“Dritan!” Lark screamed again. I wrapped my arms around her midsection to pull her away from Death’s wrathful reach.
The smoke filled my son’s nostrils, encasing his whole body, before it dissipated abruptly. Dritan’s torso buckled, and when he gaped up at us, he did so with horrid, murky green irises and a vengeful scowl.
No…
His shoulders stiffened as he rose, with fingers blackened as though he’d handled a coal grate in a hearth. With a crack of his neck, he narrowed his eyes on me.
“I told you I would destroy everything that you love,” Caym growled through my son’s lips—a vicious, grating tone that punched the air from my lungs.
“Let go of me!” Lark shouted, but I held her tight; I would not fail Elsedora too. I couldn’t let Lark near him—not like this.
Sources. We were too late.
Again.
“Larkspur, compel him to the ground,” I hissed through my teeth. “Now!”
No softness laced my words; my mistakes had mounted beyond repair, so now all I could do was react in a manner that got her out of here alive.
She hesitated. I’d asked her to wield her Reverist power against her Source Match, againstmy son.
It felt wicked and wrenched my gut.
The monster who stood before us would ruin him. We needed more time…
Caym—in Dritan’s body—stalked closer.
“Now!” I repeated as Lark’s shoulders shook.
Vines of amber shot from his fingertips toward the Princess. Before the claws of death could reach her, Lark’s palm lifted on a sob, and Caym’s knees hit the hot rock with a thud. His attempted Death-wielding ceased.
“What do we do?” she shouted over the roar of waves breaking against the cliffs.
There was only one option.
And I fucking hated it.
We had no magic-binding cuffs with us—poorly planned. But we could not let Caym off this damned island uncontained. Caym could use Dritan’s bound ability to Shadow, meaning he was a liability awake. He would be a snake in the reeds; we would never find him until he struck.
“The Sethe curse,” I growled out, disgusted with my own conclusion.
Caym panted, writhing against Lark’s mental hold on him, and his bloodied fingers dug into the rock.
I’d get them both off this island. I’d buy us more time…
“I can’t,” she whimpered.
“I will do it. You will use the stone to wake him—but we need to contain Caym first. I will find a way to defeat him,” I said. A foolhardy promise, but I’d die trying.
“Alright,” Lark sobbed out, her hand trembling. “I’m so sorry, Dritan. If you can hear me, I’m so, so sorry. I will wake you. Soon. I swear it.”
She compelled Caym to remain on his knees and sank to hers before him. Their nearness caused my nerves to spike.
I crouched beside the snarling monster and looked him in the eyes as I repeated the verses. Recalling the curse came easily; itlived within my last memories awake. The words dug a knife into my chest as I heaved them out.
The final verse required a timeline to be set—a horrific responsibility.
“He shall remain asleep for a century, and if the curse goes unbroken, forever may he rest,” I concluded.
