Spellbinder (18 page)
Authors: C. C. Hunter
“Our winner, Tabitha Evans,” the council announced and the sound of the applause rang too loudly in Miranda’s ears. A feeling she’d known too often filled her chest and twisted her stomach. The one associated with losing. The one she’d felt so often, having to face the disappointment in her mother’s eyes.
Head held high, refusing to show emotion, she walked over to her half-sister. Tabitha stood in blissful shock. Miranda hugged her. Tight. “Congratulations.”
Taking a deep breath, and trying not to look at her mom, Miranda darted to her dressing room. Her chest felt heavy. She’d let her mom down. Let her down so badly.
“Miranda?” she heard someone call her name. She didn’t stop. Moving faster, she longed for solitude. She made it inside of her small dressing room, took one deep gulp of oxygen, and then another. The door behind her swished open, slamming against the wall.
Miranda turned, expecting to see her mom, dreading the discontent she’d see in her mother’s eyes, but it wasn’t her mom perched in the doorway.
Tabitha, her cheeks bright, anger in her eyes, stood in the doorway. “You purposefully lost to me, didn’t you?”
Miranda rolled her eyes. “Please. I wanted this as bad as you did. For me. For my mom. You know how much my mom wanted this. You won fair and square. And don’t gloat about it. Just leave.” She gripped her hands into tight fists.
“I don’t believe you,” her half-sister said.
“Well, what do you want me to do? Take a lie detector test? Sign me up!”
“Tabitha,” Mary Esther’s voice called out. “You need to give a speech.”
“Go,” Miranda said and gave Tabitha a nudge out the door. “Go before my mother shows up and our moms get into another fight.”
“Are you sure?” Tabitha asked. “You didn’t do this on purpose?”
“I’m sure.” She gave her sister a quick hug. “Now go, before I get jealous and give you pimples or something.”
Tabitha grinned and then took off. And that’s when Miranda saw Della and Kylie standing there in the hall. Their expressions showed they knew.
Miranda waited until her sister had turned the corner and couldn’t hear. Crossing the hall, she faced her two best friends. “Never tell a soul. Promise me.”
They looked at each other and then said in unison, “Promise.”
“But why?” Kylie asked. “You’ve wanted this. I know you wanted this. Your mom groomed you for this all your life. Making your mom proud meant so much to you. Why throw it away?”
Miranda put her hand over her lips as tears slipped from her lashes. Then she wiped them away. As much as it stung, she’d done the right thing.
“Tabitha deserves it.”
“More than you?” Della snapped. “How the hell did you come up with that theory? I swear, I do not understand nice people.”
Miranda took in another deep breath. “My dad loves my mom. Not hers. And Mary Esther had him first. That’s wrong.”
“That sucks. And I don’t think that’s a good enough reason,” Della said. “The sins of the mother are not supposed to climb down the generation ladder.”
“Well, they do,” Miranda said. “And yes, it sucks.” She held out her arms. “So much so I … Can I have a hug?” They both walked into Miranda’s embrace.
And there in Paris, her dream of making high priestess forever vanished, Miranda knew that as uncertain as some things were in life—things like love—she would always have her two best friends.
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Photograph courtesy of Leah Fortney
C. C. HUNTER
lives in Spring, Texas, where she’s at work on her next novel. To learn more, visit her on the Web at
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Novellas
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Contents
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
SPELLBINDER
. Copyright © 2015 by Christie Craig. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover design by Elsie Lyons
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].
e-ISBN 9781466891326
First Edition: June 2015