My sister came into view, running to me with her blonde curls flying wildly around her face. “It—it’s Chaz,” she said shakily. “It got him.”
I gripped her shoulder. “Whatgot him, Rissa?”
She took a deep breath. “The curse.”
56
Rose
My fault.
My fault.
My fault.
I’d been foolish, not thinking of the consequences of using such strong magic, not thinking of theprice…and Chaz had paid it.
Leo stormed past Rissa and into the cottage, leaving his twin and me outside in the silvery glow of night. She shot me a worried look and then reached down to grab my hand, squeezing it before leading me after Leo. Warmth spread in my chest, followed by a bitter sting—if Rissa knew I’d done this, that my actions had caused one of her best friends to be cursed, would she still want to be near me?
The cottage was silent as death. Chaz’s sleeping body lay on the couch, with Horace slumped in the chair next to him and Lark leaning against the wall in the kitchen. Sorrow was written on her dark features. Leo knelt at Chaz’s side, pulling his eyelid open to expose the blood-red iris.
He didn’t speak, his face unreadable. Swiftly, he rose from his crouch as his tail snapped against the legs of the end table.
“Let’s get you back to the palace,” he said, crossing the room and placing a hand on my waist. I wanted to argue, wanted toinsist that I stay to help or at least sit with them,bethere for them, but the tired look in Leo’s eyes had me nodding in silent agreement.
Rissa pulled me aside and gave me a tight hug. “We’ll see you soon, alright?” Leaning back, she offered a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Stay safe, Rose.”
“You too,” I murmured. “Will I see you before the third trial?”
Lark answered from across the room, her voice flat and distant. “That won’t start for a couple days after the ball. We should have plenty of time to debrief before then.”
I nodded again, letting Leo turn me away and to the front door. At the last second, I twisted my neck to take in the view of the four of them. “I’ll fix this,” I promised. “We’ll find a way to end the curse.”
Lark met my gaze. “I know you will.”
Leo’s strong hand around my upper arm urged me out of the cottage. He helped me mount Nightshade and we took off into the forest toward the palace.
Tension shifted like smoke in the air between us, but I couldn’t place where it came from. Was it from our fight? The kiss? The news about Chaz?
I closed my eyes. I wondered if Leo blamed me, too. If he realized Chaz being cursed was because of my magic.
“You were right,” I whispered, feeling his arms clench around me as we rode. “I was careless. I didn’t think about what might happen, and now…”
One of his hands came to rest on my stomach, pulling my back closer into his chest. “You think this is your fault?” he asked.
“Isn’t it?” I craned my neck to glance at him. “Magic that strong has a price. You said it yourself—I bent laws of nature. I saved that boy when it shouldn’t have been possible, and the price was Chaz.”
Sighing, Leo’s muscles relaxed slightly. “I don’t know, Rose. Blood magic is complicated. I shouldn’t have gotten so angry with you about helping the Lightbender boy. You did an amazing thing—truly. You changed that family’s life.” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “But there’s still so much we don’t know about this kind of magic. We’ve seen multiple times what that power can bring. My father, and now Chaz, and Gayl with the curse…” He trailed off, clearing his voice and tightening his grip on me.
“Are you going to tell the others? Your sister?”
He didn’t respond at first, then said, “Not yet. It will only make her worry, and she has enough to deal with. She would divert her attention to keeping me away from the mission instead of focusing on what’s important. I’ll tell her when the time is right.”
We rode in silence for a few minutes, giving me time to think. I bore no regret for finally telling him the truth, for finally being honest and bringing down that last barrier between us. But I would never forget the way he slammed his fist into that tree. The truth had broken a part of him, like I knew it would.
I was afraid his grief and shock would catch up to him and make him realize this night was a mistake. That what he’d admitted to me was a product of heightened emotions. That he didn’t know what he was doing when he kissed me or said he wanted me.Allof me. Maybe now he realized what that meant, and?—
“I can feel you spiraling,” he said into my ear, breaking me from my thoughts. His lips lingered there, and I fought back a shiver.
