“I do not have that magic, Haden does.”
“I saw you. You do have it. As soon as the bargain was in place, you instantly forgot, Della. You didn’t remember our conversation, and when Mikel came, you acted as if you had just gotten there too.”
Cassius wasn’t a liar. I knew he was telling me the truth, but that scared the shit out of me.
“What did I want to forget?”
Cassius clenched his jaw before looking me directly in the eyes.
“You said that Haden couldn’t know what you did, and you were scared he would see it in your mind and try to change fate.”
My mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out.
“I have been both dreading and looking forward to this day for years because I could see you were so desperate for my help. When I asked you why me, you told me that you needed someone you could trust and count on. I am terrified that when I say this to you, you will remember terrible things. I don’t want this to cause you any more pain.”
Tears were falling down my face as I watched Cassius. I took a shaky breath before turning my back to him. What the fuck did I do? If I made a bargain like this, then I wasn’t just hiding from Haden; I was hiding from someone else. I would not go through this much trouble to hide my own memories from myself.
I turned to Cassius and nodded. “All right, tell me whatever you are supposed to.”
“It’s bad, isn’t it? I can tell by your face that you are terrified,” he asked in trepidation.
I closed my eyes tightly, trying to find the words to describe what was going through my mind. When I opened them, Cassius was waiting patiently for a response.
“If I went through all of this trouble to hide my own memories from myself, then I am going to assume I did something terrible, Cassius. Whatever it was, I was not just hiding it from Haden. I wanted to make sure that someone else did not know what I was doing. Whatever it is, it must not be done, and now I will need to finish whatever I started.”
Cassius looked at me and frowned as he stepped forward. He grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes.
“Bring forth the forgotten truth of who and what you are, Ardella,” he said with conviction. I stared at him, not feeling anything at first. Cassius stared at me intently, like he expected that I might change drastically.
“Did anything happen?” he asked after a moment.
“No,” I said, confused. “Did you get the words right?”
“Yes, you literally marked them into my forearm,” he said. He lifted his arm and showed the words, but as soon as I read them, they soaked into his skin, disappearing along with his star bargain.
“Cassius?” I whispered as my vision blurred and then disappeared.My arms instinctively moved up to feel around myself.
“Della?” he said in a panic. “What’s wrong?”
“Help me to the bed; I cannot see.”
“Fuck.” Cassius lifted me up and set me on the bed. I could hear him pacing around. “Should I get someone?”
“No,” I said too quickly. “You need to leave.”
“Are you fucking crazy?” He paused. “You are currently blind, and I did it to you.”
“Cassius, I’m not asking; you need to leave. I will be fine. I can feel something happening to me, but I do not know what I will remember. If it is bad, my magic will explode from me and hurt you. So, please leave; I will see you soon.”
“Della…”
“Go, and do not say anything to anyone.” I needed him to go. “Thank you for doing this for me. I would not have trusted just anyone with this.”
Cassius squeezed my hand. “You are family.”
Tears were stinging my eyes. “Go, hurry.”
I felt when Cassius left, his power no longer lingered in the air. It was just in time because my head began pounding. My entire body stiffened, sinking into the bed below me painfully. Asmall sob broke from my lips as my skin began to feel like it was burning off of me. I was dying. Then a soft, cold shiver ran up my spine, and when I opened my eyes, the pain stopped.
