Bryn gave a slow nod. “I do.”
“We should hurry now that we’re all here,” Illiana said. “Elysander, you keep watch by the door. Bryn, come. Lay down on the sheet.”
Illiana and Rangar helped Bryn down to the sheet, where she lay on her stomach. Illiana unbuttoned the buttons along the back of her dress and smoothed the fabric away from her skin.
“The possession hex requires full use of the caster’s back,” Illiana said. “It’s fortunate that Bryn’s back is not yet covered with hexmarks—it would make getting the positioning all the more challenging.”
Bryn felt Illiana’s confident fingers moving over her back, tracing the shapes she was about to carve. Whatever potion was in the vial was starting to work. Bryn could feel her muscles unwind, and her mind started to float off. She mentally snagged her thoughts, holding them close.
Don’t drift off yet.
“The hex involves five cuts at these intervals.” Illiana pressed her finger on Bryn’s shoulder blades, at the base of her neck, and the bottom of each ribcage. “I’ll ask each of you to take a place by a mark, then link hands and repeat these words:Mann desta ka.”
The skin on Bryn’s back prickled in anticipation. Even with the blindfold on, she found herself squeezing her eyes shut. No matter how many hexmarks she received, each one would always feel unpredictable and risky.
She heard the slick ring of a blade as Illiana unsheathed a knife. “Ready, Bryn?”
Bryn swallowed down a hard lump. “Do it.”
Whispering a spell under her breath, Illiana pressed the blade to Bryn’s left shoulder blade. Pain seared into her skin as Illiana made the first cut, then moved on to the right shoulder blade. As soon as it was done, Prince Anter took up a position by her left side, chanting the possession incantation. When Illiana finished with the second cut and moved on to the one at the base of her right ribcage, Queen Karin took up her position. The queen’s voice rang with her heavy accent.
Three cuts.
Then four.
Bryn gritted her teeth against the pain. These cuts felt longer and deeper than any she’d received before, and with each subsequent jab, her mind wanted to drift further away from her body. Already, she was having trouble keeping her attention on the present. Her spirit wanted to run from the pain, run far away . . . and yet it also craved seeking something new.
Someonenew.
Finally, Illiana moved to the final cut at the base of Bryn’s neck. She moved the hair aside again and made the cut. Bryn sucked in a gasp as lines of tingles ran between the five hexmarks making up the possession hex. Her whole back throbbed in a way that went beyond mere pain: it was as though a part of her was trying to claw its way out from the cuts.
The knife clattered as Illiana tossed it aside. “Everyone, hurry. The spell.”
All five voices rose in unison.
“Mann desta ka.”
“Mann desta ka.”
“Mann desta ka.”
“Mann desta ka.”
“Mann desta ka.”
Bryn’s body began to shake uncontrollably. She was aware of it happening, but it felt like it wasn’therbody. Her spirit felt like it was floating somewhere up near the ceiling, looking down at the five amplifier casters through the black shadow of the blindfold. Yet a small part of her still felt tethered to her body as though by a cord.
“Bryn.” Rangar pressed a gentle hand to her shoulder once the recitation was finished. “Can you hear me?”
I can hear you, she tried to say but found it didn’t quite come out. Watching in that hazy dark light from above, she looked down on Rangar inclined over her body. Her body’s lips only murmured a garbled few sounds.
“What’s wrong with her?” Rangar snapped.
“Her spirit is separating,” Illiana explained. “It’s exactly what is supposed to happen. But we must get her to Queen Amelia soon, or else we risk her spirit finding a different body to settle into.”
Through the dark clouds, Bryn was shocked to see how much blood was pouring out of her body. Illiana quickly bandaged what she could and applied an herbal poultice, then buttoned up Bryn’s dress.
She started to pick up the bloody sheets, but Elysander said, “Go. Take Bryn to Queen Amelia. I’ll burn the bloody sheets in the fireplace.”
