“What are you talking about?” I whispered.
He snapped his fingers and the guards dropped their hold on Rissa, Horace, and Lark, unshackling them from their cuffs. I watched in horror as my friends each grabbed a sword from the guards’ scabbards and, with foreign expressions of pure rage, turned to face one another.
Horacewas the first to move.
He bolted to Rissa, raising his sword and striking hard and fast, leaving her hardly any time to block his attack. Lark came in from the side and brought Rissa to her knees with a swift kick to the hip. Swinging her sword down on Horace’s shoulder, Lark let out a battle cry.
Horace spun away just in time, using his momentum to swipe his blade across her stomach. She leapt backward, but not before a splatter of dark blood hit the floor. Stunned, she clutched at her middle.
“Stop!” I screamed. It was like they didn’t know what they were doing. They were completely savage, controlled by whatever mind games Gayl was playing. I tried to run toward them, but my legs wouldn’t move. A guttural shriek left my throat as I pushed and shoved with all my might, trying to break free of the spell.
“Make them stop,please!” I begged as Rissa narrowly avoided having her head cut clean off by Lark’s blade. My breaths were broken and wild. I couldn’t do this. If I had to watch them kill each other?—
In an instant, they stopped moving. Completely frozen, eyes glassy.
“I can do this without even athought, Rose. While I pride myself on innate strength of magic, do youtrulythink there is any way I could be so powerful on my own?” Gayl asked, cocking his head. He was trying to lead me to the answer, guiding me along the way as he had during our lessons.
It had something to do with the curse. He said it had given him everything. How could it have given him his power? The curse didn’t affect him. It had taken all those people?—
I inhaled sharply. “The people. When they fall to the curse, what…what happens to their magic?” His eyes brightened in triumph at my question, the way they did when he helped me with my magic.
My blood ran cold.
“It—it goes to you, doesn’t it?”
He didn’t have to say anything. His expression was confirmation enough.
The curse…it was how he had accumulated so much power. Every time someone became cursed,hegot their power. Or at least, pieces of it.
For twenty-seven years.Thousandsof people.
He was…invincible. How could he not be, with that much power? I couldn’t even begin to wrap my mind around the kind of magic he possessed, all at the expense of his empire. Hispeople.
“That’s why Leo is still alive,” I said, trembling. “Not to protect him. Because youneedhim. If he died, your curse would end.” I glanced back at the wall where the portal had been. “Then why trap him there, if not for him to die? What was the point of all this?”
“I told you: to teach them a lesson.” His voice was still as quiet, still as captivating as ever, not even a hint of anger or worry that I was uncovering all of his secrets. A constant reminder that this had always been under his control. “To show your Sentinel friends that no matter how large their numbers grow, how pure of heart their goal is, it’s all futile. If I wanted to simply detain your Zareleon in my palace, I could have done so. But it’s much more meaningful this way, don’t you understand?” He took a step toward me. “I do not wish to rule by force alone. I want to see how far you are willing to go, how much you are willing to sacrifice, before I put an end to it.”
Gayl brandished an arm and the enchantment over my limbs broke. I stumbled as Horace, Rissa, and Lark fell to the ground at the same time, swords clattering against the hard floor. Lark held a hand to her stomach, her eyes widening when it pulled away red. Rissa rushed to her. Each of them looked confused and terrified, as if they didn’t remember what had happened.
This was all for show. He had no intention of letting us go. He had no intention of releasing Leo from his prison on the island.
Another question flashed before me. “How did you get Zareleon andClarissa into the trial?”
“Ididn’t, niece.” Gayl steepled his hands in front of his face. “Youdid.”
My mouth fell open. Rissa shot me a look, as if believing, if only for a moment, I’d done something to betray her.
“I don’t know what he’s talking about, Rissa, I swear,” I rushed out. Glaring at Gayl, I said, “I would never do that to them.”
With the snap of his finger, a white handkerchief and a small strip of cloth appeared in his grasp. Spots of red stained each of the fabrics.
I blinked. “Those…”
“Are yours. Yes, I know.”
The handkerchief was the one I’d used in the dress shop when Rissa cut herself on the pins of my dress. And the cloth…I had accidentally nicked Leo’s hand when cutting open the letter from Gayl that same night. The last time I had seen either of them was?—
“I asked you to retrieve them for me, and you delivered it the evening of our last lesson. I never did properly thank you,” Gayl said, inclining his head toward me in a mockery of a bow.
