Of Stars and Spells
Using the stars, I divine the perfect match for my clients, but in my own love life? I’m jinxed!
I’m astrologist Autumn Whitethorne, and I use the magic of the stars for matchmaking—one look at a person’s birth chart and I can predict who their perfect soul mate might be. My office at Conjure is decorated with pictures of the matches I’ve divined, but in my own life, I’m jinxed. Not even an astronomical dose of Love Potion No. 9 can save me from spinsterhood.
Quinn Harrington, the only man I’ve ever loved, left five years ago, and no matter how many times I read the stars, there’s no hope for a happily-ever-after for us. When Quinn unexpectedly returns to Raven Falls, vowing to mend our relationship, I resist falling under his spell again.
Quinn claims revealing the truth about why he left could put me in danger. Danger comes calling, anyway, when one of my spells leads us to a powerful corporation determined to chase Quinn’s family, as well as me and my magickal sisters, out of town.
Can I save our family homes, as well as resurrect my tangled love affair with Quinn? Or will our ill-fated future, written in the stars, doom us and everyone we love?
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**Note: While this story is intended for grown-up audiences, this story is clean and shareable with younger readers 13 and up!
Excerpt
Autumn. My favorite season and the one I’m named after. This morning, I feel the tug of the Pacific Northwest weather, the turning of the Wheel of Life, even before I open my front door.
Something big is happening today. Even my cards agree. The Ace of Pentacles fell out of my tarot deck as I performed my daily morning shuffle, alerting me to new beginnings and earth energy working together to bring me something tangible.
I’m thinking about the clients I have later today—two tarot readings, and a past life birth chart analysis—as my familiar Sirius and I jog the path near the national forest. A black truck roars past us and wheels in at Harrington Farms.
A man gets out dressed in a perfectly pressed white military uniform. I stop in my tracks and my breath catches in my lungs.
I’d know that build, that beautiful head of hair, that face, anywhere.
He goes to the gate to unlock it.
I blink several times, unable to believe my eyes. This Air Force officer is broader and more muscled under that impressive uniform than I man I knew five years ago.
But my heart has no doubt, its solid thudthudthud inside my chest an absolute checkmark.
Quinn.
My soul mate.
Sirius stops beside me, his lanky body pressing into my leg as he picks up on my sudden mix of emotions—surprise, worry…
Love.
A bottomless well of unrequited love.
For half a second, I try to talk myself out of the idea that it truly is Quinn Harrington. He’s swung the gate open so he can drive up the lane leading to the house.
His buzzcut hair is so dark, it seems to absorb the morning sunlight. When he looks up, his eyes meet mine, and there’s no denying it.
I sense him catch his breath.
This is the man who left me five years ago.
The man whose chart I’ve read a hundred times.
Unlike the dozens of couples decorating the wall in my office, ours isn’t a fairy tale ending. We’re soul mates, yes, but not all soul mates end up together.
My love life is jinxed. In this lifetime, Quinn and I are destined to only be star-crossed lovers.
Doesn’t mean I’ve stopped caring for him. Dreaming about him. Wishing on the stars that he’d back down to earth to be with me.
Wish granted.
Or is it?
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