The room went in and out of focus. Magic and blood heated in tandem beneath my skin, like coiling serpents ready to strike.
I killed them all.
He’d had me believe Branock Aris had murdered my father out of revenge, as a way to get back at Gayl by hurting anyone he had been close to. Gayl told me he’d tried toprotectmy father.
Lies. Everything from this man’s mouth had been a lie.
And those other men, the ones who had followed Gayl…the Sanguivex, my aunt had called them. All of whom died within a couple years of my father. Once again, I’d blamed Branock Aris, but it had been Gayl the entire time.
“Why?” was all I could force through my clenched teeth, around the cloying, bitter taste of rage.
“They knew too much. After all of our years together, all of the nights spent practicing blood magic and creating such spells, they knew it was I who caused the Somnivae curse twenty-seven years ago. They knew what it could do, what I longed for. And they were beginning to speak. I did what I had to do.”
“But…the night my father died, the Illusionist who killed him said ‘Branock Aris sends his love.’”
“Hamilton and the others were the very ones who helped me develop the curse. In a way, they were part of the reason for Branock Aris’ downfall. That was merely the message I sent. Aris had no idea who Hamilton was, nor the rest of the Sanguivex.”
The truth crashed into me. The lie I had believed so whole-heartedly now seared as it warped and twisted at Gayl’s words.
He killed my father.
His voice grew fainter against the loud pounding of my heart. That night in his lair when I’d lost control of my magic had felt like an explosion inside my chest, like my very blood had burned, boiling to the surface and releasing in a shattering of energy.
But now I felt…something else entirely.
It wasn’t an eruption. There was no sudden burst of magic. It was as if a piece inside of me settled. A silent part clicking into place. A door opening.
“You murdered your own brother,” I said, barely a whisper. Looking down, I realized my hands had been balled into fists tight enough to pierce the cut on my palm from when I’d tried to curse Callum. Blood leaked from my flesh and dripped to the floor.
My neck snapped back up to Gayl. “You murdered my father,” I growled, louder this time.
Magic swirled angrily in my bones, eager for retribution. Eager to be set free. Taking a step toward him, I raised my blood-stained hand. Gayl’s body lifted from the ground, his fingers clawing at his neck as if he was choking.
I uttered no spell, but my magic seemed to have a mind of its own.
“You didn’t deserve to call him your brother.” With each word, I took another step, his body moving with me. I ignored the gasps from Rissa and Lark and the clambering of Gayl’s guards as they hesitated to come to his aid. “You didn’t deserve to have him stand by your side. You don’t deserve to speak his nameeveragain.”
His head slammed into the far wall, but when he opened his eyes, he was grinning.
“Look at you,” he said, wheezing. “More power than you have ever dreamed of. But it’s still not enough.”
With a wave of his hand, he fell to the ground and landed on his feet.
I expected him to retaliate, to execute me on the spot, but instead, he straightened his cloak and rolled his neck along his shoulders. As if this were child’s play. As if I wasnothing. With a simple flick of his wrist, I was suddenly immobilized from the neck down, unable to move my limbs. I thrashed and tugged at the enchantment, desperation clawing at my throat, but it was no use. He had me at his mercy.
“You will never understand the things I had to sacrifice to keep this curse alive, Rose.”
My breath left me. “So the Somnivae curse wasn’t an accident? Youmeantto cast it?”
“It’s not just a curse, is it, Your Majesty?” Lark asked, breaking her silence.
He said nothing, examining us like insects under a magnifying glass. I twisted again within his magical grip, my arms aching to move, but I was stuck.
What did Lark mean? For all my knowledge of spells and herbs and curses, blood magic was a whole new world. A dark realm of possibilities was laid out before us.
“You don’t even want to get rid of it, do you?” I asked. Wasthatwhy he’d let Leo live all these years?
Gayl’s focus was solely on me. “Why would I want to get rid of it? The Somnivae curse is the pinnacle of my creations. It has given meeverything.”
