Cursed Magics

By Lexi Ostrow

Magic touched Casey's life the same way it touched her mother's. A premonition gone wrong lead to her mother's death. After, Casey and her father packed up their trinket shop and ran to protect Casey from the same fate. The path ended in Junaria, in the quiet outskirts of the village just in the edge of the palace.

 

Magic stole Charles's humanity, his father, and the kingdom that was rightfully his. All that remained was a silver swirl in a glass jar - and his need for revenge.

 

Magic couldn't forewarn Casey of the monster who would trade her father's life for hers. Magic couldn't change the soul of a man losing himself with every moment.

 

Magic could bring a beauty and a beast together and break two magic curses.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lexi Ostrow
• Release date: Feb 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201730741

Lexi Ostrow

USA Today Bestselling Author Lexi Ostrow has been in love with the written word since second grade when her librarian started a writing club. Born in sunny southern California she's spent time in various places across the country thanks to her husband's USCG career. Now, she's also mom to a far too adorable toddler, and a menagerie of pets, spinning fantastical worlds whenever she gets the opportunity. Lexi has been a writer ever since the second grade in some form or another. Getting her degree in creative writing and her master's in journalism she couldn't wait to get a chance to put her fantasies down on paper.  From paranormal romance to thriller there isn't a genre she doesn't love to spend her time reading or writing. With her BA in creative writing from UCR and her MA in multi-media Journalism from Emerson College, she's ready to take on the literary world one novel at a time. Reading and writing are her first loves, but her passion for shopping, love for yummy food and her love for all her many pets are not far behind. Lexi is an enthusiast Whovian and DC Comic Show lover who isn't afraid to talk someone's ear off about them. She hopes to one day help other readers fall in love with writing as she did.

Book preview

Chapter One

The scent of fresh dough baking filled Casey’s nose as she pushed open the wooden shutters, letting in the orange gleam of the rising sun. Casey licked her lips, dreaming of freshly baked rolls and loaves of bread lovingly pulled from the oven by Helena. Her stomach released a small growl, but Casey paid it no mind.

It was not unusual for her to be up with the sun - nor was it strange for Ealeaven to be up with the crack of dawn. Where she lived, only those with wares to sell earned enough money to feed their families and keep their homes from the King’s taxation woes. That required them to be up with dawn to set up their shops, or travel along the road to the castle if they sought to sell their goods to those who did not live within the town.

Glancing around the stuffy shop, Casey couldn’t ignore the sense of dread filling her. Despite her lot in life, Casey never truly felt the world was as tragic as others in Ealeaven believed it to be. The castle stood high off in the distance, and the woods could destroy a person if they wandered in without proper knowledge, but overall, Casey enjoyed her life. Until unease snaked around her ankles and curled suffocatingly up her torso until resting almost loving along her neck. She could breathe, but the concern was overwhelming.

Still, Casey kept her gaze out the window to see what might come.

A carriage travelled  through the center of town toward the castle. A beautiful woman sat next to the window, a woman Casey had never seen before. Long black hair slipped out the window and pale skin with the reddest lips were visible just before the young woman turned away.

Another princess for the princes no doubt.

A shrill tweet sounded the start of the chorus of cuckoo clocks in her father’s shop. One by one they went, signaling the early morning hour. Casey closed her eyes, inhaled the smell of the bakery next door, and listened to the ever-present chiming of the clocks. 

Casey? Is that you in there letting out all that racket? Elanor, a stout elderly woman with blonde hair leaned down and shouted into the open window.

Always is, Ma’am, Casey lifted her hand to her forehand and then sharply dragged it down, saluting the other woman.

One day a fine man is going to come for you and you’ll be too strange for them to like ya, you will. Her cockney accent always seemed louder when she insulted Casey.

Understood, Ma’am, Leaning out, Casey wrapped her hands around both shutters and tugged them inward, stamping out a small amount of the sounds of the village waking to greet the day.

Where she lived, the villagers earned their keep or they were cast aside.

Casey let herself glance around the small interior of the shop on the lower level of the thatched roof two-story she called home.

Glass orbs seemed to glow with the light of the stars and the moon trapped inside. Thick old books with golden locks stood in stacks gathering dust. Bowls over a century old sat in various places across the wooden countertop.

And not a soul to come purchase them, Casey sighed, dropping down into the oversized, red-cushioned wingback chair. Trinkets aplenty and the customers all stay away. Her elbow landed on the arm of the chair and Casey rested her chin in her hand.

Though she didn’t believe the world was as terrible as many in Ealeaven did, she and her father had their own troubles. A curse set her apart from the others who dwelled on the outskirts of the kingdom. Magics that stole Casey’s mother from her and plagued Casey as well.

Her mother could read the cards and see paths a person’s life would take. Nothing was set, but their journey came and went before her mother’s very eyes as if she lived it. Unfortunately, Leanna Dupont could not control who’s future she would see, or when.

Or who the future would infuriate.

Casey would never forget the burning flames licking along the foundation of their straw roof home. The smell of burning wood was weaved into her nose for all eternity, and she could not stand to be near even the smallest flame.

Her mother read the future of a king from a distant land and saw that the son would murder the father and drive the kingdom into destitution. When the young prince did indeed destroy his father, the townspeople came with their pitchforks and flaming torches for her poor mother.

Casey, her father hobbled down the stairs, an ever present reminder of the danger he exposed himself to when rushing to save her in the fire when the roof collapsed in on him. Why ever are you just sitting there in the dark? He turned the tiny rusted knob on the oil lamp before striking the match. It’s far too early to be up and moping about. Go, he shooed at her. Go enjoy the day. You know as well as I that the shoppers will not suddenly appear. We do not ell what is needed, only what is desired by those far more wealthy than these tiny streets will ever yield.

One day, you will see fit to pack up all these eccentricities and return home - across the ocean and away from all that cursed mother.

Casey, the low growl was the only time her father ever rumbled above a happy pitch. Speaking of her mother was off limits.

Fine, fine. I will go grab some bread. It smells especially delicious this morning. Casey scooped her brown cloak off the hook and wrapped it around her.

Mind your manners, Casey. We don’t need anymore talk.

She had the gall to mimic him as she pushed the door open and stepped out.

I heard that, Louis called out as the door slammed shut.

A gathering up ahead pulled Casey’s gaze from the bakery. 

What is that, sixteen people? Perhaps twenty? She stood on her tiptoes. Goodness, is all of this side of Ealeaven out there?

The alluring smell of hot dough called to her, but the idea of so many gathered together just after the crack of dawn pulled Casey’s feet toward the huddle.

It was murder! Henry, the ironsmith, coughed.

Murder, Casey whispered in shock.

Right inside those very woods! Mr. Tawny, the librarian, pointed a crooked finger toward the woods that bordered the town.

You should have seen the body, a young child shouted, but the