Suddenly, Bella—appearing out of nowhere—grabbed Amina’s arm with her uninjured hand and twisted. A sickening snap of breaking bone rang out over the chapel.
Risa cried out with Amina just as magic surged over them, another wave unleashed. It seethed and raged, searching anew for an opening in Risa’s defenses, eager to crawl in and devour whatever it could find. The sheer force of it knocked the breath out of her.
The witch had to be somewhere in the chapel. Risa’s only thought was to follow the new trail, discover where it originated, and try to stopper the flow directly at the source. She focused her attention on each guest and each Sanguine.
General Sur canted his head and considered the princess, who hung like a marionette from Bella’s hand.
“I amend my demands. Prince Javi, you will wed my daughter, you will make her Queen Perla of Madros, and thenyouwill kill Princess Amina.”
Javi straightened to his full height. He looked at Risa with pity. “I will not.”
“Once you kill the princess…” the general trailed off, ignoringJavi and turning his back on the prince. He marched down the dais until he stood face-to-face with Risa and pressed the pistol against her temple. “I will kill you for your wanton attack against the monarchy and destroying the legacy of our departed royal family. A war will begin. Your silly aunt will rally against Madros for what she will no doubt claim as an unjust death sentence. And I will win.”
Amina sobbed. The general’s daughter also cried out, taking a step toward the princess as another wave of uncontrolled magic hit Risa in the chest.
Risa blinked through the suffocating grasp of the curse trying to pry her open like a clamshell. She needed to find the source, but she was buckling under the powerful surge as it tried to drag her deeper into its depths.
“If you want to kill the rightful queen, do it yourself,” Javi spat.
The general shrugged. “Fine.”
He spun and took aim at Amina.
“Father, no!”
Perla flung herself from the dais. She crashed into her father and grabbed for the pistol. General Sur stumbled, bewildered by the attack, but only for a moment before he gripped his daughter’s chin in a bone-crushing grasp.
“You.” It was an accusation. Cruel and dripping with venom. “Yousaved her life. I asked for one thing and youdefiedme.”
“Let her go,” the bride begged, tears clinging to her lashes. One trembled at the bow of her lips. “I’ll kill the prince myself. Take Madros, the whole world—but let her go.”
“No,” Amina cried. She aimed her dagger, but Bella grabbed it from her with a snarl before returning Amina’s favor and stabbing it through the princess’s hand.
“Please.” Perla’s voice turned desperate, even as her father’s fingers sank painfully into her cheeks. “I’ll do whatever you like. I’ll extend the spell. I’ll force it past the desert even if it kills me, and then you’ll be rid of the daughter you never wanted. But you have to let Amina go.”
General Sur stared between his daughter and Amina. “She was always your weakness.”
And suddenly, Risa understood.
Madros was not cursed.
Perlawas.
Somehow, what had started as a spell for General Sur—something around the power of control, perhaps controlling one person in the guard, or one member of the royal family—had gained enough power to become a curse that pulled nearly everyone into its orbit. The general had forced Perla to extend her magic until it turned against her and became a breathing, writhing thing that sloughed off Perla in thick, slow globs.
No wonder the curse was powerful. It was spurred on by Perla’s irreparable guilt and regret. It had an endless source of power, continually replenished by her father’s actions and her inaction.
And now that Risa understood, she closed her eyes and dived into the magic once more.
The curse had morphed into a hideous mass that was more comparable to a heaving ocean than to the vines Risa knew and the knots to which Linda had likened magic. This felt like swimming against a current, only the water was made of viscous pitch, subsisting on Perla’s guilt. Perla’s conviction of her own villainy was too strong for Risa to unravel with her desperation, and there wasn’t much she could do against a curse that someone didn’t want broken.
But Risa had to try.
Before she could dive into the curse, though, she had to escape heractualimprisonment in El Gib’s grasp. Risa sagged in his arms and became deadweight. El Gib was entirely unprepared, grunting as she slipped from his hold and landed in a heap on the floor. Once free, Risa scrambled away, rushing toward Perla.
If magic was about belief, then she was going to get Perla to believe in herself.
“It’s not your fault!”
