Chapter 2: Trecherous

*Three Years Earlier*

Kate remembered the first time she met Theo Frost. It was her seventh birthday party and her father had promised to come but didn’t show up. Her mother and grandparents tried to give her some semblance of normalcy and invited the children of their friends. Kate didn’t really have any actual friends aside from her cousin Jess. It had gone terribly to say the least and ended with her and Jess escaping to the attic with the birthday cake and gorging themselves on the sweet until they almost threw up.

Kate had no reason to speak to Theo again even when she occasionally crossed paths with him. They went to a university with a small population of students who were too involved in each other’s business more than was necessary. She had been quite good at pretending she didn’t even know he existed after her friendship with his sister Veronica expired. Thus, she was more than a little surprised when Theo came to speak with her one day in the woods.

"I request support from House Sable."

The words were simple but she could feel the Old Magic tingling in the air, crawling up her spine and leaving goose bumps on her skin. This was magic made long before she was born, dormant all this time but still very powerful. She stared at him warily. He looked much too calm.

"What do you want?" she nearly growled between her teeth. The Old Magic pressed into her skin like pin pricks of needles. "Why are you doing this?"

"I’m dying," he explained, plainly. "I request your aid to save myself."

He had spoken the words ‘I’m dying’ as if it was a well-known fact to everyone and not some closely guarded secret. There had been rumors of all sorts of ancient blood curses in the Frost family for years but there had been no confirmation until that moment. Theo Frost was dying at the age of twenty. She could hardly believe it but was too angry at him to feel pity.

"Calling on old alliances then?" she nearly scoffed. Her skin felt hot like she was running a fever. "I’m not the only Sable you can ask for help."

"You have that half-brother. His name is Cathal, am I right?" He shook his head, dismissively. "He can’t provide me with what I need."

She inwardly cursed her ancestors and the alliances they forged before they left for the New World. She couldn’t say no, not unless she requested permission from the head of the family. She had never even met her grandfather Edric Sable. And she didn’t want to talk to her father unless she really had to.

More than a little unhappy, she demanded, "What do you want me to do?"

He pulled out a book from his satchel. His initials were engraved into the leather of his brown messenger bag which she had always found pretentious. The book looked too old to be a textbook. It had to be a grimoire.

He handed her the book. The weathered leather nearly cracked in her hands. It must be filled with all sorts of forgotten spells. She wondered if it was old enough to be made from human skin.

"There’s a bonding spell that could be the answer to my problem," Theo explained. "We’ll need to cast it soon."

"You just need my help to cast a spell?"

That wasn’t so bad.

He hesitated before answering, "I need you to bind yourself to me."

She threw the book back at him. "Hell, no!"

The Old Magic pressed so harshly into her she could barely breathe. Her abdomen began to hurt. She could feel blood drip down her nose. She closed her eyes and held on despite the pain.

"This is the only way I can save myself," he said, getting closer to her. She looked up and glared at him. "Haven’t you noticed how why people in my family get married so young? I inherited an ancient blood curse from my ancestors and my magic is killing me."

"That’s not my problem," she hissed even as the Old Magic punished her with more discomfort.

"It might be, actually."

He reached for her left hand and pulled back the sleeve of her sweater to show the birth mark on her wrist. It looked almost like scar tissue, a curving line that slashed across her wrist and over blue veins.

"According to this, you were made for me," he said.

She scoffed, despite feeling lightheaded from the Old Magic and something else she didn’t want to name. He was touching her. She wanted him to stop. She wanted him to never let go.

"I’m not yours. And you’re not mine. You’ve made that clear all these years."

"I’ve neglected you." His fingers gently traced the thin veins on her pale wrist. "I’ll do better."

Kate didn’t trust this facsimile of affection. She had been an afterthought to him her entire life. He couldn’t come into her life and demand she upturn her world for him when he had never done anything for her.

"Because I’m your Hail Mary and you’ll die without me," she said with a finality she despised.

It sat heavily with her like all awful truths.

He inclined his head, agreeing without words.

"Don’t you have a girlfriend?" she questioned, remembering the pretty blonde who he had been dating for a year. "Why don’t you ask her? Or did she say no?"

"Audrey doesn’t know and I never asked. I know the ritual won’t work with her."

"And you think it’ll work with me?"

"You are my last shot," Theo declared. "I will not just rollover and let this curse kill me without a fight."

She felt a wave of resentment that wasn’t unfamiliar to her. There would be romance or affection in this bond, only convenience. Is this why fate put them together? She was a solution for his terrible problem.

And what was he to her? He was a nuisance at best. At worst, he was the boy that had rejected and ignored her repeatedly. He dated beautiful girls like Audrey Quinn until he remembered how useful Kate could be to him.

"Just read it before you make up your mind," Theo said.

He finally dropped her wrist and handed her the book again. She took it back reluctantly. Her head felt full of cotton and she knew she was about to faint. She licked her lips and tasted blood.

"Fine," Kate agreed with no small amount of bitterness.

She may be a Sable in name but she was a LeClair in every other way. Her mother was a doctor and wouldn’t let some boy die without trying her best to help. She was from a long line of healers, teachers, and advisers.

It was the right thing to do. Kate was going to save him then she never wanted to see him again. She could make him add that to the bond so that he could never ask anything of her ever again. She would fulfill whatever purpose the fates had for her and then she was done.

Theo offered her his handkerchief, white and embroidered with his initials. She declined and started walking back towards campus. The Old Magic had disappeared but its effects still gave her a killer headache. She wiped at her bloody lips and cursed all her ancestors.

Kate cursed fate for giving her the worst soul mate in the world.

***

*Present Day*

Kate could not believe she was being asked by another Frost to cast another illegal ritual. She couldn’t seem to escape this damn family. She should transfer schools. Maybe she might even leave the country.

"Hear me out," Veronica said. "I found a ritual that could resurrect him."

Kate closed her eyes and tried not to scream in frustration. She shouldn’t have been so shocked. Veronica had adored Theo despite always being treated as the lesser child by their parents. Theo had been a good, big brother. He had been the only person that made Veronica feel truly loved and his death was unacceptable to her.

Kate opened her eyes and stared at the other girl’s desperate face. "Of course you did."

"And I need you for the ritual to work."

"Why is that?" Kate probed. "Why can’t you ask your friends to help you?"

Veronica grabbed Kate’s wrist and pulled back the sleeve of her coat, her fingers traced the birthmark

"This is one of the oldest forms of magic in existence. They wrote stories about soul mates and how it could overcome even death itself," Veronica told her. "There’s a story that dates back all the way to Ancient Greece of a man whose wife was sacrificed for a harvest ritual and he was able to bring her back to life."

Kate sighed. "It can’t be anything more than a fanciful myth. Fairytales and love stories end badly more often than not."

"Not all of them."

"There’s too few for comfort." She winced as Veronica’s nails were digging lightly into one of her veins. "And besides, necromancy is advanced spell craft and highly illegal."

"It’s only a problem if we get caught and we won’t be"

Veronica’s confidence bordered on absurdity at times that it was almost a thing of wonder. Kate doubted there was anything that could hinder Veronica’s drive to succeed.

"You saw what happened the last time," Kate pointed out, snatching back her wrist. "We tried to mess with fate once and it failed spectacularly."

"The circumstances are different," Veronica reasoned. "There’s no blood curse to complicate the bond."

Kate doubted this would work at all. All these rituals were meant to be buried in the past and forgotten. Their ancestors stopped casting them for a reason. There were some things better left to nature.

Fighting it and trying to manipulate it had only gotten her burned.

"How is it different?" Kate asked.

"Your bond will act as a tether between worlds and will guide him back to the land of the living. Without the bond, this whole thing wouldn’t work."

Hadn’t Kate helped enough? Why was it never enough? There was always someone wanting something from her and never giving anything in return. She was sick of it.

Veronica must’ve sensed Kate’s growing apprehension and pulled out a thick folder from her leather backpack. She offered it to Kate.

"Before you say no, could you give at least read through this?" Veronica’s expression softened slightly. "You loved him. I know you did. And I know if the circumstances were reversed that Theo would be doing everything he can to bring you back."

It was a low blow that nearly knocked Kate off her feet. She accepted the folder reluctantly.

"We have to try, Kate," Veronica insisted. "At least once."