I shook my head. “I wouldn't have known.”
“I found it!” Jasper snapped the journal closed and stood up before slinging the journal across the table toward Silas, who grabbed it and opened it, flipping to the page Jasper had folded and started to read.
“Thisisit,” Silas murmured. “This is how we kill Matthieu.”
“How?” My heartbeat echoed in my skull as my blood rushed through my body rapidly.
The pain in my side throbbed, but I couldn’t even care about it as I stared at Silas in anticipation.
“To kill an immortal mage, they need to be stabbed in the heart by anunspelledabominal femur bone with the same amount of runes on it as was used to create the immortal. The dagger bone must be dipped in the antidote of mortality… There is a recipe for the antidote.” Silas handed the journal over to Bastian, who started scanning it over.
My mind raced with the news. I had tried to break the immortality curse for so long, and it made sensehowto break it. I had actually attempted to kill myself with an abominal femur dagger before, though I’d never thought about the antidote or the runes.
“This antidote recipe is almost exactly the same as the original potion, only the brain of a scutterfly is added,” Bastian mumbled to himself. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” He flipped the page.
“And sunshine,” Casper murmured, getting up and handing me a journal that I took with a shaky hand as I sat up on my knees.
“What's this?”
“Documented death records of both of your parents and your brother as well as their resting places in the Allura Empire. It looks like it was written by a servant by the name of Diane.”
I remembered Diane vividly. She was the first friend I’d made after being turned immortal. I brushed my fingertips over the leather-bound journal that once had apparently been written by a dear friend.
The spine cracked as I opened it and read through what I could. “My parents died of old age,” I mumbled as relief spread through me and pushed through the bond. “But my brother did die in a grockett attack.”
“It was what you were told before,” Aimon murmured.
I nodded. “It's better that way. I've already mourned them this way.”
“Check the resting places,” Jasper told me.
I flipped to the next page to find that my parents’ and brother’s resting place was within our family land—the same land my cottage sat on.
I took a shaky breath, relief streaming into me like cold water through my veins, and a few tears fell on the pages. “Thank spirits,” I gasped, shutting the journal and holding it to my chest. “Diane would'veneverlied about this.”
“Matthieu truly is a monster,” Silas bit out.
“At least his physical form finally matches his personality,” Aimon muttered.
“We can finally end him after we get this weapon. But, Fawn, love…” Bastian murmured, his pink eyes boring holes into mine. “You need to promise me, all of us, that you willneveruse it on yourself. Promise me you will donothingthat will cause your death or the end of our immortality.”
“I would never…” My breath caught in my throat as I remembered when they had caught me trying to break the immortality curse after I’d bonded them to me. “Iwasn'ttrying to kill myself,” I clarified.
“No, but you didn't care if you died either,” Aimon stated.
I glanced down because he had a point. Before recently, I truly regarded immortality as a curse—a plague—and I’d spread that to them. It made me feelawful. But now that I realized just what kind of feelings I had for them, I understood the betrayal that must’ve made them feel…
“I promise you all that I won’t ever try to break the immortality again.” My chest tightened.
“Good,” Jasper snarled, standing up and resting his palms on the table as he leaned close to me, his garnet eyes glowing with possessiveness. “Because you are ours and we are yours. We are not letting you go—even to death.”
Casper stood up and did the same thing, his face next to his brother’s. “We are not going to let you go,” he repeated his brother’s sentiment.
Glancing behind them, I could see that Aimon, Bastian, and Silas wore the same determined expression.
“I have something to live for now, and that's all five of you,” I murmured, and love surged through the bond.
4
