Twice Promised

By Alma Alexander

What happens when two very different witches are promised the same first-born child in payment for services rendered...? And then fall in love?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kos Books
• Release date: Jan 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386364375

Alma Alexander

Alma Alexander was born in Yugoslavia and has lived in Zambia, Swaziland, Wales, South Africa and New Zealand. She now lives in Washington state, USA. She writes full-time and runs a monthly creative writing workshop with her husband.

Book preview

Twice Promised

Alma Alexander

H oney?... Alixandra said, hesitating, watching Roland rock their newborn daughter’s cradle with a distracted look on his face.

He looked up, managed a sickly sort of a half-smile, and then they both spoke in unison, in almost exactly the same tone of voice, filled with apprehension, with regret.

"I have something I have to tell you..."

They stopped, stared at one another, and then Roland smiled again, this time in a warmer, more encouraging fashion.

Me first, he said. I’m sorry, my love. I am really sorry. I screwed up.

Alixandra blinked. No, she said, "I did..."

There was an awkward silence, and then Alixandra sighed. Go on.

Back... before we met... I was such a mess, Roland began haltingly. "Everything I touched – and I mean everything – it all just went straight to hell. If there was a job I wanted it would always go to the next guy. It went without saying that the only women I wanted to give the time of day to were way out of my league. Like... like you, for instance."

A ghost of a smile touched the edges of Alixandra’s mouth. Right, she said.

No, don’t laugh, Roland said. "It’s true. And until I met you... I didn’t even know that there was anything to be done about it. It was just, kind of, the way things were. But then I did meet you, and it mattered – it mattered a great deal. So I... found  a way."

A way...? she prompted, after a moment.

For you, to... for us... for you to accept...

Right, she said again. And what did you do?

Roland swallowed. There was... a woman, he said. She came highly recommended. She was a thoroughly modern witch, they said, and you could go to her and you could ask for a favor and she would make it happen.

And you did that?

I went to her... and I asked... I asked...

He asked for you, a voice said, and a shadow detached from the wall and stepped into the room.  It was hard to resolve when the shadow became the person because they were both so dark – the shadow a deep absence of light, and the woman, the solid form who emerged, so deeply ebony black to be almost indistinguishable from the shadow itself.. The only thing that flashed light in the oval of her dark face was a bright flash of very white teeth as she smiled. He asked for you, and I delivered. For a price

Alixandra sat up in bed. "Who are you? What do you want?"

I am Shula, and I come to collect, the black woman said pleasantly enough.

Alixandra turned back to her husband. Roland, what did you promise her?

Roland fought for the words, but Shula made the matter perfectly obvious by stepping forward and leaning over the cradle with the newborn baby girl.

Hello, precious, she cooed at the child.

"The baby? You promised her the baby?"

Shula bared those magnificent teeth again. His firstborn, she said. And I have come...

Not. So. Fast.

Alixandra covered her face as another woman stepped into the room, materializing out of what had been thin air. She was wearing untidy layers of tunics and skirts in ill-matched colors, a mane of wild henna-red hair streaming down her shoulders and over her ample bosom which she only emphasized by crossing her arms underneath her breasts and pushing them into prominence. Roland goggled, and Shula turned, with the smile turning into a pleasant snarl.

"Who, exactly, are you, and what are you doing here?" she asked the red-headed woman.

Will you tell them, Alix dear, or shall I?

Tell them... tell us... what? Roland asked.

Roland... I’m sorry... your one can’t have the baby. She’s my firstborn too. And I promised her... I  made a bargain long ago... to give her to Ethelreda.

"You – our child – you did what?..."

Made a bargain, a better one than yours, boy, Ethelreda said. She got three wishes, at least, instead of your selfish puny little one. And she worked for it, too – she made the effort to come and seek me out, all the way out of  her comfort zone and into the enchanted wood. Not like you looking up a name in a city phone book.

Shula snorted. You’ve been living out in the middle of nowhere for far too long, she said. Phone books are extinct, sweetie.

What? Roland said, ignoring them both, turning back to Alixandra. What did you sell our child for?

Sell her? Alixandra snapped. "You’re a fine one