His brow furrows. “Perhaps we can try a different spell—”
Something tugs in my chest, a deeply buried instinct. “Wait.” I close my eyes, taking Thomas’s hands. The tug grows stronger, and out of impulse, I decide to try something simpler.
“Show me the curse,” I whisper.
Almost instantly, I’m transported back, though this time, I’m seeing things through Braeya’s eyes, and I’m very much alive. Something cold and hard is in my hand, and I don’t have to look to know it’s the metal cross Jacques gave her. A heavy door closes behind me, and I pull up a hood, turning my head down as I slip through the shadows of a dark corridor.
I hurry out of the building, seeing the shadow of a cross illuminated by moonlight on the ground in front of me. Holding up my skirts, I rush through the yard and disappear into the woods. My heart is beating fast, and I’m scared.
Something moves in the trees behind me. I stop, and hold up my hand. The same rush of heat flows through my fingers, but instead of turning into flames, little blue lines of electricity crackle up and down my fingers.
“Hello?” I ask, voice thin. A dark shape emerges from the brush. It’s a large man in dark robes. He pulls back his hood and grins. Panic floods through me, and my hand sparks with electricity. I shove it in the guy’s face, shocking him like a taser, and take off.
I know what happens next, and I don’t want to see it.
I squeeze my eyes closed and tighten my grip on Thomas’s hands.Show me the curse, I order, wanting to see Braeya’s father performing the magic. Thomas squeezes my hand back, and I can feel Jacques moving closer.
“Ace?” he asks, but his voice is distant, almost like I’m underwater. “Are you all right?”
I open my mouth to tell him I am, but no sound comes out. Just trying to talk to him pulls me away from the vision, and the fight to stay in it pulls me in different directions. I can’t stay in both. I need to pick one, to fully submerge myself into the past or keep watching from a distance, not able to take in all the details.
I press my nails into Thomas’s flesh and let go of everything around me.
Darkness circles me, and whispers in a foreign language fill my ears. I’m Braeya again, cold and lifeless. Her soul is gone, and all that’s left is the empty vessel I’m hiding in, watching everything unfold.
The moon rises higher in the sky. Dew starts to form on my hands, and bugs crawl over my face. The night goes on, oblivious to the terror just committed. It won’t be long now before her father finds her, and there’s no need to feel his heart break all over again.The curse. Show me the curse.
I’m squeezing Thomas’s hands so hard it must hurt. He holds steady, and in the distance, I can hear his heart beating along with my own. Braeya’s body is picked up, clutched against her father’s chest, and taken back to a cabin hidden in the woods.
Darkness is surrounding us, following us, becoming us. Words spoken out of grief and anger can’t be taken back, and the actual curse hasn’t even started yet.
I start to lose focus as my head begins to throb, and I become less aware of the vision and more aware of my physical surroundings. No. I’m so close. I need to hang onto the vision and stay.
Show me.
I’m back in Braeya’s body again, head turned to the side. I’m facing a wall but I can see dried herbs hanging above me, and a bookshelf full of tomes and jars filled with potions. A fire is lit behind us, casting moving shadows on the wall. My arm is pulled and the sleeve pushed up.
Braeya’s father starts chanting, and tears fall from his eyes, splashing onto my outstretched arm. He rubs something over my flesh, and then plunges a knife into my wrist. A bowl is propped under my arm, and the same is done on the other side.
Suddenly, Thomas yanks his hands back. Blinking open my eyes, I’m forced back into the present too fast. I throw a hand back to catch myself before I fall, only to realize my fingers are ablaze.
Oh, shit.
No wonder Thomas let go. I was burning him. Jacques pushes me upright, and I curl my fingers into fists to extinguish the flames.
“Did you see all that?” I pant, still trying to get my eyes to focus.
“I did.” Thomas stands up and steps over the circle. Gil moves forward, making sure his twin is all right. “It’s worse than we thought, brother.”
“What are you talking about?” Gil asks, stopping short.
“The curse,” I start, holding onto Jacques for support. He helps me to my feet, but I’m still unsteady. “It’s not just complicated magic. It’s blood magic.”
12
“Blood magic?” Hasan repeats, eyes going from me to Jacques, not sure which one of us will explain it. All I know is it’s bad, considered black magic, and that it’s something I’d never attempt once I figure out how to actually do any sort of magic.
“That’s why we’re bound to you,” Jacques says dryly. “By blood.”
