“No,” Jake shouted. “Jazz, leave it. Don’t say it. You are under the oath of death. If you say it, you will die.”
Jazz tried to breathe as she coughed and threw up blood all over the floor. She knew she had to warn Jake about the man he was facing; otherwise, he had no chance of winning. Her own death didn’t matter, but she had to do everything she could to protect Jake and the clan.
“Mundus.” She coughed as searing pain burned through her throat. “It’s the black sorcerer. It’s Mundus.”
The second the words were out of her mouth, hot, burning pain crushed through her body. Jazz screamed as the unbearable pain wracked through her blood, tearing her consciousness apart.
She felt the blissful relief as darkness suddenly surrounded her and she fell on the floor. She could hear Jake shouting and calling her name. She looked at his face, trying to memorize every single detail.
“I will wait for you,” she whispered. “I will wait for you in the afterlife.”
His crying face was the last thing she saw before the darkness took over and she faded away.
Chapter 18
Jake
“I am afraid that there is no way to heal someone who has broken the oath of death,” the healer told Jake. “The oath prevents a person from breaking the promise but by sheer will, someone can break it. Just like Jasmine did. Despite her body seizing up, she still managed to force the answer out. Once the promise has been broken, the person dies. There is no other way.”
“That can’t be,” Jake said, a wave of separation crushing his chest. He looked down at Jazz as she lay in the healing chamber. “There has to be something we can do.”
“She is already on death’s door, Jake,” the healer said. “She has perhaps an hour before life drains from her body completely.”
“No,” Jake said, shaking his head. He swallowed as tears prickled his eyes and waves of emotions crashed through him. “You don’t understand. She is my mate.”
Jake turned to look at the healer. “Please. She is my mate, she can’t die.”
The healer sighed before looking down sadly. “There is nothing I can do, Jake. I am very sorry. There is only one hope and even that looks bleak.”
“Tell me what I have to do,” Jake said. “I will do whatever it is. Please!”
“There is a theory that the oath can be terminated if the oath-taker dies, freeing the oath-bearer from the consequences,” the healer said. “Then again, it’s just a theory. It’s never been tested-”
“There is no other way?” Jake asked, his voice hardening.
“I am afraid not-” the healer said.
“Keep her alive,” Jake said, cutting him off. “Keep her alive until I kill that man.”
With that he ran off, sending out a mental signal to Lawrance, who responded instantly. He ran towards the council room where everyone was already assembled. He burst into the room and shouted, “The wizard! He is here!”
“There has been no breach,” Bane said, looking through security data. “The shield we put up is completely intact. While someone can pass through it using a string spell, it would have still detected it.”
“The ruby?” Jake asked.
“Safe for now,” Lawrance shouted, running in. “I just checked on it. It’s safe.”
“All we have to do is lay a trap,” Branson said. “The wizard will eventually come to us, and we can ambush him.”
“No,” Jake said. “We don’t have time to sit around and wait for him to show up. We have to act now.”
“The logical decision would be to set up an ambush,” Bane said. “We know he is here, and we have the upper hand at the moment.”
“We can’t wait,” Jake said. “We have to move now!”
“Why?” Branson asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Jazz broke the oath to tell me his name,” Jake said. “She is dying and the only hope we have of saving her is to destroy this man.”
