The hair on my neck raised as my breath caught and my muscles tensed.
What felt like an invisible blanket fell over the room, momentarily sucking the air from my lungs—the telltale sign of a spell being cast. It brushed against my skin like a caress until it vanished.
Two hands grabbed my waist from behind.
“Got you.”
A strangled gasp left my lips as I jolted. “Fates, Aven, I’m going tokillyou.”
Aven’s deep chuckle sounded in my ear. “Always so violent.” He spun me around until I faced him, his deep brown skin glowing in the moonlight. Mischievous dark eyes twinkled down at me. “You can pray to the Fates all you want, but I’m the only one here.”
I smacked him on the chest and untangled myself from his arms. “Was it you that opened my window?”
The smug look on his face answered my question. “And cast the silencing spell. Didn’t want that little cousin of yours listening when I made you scream.”
“I didn’tscream.”
“Not yet.” He winked, and I rolled my eyes. Shameless flirt.
“I don’t have time, Aven,” I said, untying my apron and throwing it on top of my mother’s Grimoire. “I have too much to do to get the shop ready for when we leave.”
His hands found my shoulders and began kneading out the knots. “I don’t see why you can’t stay here while your family goes to the capital. Your aunt told you you didn’t need to go. What am I supposed to do while you’re gone?” he pouted.
Extracting myself from his touch, I scoffed. “What you do every time I’m busy. Find someone else.” I wasn’t blind. I knew the reputation Aven had, how quickly he grew bored with his playthings—and that was fine. I grew bored, too. Aven was an escape, a distraction from the demons of my past that I didn’t want to face.
Sometimes escaping wasn’t enough.
“Don’t be like this, Rose,” he said exasperatedly, as if surprised I had thenerveto turn him away. “I’m going to miss you, that’s all.”
I pursed my lips at his wide eyes, his downturned mouth, the crease on his forehead. He was good.
I was better.
Stepping toward him, I raised my hand to cup his cheek, my nose grazing his. Our breaths mingled in the space between us. I felt his pulse quicken. “I know you will, Aven.” My tongue came out to swipe along his lower lip, and he sucked in a breath. “Tell Amelia hello for me tonight, yes?”
I gave him a sweet smile and slipped away. Reaching into my pocket, I pinched a thistle leaf between my fingers then placed it on my tongue. “Finiscere,” I muttered, feeling the spell bubble and flow from my fingers, banishing Aven’s silencing charm.
That’s when I heard the shout.
My neck snapped up.Beau.
I crossed the room in three strides and threw the back door open, the amaranth stem from my pocket already halfway to my mouth before I stopped in my tracks.
Beth lay crumpled on the floor, her brown hair blossomed around her head like a cloud. Beau's entire body shook as he held a hand to his pale forehead.
“We were talking, and she—she just collapsed,” he said, swallowing thickly. “It’s the curse. It has to be.”
I exchanged a look with Aven, whose face was grim. Walking to Beth’s still form, I crouched down and gingerly lifted an eyelid, holding my breath against what I knew in my bones I would find.
Blood-redirises.
Heart sinking, I swallowed back panic, the truth plummeting like a weight in my chest.
“The Somnivae Curse,” I whispered.
3
Rose
