“Elaria”—my mother gaped at me again—“you really haven't thought this through. Just because you blocked the RS, it doesn't mean that she's gone. If you break your ties with your men, you'll have to find new ones to replace them.”
Verin growled again but I let it go. My mother had scared him—she had scared me too. With the RS blocked, it had felt as if she was gone. I had tricked myself into believing that I could be with only Verin but my mother was right, the RS was still inside me. Her growth had been suppressed by the Witch Leaders but she still needed to feed on love. Without it, she'd die and she'd take me with her.
“This is her reality, Verin,” my mother said sternly. “If you want to be with Elaria, this is what you must accept. You'll have to share her. If she leaves her husbands, you'll have to find replacements for them quickly or she will die. Do you understand me? She will burn herself from the inside out—the very death you saved her from.”
Verin swallowed visibly and shifted his stare from my mother to me. “If that's what you need, I will accept it.”
“But I don't want it,” I vowed as I wrapped my arms around his waist. “I don't want to be with them.”
“It may be better to keep them instead of trying to find men to replace them,” every word sounded forced from his throat.
“Then I'll keep them but I'll live with you,” I declared.
“Do you truly think they'll be okay with that?” My mother scoffed. “They'll demand their rights as your husbands.”
“They can demand all they want; it won't make a difference,” I snapped.
“It will to them.” My mom grabbed my shoulder and gently pulled me away from Verin to face her. “Push them too far, and they will leave you, Elaria.”
“Then I'll replace them.” I lifted my chin.
“That many lovers? Do you remember how close it came with Gage? And that was only one man.”
“I'll do what I have to do, Mother.”
“And you think that these unknown men—men who will have to love you in order to fuel the RS—will just obediently live separate lives from you? You will find yourself in the same situation you are now.”
My shoulders fell as I recognized the truth in her words. “Then I will die.”
“Elaria!” My mother cried furiously.
“Don't you see?” I asked her hopelessly. “I need to love them back. To bind them to the RS, I have to love them too but I don't love them anymore. And I know that I will never love anyone but Verin. So, it seems to me that I have two choices: I can either find a way to love them again or find a way to destroy the RS. If I don't, she will destroy me.”
My mother gasped. I guess I wasn't the only one who hadn't thought things through.
“We'll find a way,” Verin vowed as he pulled me back into his arms. “Whatever we have to do, we'll do it. If we can't destroy the RS, we'll find a way to make you love them.”
“Verin, you have to understand how unlikely both of those scenarios are,” I murmured sadly.
“No, Elaria, we've just found each other!” Verin snarled. “I love you. I love you enough to do anything to save you, even share your love with others. If you can't love them, we'll get Vivian to cast another spell on you. We'll buy ourselves some time until we can figure things out. But no matter what happens, I willnotlet you die.”
“A love spell to return her true love,” my mother muttered as she walked away. “Now that's messed up enough that it just might work.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
When Verin and I made it back to the treehouse, my parents were waiting for us in the living room. They both had grim expressions on their faces and glasses of amber liquid in their hands.
“Did you determine what kind of spell it is?” I asked hesitantly.
“It's an illusion spell,” Dad said gruffly.
“Of course it is,” I groaned in self-recrimination. “I've been so focused on how Scylla could block my magic that I disregarded the obvious.”
“Illusions can be cast with potions?” Verin asked in surprise.
“By a really talented witch, yes,” I said. “Once crafted, they can be used by anyone.”
“You're saying that this witch could have simply sold Scylla the potions that she used against us?” Verin growled. “The witch didn't have to be there to cast them upon Scylla herself?
