The blade would strike her.
Gritting his teeth, he forced every inch of his control onto his arms, onto his hands, and onto the heavy steel swinging through the air. Momentary control lifted him from the darkness. He jerked the sword back and stumbled sideways, missing her head by an inch.
The Cursed One roared and slammed Lorcan out of sight again. Control slipped from his fingers. Heart hammering, he sighed in relief. That had been far too close. Reyna had almost died.
She is mine, the Cursed One hissed into his mind.Stop fighting this. You’ll be gone soon. Just give up!
I won’t give up. Not so long as Reyna needs me.
Have you not figured it out yet?He laughed.With every drink of blood, the further you fall. You’re barely clinging on now. One more drink, and that’s the end of you. I’ll take over for good.
Lorcan fell silent. He should have known. With dark Unseelie magic, it always came back to the blood, and the Cursed One had been basking in it. He was surprised he’d been able to hold on for so long.
In fact…The Cursed One whirled back toward the throne.I need to get rid of you once and for all now. I can’t have you interfering with my fight against Reyna. She’s trying to undo the curse. And for some bloody reason, you want to help her, even though that means our death.
I thought she just had to spill my blood.
Our blood,the Cursed one hissed.She has to spill all of it. The only way for the curse to end is for Lorcan Rothach to die.
Lorcan sucked in a sharp breath. Surely that couldn’t be the only answer. Could it? He thought over everything he’d read and heard about the curse. It was blood magic, left behind by Molt. He’d bound it to the throne, and his death, his blood, has set it all in motion.
And only death could end it.
Fuck.He wanted to pound his hands against the walls and beg the gods to reconsider. His grip on the world had long since begun to slip, but he wanted to hold on and never let go. Lorcan did not want to leave this place. He wanted to spend decades by Reyna’s side. He wanted to see the light in her eyes when they woke up together every morning for hundreds of years to come.
He didn’t want to leaveher.
The Cursed One snatched his goblet from the floor and tipped fresh blood into it from a full decanter. Lorcan’s heart pounded as he watched helplessly. He lifted the goblet to his lips. The blood poured down his throat.
“What are you doing?” Reyna hissed from behind him. “Put down the damn blood and face me, Lorcan.”
Lorcan—therealLorcan—winced. She really thought it was him. He would die without saying goodbye to her and explaining that he’d tried his damnedest to save her from himself time and time again. She’d never know.
The Cursed One turned on Reyna and curved his lips into a wicked grin. The silver ice princess glared at him with furious stubborn determination lighting her up like a brilliant storm. From the darkness, Lorcan smiled.
Look at her,he thought to himself.She’s the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen in my life.
Realization settled over him, and a strange sense of peace chased away the panic and the fear. Reyna was here to stop the curse. She was here to save the world from him. There was only one way she could do it. And he would do everything in his power to help her.
“Would you like to try some?” the Cursed One asked, chuckling when Reyna let out a deep, menacing growl. “It would be far more interesting to face someone who could actually challenge me.” He sniffed. “And you don’t stand a chance without some blood.”
“Oh, is that right?” Reyna fisted her hand and blasted ice in his direction. It slammed onto the floor by his feet, freezing the vines that had long since died.
The Cursed One smiled. “You’re not even trying to hit me. Too afraid of hurting your precious lover? I’ve told you, time and time again.” He dropped his voice to a vicious whisper. “He’s not here.”
Lorcan began to lose his grip on the moment. Darkness clouded his vision, and Reyna’s voice sounded as though she’d travelled miles from his side. The blood filled his mind until all he could see was red.
No.He shoved the red aside and focused on the present. Not yet. Reyna needed him to find a way to help her.
“Besides,” the Cursed One said. “I thought we agreed to fight with no magic.”
She pointed at the goblet. “You drank blood.”
“Fine. No more blood. No more magic.” The Cursed One tossed the Iron Dragon from one hand to the next. It buzzed with power as the edges of the blade lit up in flames. “Let’s end this now.”
51
Reyna
