I can feel Vorak under my hands. His heartbeat, too fast. His skin, burning hot. And deeper—
The curse.
I canfeelit.
It's not part of him. It'swrapped aroundhim, a living thing with teeth and claws and a hunger that never ends. It's tangled through his chest like thorns through a garden, choking, suffocating.
Killing him slowly.
My magic finds it.
Andgrabs.
The curse fights back immediately. I feel it thrash, feel it try to sink deeper, to hide where I can't reach.
But I'm not letting go.
Hold, I tell it, though I don't know if it can understand.Hold still. Be calm. Let him GO.
The light gets brighter. Hotter.
I taste copper. Lightning. Something that might be my own blood.
Somewhere very far away, I hear Vorak make a sound—broken and almost human.
Then the cursemoves.
Not gone. Not destroyed.
Butback. Pushed down. Forced into the corners where it can't reach, can't control.
The light flares one final time, so bright it turns the smoke to gold—
And then it's gone.
I sway, suddenly boneless, and strong hands catch me before I hit the ground.
Rurik. His face is white, eyes wide with shock.
"What—" His voice cracks. "What did you just—"
I don't answer.
Can't answer.
I'm staring at Vorak.
He's on his knees in the middle of the blood-soaked courtyard, shaking like he's been struck by lightning. His runes are dim now, cooling from blazing red to dull copper.
And his eyes—
Gold. Human gold.
Vorak'seyes.
He looks up at me, and the devastation in his face nearly breaks me.
"Annora." My name sounds like an apology. A plea. "I—what did I—"
