“Wait and see,” Cliona murmured.
I felt everything. Sarah’s presence was wrapped up with the witch’s tattered soul on the table, and Ethan was there, too, his golden magic like a ribbon weaving him and Sarah together.
My mother’s power was the glue keeping everything together. I had to figure out a way to separate that glue and replace it with my power. There were some tatters in the spell already, places my mother hadn’t been able to seal fast enough. Possibly even Cliona’s interference in the spell.
I reached for those areas, carefully burning away Mom’s magic and replacing it with mine. The work was delicate and lengthy, and sweat beaded my skin with each area I replaced.
A cool hand brushed my forehead once, but I was lost in the work, unable to see or hear anything other than the blood roaring in my veins.
Memories assailed me. Hits and bites and the sting of sticks and spoons and assorted metal, the hard, rounded edges of knuckles colliding with my cheek, the feel of cool concrete against my burning skin.
The screaming. Oh gods, the screaming. Constant, sustained, the sound enough to make my ears bleed.
“Mom. I don’t think she’s okay…” A whispered familiar voice I wish I could reach out to.
“She must,” came another voice. “Moira must overpower the magic before it consumes her.”
Tears spilled from my eyes.
You’ll never be anything. No one will ever love you. Only I will, Moira. That’s why you must always stay with me.
But you hurt me…
Pain is life fulfilled. Your pain keeps me alive, and don’t you want me to stay with you, darling daughter?
A stroke of cool fingers over my hair, followed by the bruising pinch of a harsh hand clenching my chin, and the scream ofStay still, godsdamn you!
The whimper from someone—me—and the sound of water droplets on the stone floor.
Not water. Tears. My tears.
Begging, pleading, confusion.
A lack of energy, lethargy when she drained me, the need to sleep all the time…
I sucked in a breath. That familiar fatigue that had plagued me for so long. It felt the same as?—
She won’t fight much. How long will it take?
Pale skin. Glowing eyes. Hesitation.
She’s a child.
A child I need to stay alive.
This might not work.
I am paying you to ensure this works.
Blood. So much blood.
Help.
Help me.
Someone help me.
Anyone.
