to work after a while. He was around less. I tried to be your friend, but you didn’t seem interested.”

Will didn’t have many friends; most had drifted away even before the breakup. He really could have done with one afterward. Lucas had stayed through it all—but it was only now Will realized he’d stayed for him.

“I thought you were Cal’s friend,” he whispered. He’d grown so accustomed to Lucas’s presence that even once Cal left, he didn’t want anything to change between him and Lucas. And that included not getting closer. As much as he wanted to. Having someone there—having Lucas there—was a lifeline.

“I loved him once,” Lucas said, “but I don’t think I’d ever considered Cal my friend.”

Those words could have sighed out of his own mouth. The idea of Cal was more alluring than Cal himself. He was a force that swept everything out of its path without a care for what it destroyed. It wouldn’t have mattered if Will was overrun or abandoned in its wake. He’d believed the more he agreed, the more love he gave, the more control he relinquished, it would slow Cal down and soften his selfishness.

But it hadn’t.

And Will was left with a crippling need to make things right, which led him to try to change the lives of homeless queer kids with magic.

He was the one who needed fixing. Lucas had rebuilt himself after his relationship with Cal, though after that run-in with Jasper, it sounded like he still had a long way to go.

“And Jasper?” Cal was years ago, but what was his explanation for Jasper?

Lucas groaned, which started a cough that doubled him over. The cough refused to abate, and his face reddened. He gasped for air, and whatever he expelled left him trembling.

“Lucas?” Will touched his leg.

Lucas waved away his concern. “It’s nothing,” he croaked. His coughing eased, and he slumped back in his seat. “It’s just the cold.”

But the heater was on.

The snow fell harder and iced the road, but Will glanced at Lucas’s face. The color of his skin shifted from red to white. Gray shadows spread beneath his eyes.

“You want to know about Jasper?” He coughed again, harder this time, and he didn’t stop.

Will pressed his foot to the floor and drove as fast as he could in the worsening conditions, fighting the steering wheel as the back wheels fishtailed. He offered reassurances in between Lucas’s wheezing while he bent forward and peered into a world shrouded in white. He needed to get Lucas to the spring fast. On a good day he could have done it in forty-five minutes, but with the roads as they were….

With each passing mile, Lucas and the weather deteriorated. Will was forced to slow down in case he drove them into a snowbank or missed the turnoff. Lucas fought to control his coughing and gradually fell quiet. He slumped into his seat, deflating beside Will. He didn’t press Lucas for anything further on Jasper, as much as he burned to know.

Maybe once he lifted the curse.

But would Lucas tell him the truth then? Why would he suddenly start? Right now he had the perfect opportunity. Lucas might be all honest at this moment, but once he was back to normal, what would change? Could he trust Lucas’s words?

No. He was just another liar in a world full of them. He probably wasn’t even sick either, just putting it on for sympathy. Which meant that the spells weren’t real. That made sense. There was no such thing as magic.

Cal had said so.

“Why are you slowing down?” Lucas forced himself upright. For someone normally so strong, it was staggering how much he could pretend to be weak.

“Because this is ridiculous. The spells aren’t real.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re not sick.”

“Look at me! I wasn’t like this half an hour ago.”

“You said so yourself: it’s just the cold.”

Lucas had always been a snake. Look at how he’d slithered into their lives. And by his own admission, he’d wanted to come between him and Cal. He was probably ecstatic that Cal was free, and that scene on the sidewalk was nothing but a show to make him think Lucas cared.

“You don’t believe that, Will. You’ve seen what’s happened today. You saw Jasper and Cal; that wasn’t a coincidence.”

“No, it was your mistakes catching up with you.”

Lucas blinked. “You can’t mean that. Come on, Will, what’s wrong? Why are you saying this? I need your help.”

“I’ll take you to the hospital if you’re sick.” The turnoff to the forest was nearby; he’d use it to do a U-turn and head back to town.

“I don’t need a hospital. I need you to remove this spell.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t deserve this.”

“Maybe you do.” He never thought he’d say that about another person, not even Cal, but the longer he was alone with Lucas, the more he believed it.

“Will, this isn’t you. Please help me.”

“Why? So you can continue to lie to me? So you can go behind my back and fuck Cal again?”

“Are you crazy? I want nothing to do with him.”

“I’ve got no doubt you don’t love him, but you’d love to fuck him just to fuck with him.”

Lucas coughed hard, repeatedly, his face going purple as he looked to Will for some sympathy. But all of Will’s sympathy had been used up, wasted, on people like Cal. And Lucas.

“I never want to see Cal again,” Lucas said.

“Been there, done that? Got some other conquest in mind? Well, you won’t conquer me.” He never would have said any of this before, but now that it was coming out, it felt so good, like sucking venom from a snakebite.

“I’m not what Jasper made me out to be,” Lucas pleaded. “I was going through a tough time when we hooked up, and I thought we were both on the same page, that it was a bit of fun. Yes, I should have manned up and told him the truth, but….”

Lucas had never looked so lost.

“But what? You were too busy fucking someone else?” Was he fucking Cal?

“Do you know when I slept with Jasper?”

“No, why would I? Last week? Two weeks? What you do is no business of mine.”

“Six months.”

Will could understand why someone would hold a grudge that long. Lucas had always had a touch of star quality about him, like if you happened to be with him, if you ever left, you’d be ruined. Like getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Or an addict being denied heroin.

“Why should that matter? So you pick your victims carefully.”

He must have learned that from Cal. Go for the weak ones.

“This isn’t you, Will.”

“No, this is me. I’m sick of people thinking they can take advantage of me.”

“You want to know why it should matter I slept with Jasper six months ago? Because the night after, Cal dumped you, and I would rather have been at home making sure you were okay.”

Will wouldn’t think of the breakup: the dreaded inevitability of Cal leaving, of the insults and abuse Will endured as Cal packed up his things and went. Will had spent the night and all the next day in bed, in what had been their bed, hugging a pillow because it gave more warmth than Cal ever did. But he’d been alone. Just the way Lucas wanted it. “But you weren’t there.”

“That’s because you wouldn’t let me in. You thought I was just Cal’s friend. You locked your door and wouldn’t answer, but I stayed. I never left the apartment in case you needed me. Did you know that?”

Will shook his head as slowly as a rusted weather vane resisting the breeze. The house could have burned down, and he wouldn’t have noticed. All he’d done was lay in that bed, gazing at the white wall and wondering what he’d done wrong.

Now he knew.

He’d let Cal bring Lucas into their home.

“Please, Will, you’ve got to believe me. You mean a lot to me, and right now you’re my only hope. You wouldn’t want me to get hurt more than I already have. That’s not you.”

“Maybe it should be.” If he were tougher, he’d never have let Lucas in. Cal wouldn’t have left, and he wouldn’t have fallen for Lucas’s false kindness.

“I pray to God that this is the spell talking. I know you’re hurting from Cal, and I’m sorry for not telling you the truth about our history sooner, but the only reason I’m still in that apartment is because I care for you. I know I’m tainted with Cal’s past, but I can’t change that. And I can’t change the fact that it’s broken my heart every day to see how that bastard crushed your light. So I’m sorry if I sought solace in others, but sometimes I get lonely too. And if you won’t help me, then let me off at the entrance, and I’ll go find the spring myself, because I won’t do nothing.”

Lucas curled in on himself as a spasm shuddered through his body. He looked like he was in such pain.

Good.

But the thought felt sickly, corrupted, polluted. It wasn’t Will. He wasn’t like this. What was wrong with him?

He pulled into the parking lot near the start of the forest trail. The snow lay so thick that the trees were mere impressions on the faded edges of a nightmare.

“Please, Will, come with me. I need your help.”

“Then you should have thought about that before you lied to me.”

Had he said that?

Lucas shook his head. Will expected to see hate, but Lucas’s eyes brimmed with pitiful resignation. He pushed open the door, and a blast of frigid air flushed the heat from the car. He forced himself out, pulled his jacket tight, and slammed the door. Within seconds Lucas was gone.

Will shifted into reverse but didn’t put his foot on the gas. The wind had blown away the fog clouding his mind. What had happened? Had he really sent Lucas out there alone? To remove a spell he knew nothing about?

He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the incantation Greg had written. Lucas would need it if he wanted any hope of undoing—

The spell….

He groaned. The spell had affected him too. Instead of bringing love into Lucas’s life, it brought hate, and being locked in a car with Will provoked it.

But he didn’t hate Lucas. Far from it.

And he didn’t want him to die.

Once out of Lucas’s orbit, the spell faded, but if he got close to Lucas, it would reactivate. He’d have to keep his distance, but Lucas couldn’t be left to wander the forest.

He killed the engine and jumped out of the car, hit with the full force of the blizzard. He shielded his eyes and searched for Lucas, but he was gone, and all that remained was a rapidly filling trail of footprints leading him into the forest. The deep snow clung to his legs, dragging him down, but he kept his shoulder against the wind.

Will reached a fork and stopped at the signpost that pointed the way to the springs, but he knew this spot. The arrows were turned around, and Lucas had gone the wrong way. Bad luck again. If Lucas was going to have any hope of surviving this, Will would have to get close to him, but then the curse would take effect.

What could he do?

He chased after Lucas, each footstep stumbling toward a solution, but he was following Lucas in circles as he looped—

Circle.

He stopped. It might work. It was worth a shot. Time was running out, and if he didn’t hurry, Lucas would die one way or another, from misadventure or hypothermia or a broken heart. He closed his eyes while the storm raged and shifted to an internal focus even as the bitter frost stabbed his exposed face.

Inside wasn’t much calmer as he fought a panic that threatened to overwhelm him. He had to believe Lucas would be all right. He had to believe he could make this right.

He braced as he dove deep within, finding a sliver of peace and summoning his power. He tapped into the storm’s energy, and his palms tingled. He fashioned his intent into a shield around himself that would block the effects of the spells that swirled around Lucas. He had no idea if it would work but—

No! It will work.

He needed that confidence. He needed to believe, or else he would lose Lucas.

With palms facing each other, he imagined a golden orb glowing in the space between them. He held it in his mind’s eye, and the power coalesced on the physical plane. It was there. He willed it to expand, and the power shimmered through his body as it grew and locked in place around him. He could feel it. Magic: pure and strong. He’d done it, but there was no time to marvel at it.

He had to find Lucas.

He tracked Lucas’s footsteps and spotted him in the middle of the path ahead, searching for the right way to go.

“Lucas!”

He turned but didn’t smile. His face was a death mask: skin a sallow gray, cheeks sunken, eyes rimmed with shadows. He covered his mouth as he coughed.

Will raced over. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean those awful things I said. It was the spell. Please, the spring’s in the other direction.”

“Why should I believe you? The sign said it was down here. You could be leading me the wrong way to die. Though you won’t have long to wait.” He showed his gloved hand.

Blood on the palm.

A cold fist seized Will’s heart and squeezed. “I promise it’s not the spell. I’ve put a shield around myself to protect me from it, but we have to hurry. Please trust me.”

“Why should I? You poisoned me with those damn cookies. You don’t even like me, Will.”

He did like Lucas, more than he’d ever admitted to himself. He’d tried so hard to keep life at home the same, out of fear Lucas would go, that he hadn’t had the courage to try for more, for something new, to see what was right in front of him the whole time. And now he was in danger of losing Lucas forever.

“I do. I just… I screwed up. I’m trying to help you.”

“Why?”

“Because I never wanted this to happen, and I don’t want you to die. Now please come with me. The spring is this way. The sign was wrong. It was just bad luck.”

“Like ever meeting you.”

Will’s heart struggled to beat, but if that’s what Lucas needed to believe for him to survive, then so be it.

“I know, and I’m sorry, but I want to make it right. Please, I’ll make this better, then I’ll move out. You can keep the apartment, and you never have to see me again.”

He didn’t want to go, but everything had a price.

Lucas stared at him before jerking his head in the direction they’d come. Will took Lucas’s weight, and they trudged through the snow. It fell harder, and soon their tracks were covered. Lucas stumbled, but no further bad luck befell them; perhaps the circle provided enough of a deterrent.

By the time they reached the flowing spring, Lucas could barely walk. He collapsed on the bank. Lucas couldn’t die. The hot spring was within reach. Will stood, forced himself to concentrate and fight the churning in his gut. He rebuilt the circle around them, but he kept his own, fearful of being unable to finish the ritual if the influence of the hate spell returned.

The circle shimmered into place, and the sound of flowing water dampened. He removed his gloves and cupped his bare hand in the warm water. He carried a small handful of it and anointed Lucas’s forehead.

His eyes were closed, his breathing shallow. He looked so beautiful, so peaceful. He was fading too fast. Will cleared his throat and drew out the paper from his pocket, reading the words and committing them to memory. He breathed deep, focused the power sparking through him, and held his hands over Lucas.

“Let the fallen be lifted, what’s done made undone. The curse is now ended and the broken made one.”

Apart from a sudden gust of wind, there was no change.

Nothing.

He tried again and waited for something—anything—to happen. What had Greg said about emotional impact? Fear raced through him like a hyperactive toddler on an escalator. That should have been enough.

“Is it done?” Lucas wheezed.

It couldn’t end like this. What had he done wrong?

“Do you feel anything?”

Lucas opened his eyes halfway and gave a lazy smile. “Nothing.”

The arctic gale charged through the front of Will’s coat and into his chest, the chill freezing his blood. “Let me try again.”

“Wait.” Lucas’s hand weighed down on Will’s. “Before you do, in case it doesn’t work, I want you to know that I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you from Cal.”

“It wasn’t up to you.”

“No, but I wanted to. I wanted to take you away from him, but I knew you had to do that on your own, so I waited, and I hoped that one day you’d see how much I loved you. And that you might love me one day too.”

Lucas’s lips turned blue.

Regret jammed Will’s throat, but he strained to speak. “I was so afraid of losing what we had that I never imagined I could have had more.”

“All you had to do was believe you were worthy of it.” Lucas slipped into unconsciousness.

Cracks splintered Will’s heart. “Lucas!” He shook him, but he remained unresponsive. He couldn’t be given this gift only to have Lucas taken from him. There had to be something more he could do. But the spell hadn’t worked. Sorrow melted the ice around his heart and rose up his throat. Tears welled in his eyes and froze on his cheeks. He filled with love lost and wished—

Love.

The spell had gone wrong because of his hate and pain over Cal, an emotional force that was strong enough to ruin his intention. He knew what he had to do to reverse it.

He sniffed back his grief and raised his hands above his head, the power of the storm cascading down and through him, a torrent that obliterated his fear and weakness. It filled him until he vibrated. He formed the words of the incantation inside his head, held on to their resonance, the power wound tight and ready to fire, then leaned forward and pressed his lips to Lucas’s cold mouth.

Please love me again.

The power exploded, and he held on to Lucas as magic poured through them, sweeping the spell out of existence.

“THERE YOU go, Evan.” Will put four slices of turkey on the kid’s plate. “Gravy down the end, and make sure you take one of the bags of cookies.”

Evan gave a small smile, gentle, cautious, as he drifted past to collect the rest of his Christmas lunch. Evan was one of the kids who’d been kicked out of home for being gay and wound up at the Rainbow Shelter. At fifteen, he should have been with his family, or at least with a foster family, but the system hadn’t been kind, and he’d been doing it tough on the streets for the past five months.

Serving Christmas lunch was the least Will could do for him or any of the other queer kids at the center. And he had a lot to make up for, thinking he could magic away their problems.

That’s why there was nothing extra in those cookies. He’d spent the past few days making enough batches so there were plenty to cater for an unexpected turnout, all in different flavors, all full of wholesome ingredients.

Magic not included.

He could make a bigger and better difference in other ways.

He served another few kids, but he was getting to the bottom of the tray, so he called a halt and carried it into the kitchen to collect another.

“How’s it all going out there?” Lucas asked as he cut more turkey and put it on a tray heaped high with meat.

Lucas: healthy and back to normal. Skin flushed pink from the heat of the kitchen, body just as strapping and strong as before. And his eyes sparkling with their usual good nature. Will didn’t have anything to fear from looking in those eyes anymore, and no shame at being so drawn to them.

“Great. They’re hungry, but that’s nothing new.”

“Cookies going down a treat? Anyone turn into a frog yet?”

Will blanched, which made Lucas laugh.

He hadn’t planned on making any, but Lucas had encouraged him, saying how good the last batch tasted. He complained about sugar and carbohydrates—but scoffed five before Will barred him from the kitchen.

“Come here.” Lucas paused from cutting more meat and leaned over, lips ready for a kiss.

Will still couldn’t believe Lucas wanted anything to do with him after their misadventure. After the fifty-seventh apology, Lucas sat him down and categorically swore he was forgiven. Lucas might have absolved him, but Will would take a while to resolve his guilt. He was grateful Lucas remained steadfast.

As much as Will wanted nothing more than to have Lucas’s kisses, they were here to do a job.

“The kids are waiting.”

“They can wait a bit longer.” Lucas swooped in and kissed him hard, warmth suffusing Will’s body. Lucas’s love was all the magic he needed.

A cough from behind him broke the spell. Jude, the shelter’s manager, stood with an eyebrow raised and a smile on her pursed lips.

Will’s face heated, and it had nothing to do with the ovens.

“Here, let me take that,” Jude said. “You check on the potatoes and squash.” She picked up the tray and walked out.

“Busted.” Lucas laughed.

Thank God the kids hadn’t seen. Lucas had already turned enough heads when he and Will walked in. Staying back-of-house suited Lucas fine. And Will didn’t mind keeping Lucas to himself either.

Will went to check the vegetables, but they needed longer to cook. When he looked back, it was to watch Lucas carve more turkey. His own Yuletide miracle.

It had been touch and go at the spring, but that kiss blasted the curse into another universe. Lucas’s recovery was instant, his kisses becoming firmer and stronger, his health revitalized. They’d gotten out of the cold weather, and the storm eased by the time they returned to the car. Once inside, they generated enough heat to fog the windows.

But the spell hadn’t just removed the curse; it wiped away any remaining pain of Cal, clearing the way for Will to give all his love to Lucas. And to get all of Lucas’s in return.

“Stop staring at my ass and get over here,” Lucas said without turning around.

Will obliged, even if it was a perfectly good ass to stare at.

The carcass was picked clean, and they spent the next few minutes cleaning up the spilled juices and covering the tray with aluminum foil.

“I was talking to Jude before,” Lucas said. “I offered to run fitness and nutrition classes for the kids, and she liked the idea. What do you think?”

Lucas’s generosity struck Will hard. Cal’s selfishness and Will’s own misery had stopped him from seeing it all along, but through everything, Lucas had held on to it.

“I think that’s a great idea. I’m sure they’d love that.”

“And if you’re going to be working here more….”

“That’s still some time away.” Will had decided to get a master’s of social work, his accounting degree being put to some good use by putting him on a fast track to completing his studies. It meant debt, but it was something he believed in and wanted to do.

“It’ll happen,” Lucas said. “Besides, you can always work a bit of magic.”

“I’m done with magic. It’s brought me—and you—nothing but trouble.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s been all bad. It brought us together, so if anything, one of us got what they wished for.”

Will slid into Lucas’s arms and gazed up into those enchanting eyes. “You’ve got it wrong. We both got what we wanted. It just took me a little longer to realize what it was.”

Lucas smiled and kissed Will’s lips, and it was magic in every sense of the word.

DANIEL DE LORNE goes for the heart. Whether it’s irresistible vampires, paranormal paramours, or hot everyday men, he promises stories with a magic trifecta of ruin, romance, and redemption. In love with writing since he wrote a story about a talking tree at age six, his first novel, the romantic horror Beckoning Blood, was published in 2014.

In his other life, Daniel is a professional writer and researcher in Perth, Australia, with a love of history and nature. All of which makes for great story fodder. And when he’s not working, he and his husband explore as much of this amazing world as they can, from the ruins of Welsh abbeys to trekking famous routes and swimming with whales.

To get to the real heart of the matter, visit www.danieldelorne.com and subscribe to his newsletter for all the latest news and a free story.

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By Daniel de Lorne

The Faller

Flour, Eggs, Sugar, and Magic

Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com

Published by

DREAMSPINNER PRESS

5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Flour, Eggs, Sugar, and Magic

© 2019 Daniel de Lorne

Cover Art

© 2019 L.C. Chase
http://www.lcchase.com

Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.

Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-775-9

Digital eBook published December 2019
v. 1.0

Printed in the United States of America