“I could use one of these right now.”
Driven by curiosity and desperation, Erinna rifled through a few of the pieces. She scanned the pages for illustrations that resembled her mark, or for anything that might protect her against the curse itself. Perhaps these works would be more useful than she originally thought. Some of the magic was simple and old, designed for those without a Talent, or with a Talent that was less than adept.
A spell for protection against inebriation, an incantation to confuse tax collectors. She shoved that one back with more force than necessary. It was the kind of magic that skirted too close to witchcraft, the kind that could earn you a fine with a year’s wages if you were caught performing such tricks without the approval of the crown.
She was getting distracted. She rolled up her sleeve to study the mark still haunting her forearm. If this were truly a bloodline curse, she needed to trace it backward. Find the source. The founding family member who’d earned or inherited this particular damnation. She knew almost nothing about her father’s lineage—her parents had been tight-lipped about family history, and she’d never pressed hard enough to learn why.
Time to fix that.
Erinna waded deeper, hunting for anything related to druidic bloodlines or birth records. Most were generic histories, but one title made her stop:A History of Modern Druidism. She plucked it free. There was another next to it that seemed well used andrecently pulled.TheHistorical Accounts of Fables and Legends. She tucked it into her bag as well.
The witchlight grew dimmer as she pressed on. The air grew noticeably colder.
Erinna faltered at the change; the hair on the back of her neck rose. She emerged into a small alcove tucked between towering stacks and froze.
A massive cabinet dominated the far wall, its doors wrapped in chains and locks—three separate locks, each one etched with sigils she couldn’t read. Beside it sat a smaller wooden box, held shut by a simple clasp. Nothing elaborate. Nothing threatening.
But on the box’s lid, carved into the wood and faded by time, was a seal.
Erinna’s fingers tightened on her bag’s strap. She yanked up her sleeve, comparing the constellation on her forearm to the emblem before her. Not identical—but close. Three stars in the carved seal matched the three lowest stars on her mark with unnerving precision.
Talent thrummed beneath her skin, a vibration that spread from the mark outward.
She crouched, squinting in the failing light, searching for hidden sigils or tripwires. Nothing. Just a simple box with a simple clasp. Why lock one cabinet so thoroughly and leave the box next to it vulnerable?
Erinna reached for the clasp and hesitated, Afton’s warning echoing in her mind. “Don’t touch anything suspicious.”But the mark on the lid—those three stars—that couldn’t be mere coincidence. Perhaps something within the box was connected to the curse somehow.
She had to know.
With a grunt, Erinna lifted the lid. Heavier than expected—iron lining, maybe, meant to contain something. Stale air puffed into her face, and she coughed, waving away invisible particles.For a moment, she wondered exactly how dangerous it was to go rifling through a dead mage’s secrets.
But something urged her forward. A pull, deep in her chest. An ache to be released. To be free.
Erinna steadied herself and plunged her arm into the box.
Her fingers met nothing. No bottom. No sides. Justvoid, stretching down farther than the box’s dimensions should allow.
Her stomach dropped.
What the hells did I just put my hand into?
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
Athick, sticky substance sloshed around Erinna’s arm and gurgled to life at her disturbance. She tugged herself free of the goop and met viscous resistance. Like moving through chilled honey. She yanked her arm free. Dark blue sludge dripped from her hand to the floor in loud spurts. Erinna’s breath hitched and quickened as the substance boiled over, like a pot of soup left on the fire for too long.
“Afton!” she cried, hoping the apprentice could hear her.
Kane was the first to arrive. He hauled her to her feet and away from the creeping substance.
“I told you to stay put!”
Afton arrived soon after. Furious. “I told you not to go through anything suspicious!”
“I’m sorry. I just…”
“Wasn’t thinking!?” Afton hissed.
