‘Get Sage. Show her the necklace Meredith got you,’I whimperedas black dots danced at the edges of my vision. Maybe someone with some sense would rip that fucking thing off of him.
‘If I kissed Meredith, and then you caught me, and I said I thought it was you, would you believe me?’he growled, ignoring my comment about the necklace.
‘That’s different, you’re dating Meredith, you’re dating half the goddamn school, Sawyer!’A cry ripped from my throat and the pain became too much.
‘I never touched any of them,’Sawyer growled.‘Ask around, I didn’t kiss a single girl since I met you that day at Delphi.’
My heart couldn’t possibly break any more, but it did.I realized in this moment that the bone-crushing heartache I felt was part his. Through the bond, his heartache and mine had merged into a single beast that felt like it would kill us both.
‘You think I would kiss some rando knowing you were right outside? How stupid do you think I am? Take off that necklace. It’s spelled, you idiot!’The cuffs were so hot, I half wondered if they would catch fire and burn me alive.
His pain and agony laced through our bond, wrapping around me like a snake.
‘Demi, I spoke to the high priestess of the Witch Lands. She says there is no magic that could make another look like me.’
My heart fell at those words.
‘Then she’s lying!’
Silence.I was in too much pain, holding on to too much anger to deal with any of this anymore.
‘When I free you, we can talk more about it, but—’
‘But nothing,’I whimpered.‘Your family curse has fucked you up. You’re broken and you don’t know how to trust people. It’s not my job to convince you of something I didn’t do wrong. If you can’t trust me... it’s over.’
‘Demi, wait—'
‘No,’I whimpered. ‘In what reality would you ever be this mean to me, Sawyer? Think about it. Your necklace from Meredith is spelled and you’re a fucking asshole. Goodbye.’
I couldn’t deal with spelled-necklace-Sawyer anymore. I tore myself away from our bond so fast that I felt something fracture inside of me. A headache slammed into me at the same time the cuffs ripped so much electricity through me that everything went black again.
* * *
When I regainedconsciousness a second time, I was strapped onto a gurney. Bright lights blasted in my face as muffled voices faded in and out of consciousness.
Queen Drake’s voice filled my ears. “Jesus, why does she look half dead?”
A sharp male voice answered: “Looks like she tried to use her power too much. The cuffs reacted in doing their job.”
“She’s a fighter. That bodes well for the potency of the elixir transfer, right?” Her voice was smooth yet terrifying.
“Yes and no,” the male voice said. “It seems the full potent magic we need to harvest from her will only come out with the cuffs off. I’ve tried everything else on her and it’s like trying to tap power from a human.”
She clucked her tongue. “Then we run the risk of battling her full powers.”
“That’s right, My Queen,” he answered. I couldn’t see their faces, they were blobs of darkness as the blinding light overwhelmed my vision.
“Well, that’s fine, I can get a team of soldiers—”
“My liege,” he interrupted. “Even with a full contingent of soldiers—”
“Did you just interrupt me?” she hissed as the bright light over my face suddenly went dark and a body flew across the room, taking the lamp with him. A noise crashed to my left as his body hit the wall.
Holy shit.
I was grateful for the reprieve from the brain-numbing light until the queen peered over me, saliva glistening on her teeth. A shriek tore from my throat when I saw the bleeding heart in her hand, crimson blood trickling down her fingers. In the dim light I peered at the guy she’d thrown across the room. An open cavity lay in the center of his chest as his body slowly decomposed to ash.
“I wonder what she tastes like raw?” the queen queried to someone else in the room, and my gaze snapped back to her.
