“Nula fuga,” I murmur.
Tendrils of my shadows shoot forward, dragging witches back by their hair, who try to escape while Helda keeps us occupied, thinking our focus is entirely on her, but I saw her minions trying to get away. Helda is well aware of thedamage Reiner and I can do. The bitch truly is skilled in her manipulation tactics; even when no magic comes to play, she knows how to keep the attention on herself. Unfortunately for her, my powers are hungry after having a taste of the carnage at the square, and every suspicious movement catches their attention, and therefore, mine. I cannot blame her for trying to bring her coven to safety. Distressed cries and whimpering fill the room as my shadows twist around the huddled witches, caging them in.
“Claude,” I whisper.
Shadows crawl through the space, closing doors and windows and locking everyone in. Every exit is sealed off with my magic.
“Isn’t she amazing, Helda? Do you see how powerful she is already? Fuck, I love this woman,” Reiner marvels with cackling laughter.
He claps his hands loudly, drawing Helda's attention back to him.
“Now, let's try this again; we can do this the whole day. Caria and I have nowhere to be, and as you can see, my love’s shadows are very eager, hungry for witches' flesh,” Reiner says.
I see Helda’s eyes darting around, assessing the situation. She grumbles as she realizes this is a fight she cannot win, folds her arms, and calls a name. A young brunette woman anxiously shuffles forward, her eyes glued to the floor, not daring to look at us. The elderly woman sighs deeply with annoyance at her defeat before instructing the woman to tell us what we want to know. The young woman’s bewildered look at the command piques my interest as her brows shoot up, lips parting in a small gasp of shock.
“Now, it’s impolite to keep visitors waiting, young lady. Go on, start talking.” Reiner taunts her.
The young woman dares to take one more look in Helda's direction, as if to confirm that the older woman is confident she can share this information with us. Helda waves her off, gesturing for her to begin.
“Go on, Sable,” Helda says.
Sable’s face tightens, and her eyes lock in a stunned, unblinking stare as she starts to speak into a void, not looking at us.
“The woman you’re talking about is Adira Dhardere. She arrived here some time ago with her twin children. The children are cursed…” She pauses briefly, seeking permission to continue.
“Just tell them all, dear, it’s fine,” Helda says.
“What do you mean by ‘cursed’?” I ask.
“Their bloodline, it’s doomed, destined for tragedy to repeat itself, a curse that will last for eternity unless it’s broken. Adira is determined to break the curse and free her children from their inevitable fate. One of death.”
Sable continues to inform us about the curse's details. The more she shares, the more puzzle pieces fall into place, and I begin to understand why Fynn suffers from hurt when he and I share intimate moments. Besides being friends, my presence and his spark of interest in me interfere with the bonding process between him and his cursed soulmate. No wonder the girl was all over Reiner that one time; she’s not actually in love with Fynn; she just thinks she is, unconsciously forced into a relationship that was never meant to be. Her interest in Reiner was genuine, which makes everything even worse. She didn’t jump on him just to piss me off; she wanted him. It makes me want to tear out her hair one strand at a time and cut her snake tongue for even speaking to him.
The witch, Sable, tells us that they research the old, worn books Adira brings—diaries full of stories compulsively writtendown. Another side effect of the curse, which forces them to write down all the suffering so that, generation after generation, they know what’s to come. And how their ancestors dealt with it. Another form of torment: learning about your future with no possibility of altering it. It’s cruel and cunning, and honestly, it reminds me of blood-witch magic.
“So… if I understand you correctly, Adira hasn’t shared any of this with her twin children?” I ask Sable as I furrow my brows.
“No… she doesn’t want them to carry her burden. She's trying furiously to break the spell before it’s too late and she loses one or both of her children. We are helping her with that task, trying to figure it out,” Sable responds.
“And what can a human like her give you in return?” I question.
“That’s afascinatingquestion, my love,” Reiner confirms, “Care to explain that part as well, Sable?”
Both of us look at the witch when she softly begins to speak and explains the bargain they have with Adira, Fynn’s mother. I look at Sable in disbelief. She must be lying. Angrily, my shadows shoot out to Helda, wrapping themselves around her thin neck. Frightened, she glances at me as she claws at the dark tendrils, squeezing tighter as my fury builds. She must think we are some fools to tell us such a bullshit fairytale.
“We are telling the truth, youngling, please,” she’s struggling to speak as my shadows squeeze her windpipe.
“Please stop, Death Witch! Why would we lie about this? Why would we mingle with a human if it weren’t true?” Sable pleads.
“Because it’s what your coven does, lie and manipulate, like the poison you wield,” Reiner spits.
Reiner glances at Helda, her lips turning a shade of blue. His narrowed gaze flickers as he shifts his weight, scanning theair for truth. Hesighs heavily,rolling his eyes while leaning back, clearly torn between disbelief and the urge to listen.
“Damnit. Fine. Let her go, darling. If it turns out they are lying, we will terminate the entire coven, make the entire bloodline extinct; let’s hope we do not have to return,” he says as his fingers drum on the table, irritated.
Reluctantly, I withdraw my shadows. Helda falls on the floor, on all fours, coughing and desperately filling her lungs with oxygen. Hearing her fight for breath to soothe her burning lungs gives me some satisfaction.
“Helda, always a pleasure,” he says mockingly.
