Still, if she blundered her spell and snipped the wrong part, she’d kill him.Of course, if I lose control of the defensive spell, I’d likely kill everyone in the garden, so perhaps inserting the modification is not so risky afterall.
She grimaced, more aware of her station as a mere student than she ever had beenbefore.
There were so many ways this could go wrong.I’m overreaching. Only fourteen years of practice is barely a grain of sand to an enchantress with the lifespan of an elf. There’s no way I can dothis!
Angelique double-checked her modification as Prince Severin began stalking in herdirection.
Hurry, hurry,HURRY!
She swallowed a yelp when he leaped at her, his claws extended, and his eyes gleaming yellow in the moonlight. He snarled, and one of his claws brushed the fabric of her skirts before she thrust her left hand forward, hitting him with her defensivespell.
Her magic surged, and the cursed prince was thrown backwards with such force that his snarl was cut off into a gurgle. He smashed deep into a rose bush and was still for a moment, dazed most likely. (He would have plowed into the wall of guards far across the garden if he hadn’t taken the dive into the thornybush.)
Too much magic in that spell.Probably.
Angelique didn’t allow a flicker of fear to show but instead kept her expression impassive even though internally she was not nearly socalm.
Cripes, that was close! I have never been so near to shrieking in mylife!
Though she dearly wanted to run away screaming, Angelique remained motionless. If she let on just how inexperienced she was, if anyone realized she really shouldn’t be wandering around without supervision, her plans to find Evariste would be sunk before they evenbegan.
Don’t move, don’t move, don’t move.Angelique hurriedly finished her modification spell, hesitating as she looked it over one lasttime.
I have no idea if I’ve done this right. If Evariste were here, he would assure me and coax me alongbut…
Angelique only allowed herself to blink when the cursed prince began rustling in the bush, growling hisdispleasure.
Roland, however, would tell me I am horrible at this, but that I need to fake it anyway. Perhaps, in this case, he isright.
Her heart pounding in her throat, Angelique waited until Prince Severin stumbled out of the rose bush—which had made an even bigger mess of hisclothes.
When he looked in her direction and his lips peeled back, revealing his blood-covered teeth, shestruck.
Angelique flung the spell at him, every muscle in her body stiff with worry. She held her breath as she watched her modification hithim.
It was supposed to make a precise cut to the curse that gave Prince Severin the mind of a beast, making itdissipate.
Instead, Angelique watched with horror as her silvery spell briefly bumped against the angry red script before swallowingit.
Her silver magic swirled up and down the chain, devouring it with an inescapable hunger. A sound not unlike a thousand blades pulling free from a thousand scabbards filled the air as her spellatethe last part of thecurse.
Silver mist pooled around Prince Severin’s feet—paws?—as her spell then began encircling the second piece of the curse—the part that doomed his household to fade away and gave him the form of abeast.
In a blink-and-miss-it move, her modification sliced through the chain of spellwork. Her magic surrounded the loosened link of the curse, smothering it within amoment.
Prince Severin made a confused-sounding mewl before collapsing on the ground in aheap.
Angelique tried not to gape in horror.What justhappened?
The combination of her magic modifying—oreating—the curse gave her a rush of information. Angelique blinked as she tried to process what her powers told her—that Severin’s servants had started to fade away, beginning with their faces and voices. Just as her magic now padded his body—which would help shatter his curse once he broke it himself—she was vaguely aware of her magic slipping from her and forming face masks for Severin’sservants.
Angelique barely managed to keep her eyes from bugging.Advanced magic—like curse modification—is entirely different from simple things like illusions and alteration spells. Evariste either drastically overestimated me or lost his last bit of sanity if he thought I was ready to take my vows as anenchantress!
Her head held high, Angelique waltzed across the garden and elegantly crouched in front of Severin, appearing calm when, really, she was holding her breath, praying she had not just killed the illegitimateprince.
Please bealive!
She relaxed slightly when she saw he still breathed.I can’t tell if it worked yet, but at least I didn’t killhim.
