Chapter 7
I was an idiot for bringing her here.
It was arguably one of the dumbest things I had done in the last century.
But what other choice had there been? Maren had seen my magic, and the rules had always been clear.
Once a human witnessed my Avalean magic, it became an activator for the curse.
That human was then required to stay here until one of two things happened: Either they died or broke the curse.
I wasn’t quite sure why that stipulation was written into the curse, but if I ever wanted to truly free myself and save Eroth, I had to follow through.
That was why I had taken her. That was why I was now stuck with her.
If I had been smart, I would have just dumped her in the lava pits and left her to die. Rid my hands of her completely. She would never be what I needed her to be—what I had needed all the others to be.
And perhaps that was what frustrated me most of all.
Maren followed behind me at a distance as I led her past the Scorching Rivers, pushing the lava away with my magic to create a path for us.
I hadn’t lied before—the lava wouldn’t hurt me—so long as I had my magic to protect me.
Without it, I’d burn just like she would. But she didn’t need to know that.
Besides, Eroth was where I was strongest. This land fueled what was left of my magic. I had nothing to fear here.
For now anyway.
After a mind-numbingly—and miraculously silent after all those questions—long walk to Shadow Ire Castle, the metal gates finally loomed in front of us. The lava pressed against my magic, trying to sneak through to catch a meal.
The Scorching Rivers had always had a mind of their own, at least since the curse had silenced the Beast of Eroth.
Once he had controlled them, but the Beast hadn’t been seen in centuries, and the lava grew more predatory by the day, unchecked and uncontrolled.
My magic was strong enough to keep it at bay for now, but I dreaded the day when it wouldn’t be any longer.
That day was approaching much quicker than I liked.
On top of trying to solve that little issue, now I had to deal with a human following me around. A human that would not survive in this world without me. Without Fae magic, she was defenseless. Nothing would stop the Rivers from devouring her the first chance they had.
I glanced over my shoulder, finding those gray eyes watching me carefully.
We hadn’t spoken since we left the tunnel—since I revealed who I was to her.
I didn’t know why I did that either. Something about this human made me make foolish decisions.
I needed to focus, to keep my mouth closed, and stop revealing important things to her.
No, I needed to get rid of her.
In answer to my thought, my magic surged into my hands, ready to claim her life.
Panic filled my bones, and I quickly looked away from Maren, redirecting my magic to make the gates swing open, rather than killing the girl.
Golden light lit up the night, truly showcasing the devastating decay of the castle before it faded, leaving everything in the shadows of the moons once more.
Get a hold of yourself, Rhydian. If you kill her, then you’ll really have no hope.
Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no hope anyway.
There was no way she’d be the cursebreaker.
I blew a long breath through my nose. Though she was annoying, I didn’t truly think she deserved to die. She had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. As all the others had been.
But now I was suffering for it.
I came to a stop, gesturing to the enormous stone structure in front of me. The place that was mine, though I never wanted it. “Welcome to Shadow Ire Castle.”
Where I lived alone.
Well, besides Nico, but he didn’t count. He was my servant, chained to this castle as much as I was.
“I want to go home,” the girl said, for the thousandth time, her voice so full of sadness that for a split second my stone heart felt an unfamiliar pang.
Then it was gone, replaced by annoyance.
I allowed myself to toy with the thought of removing her tongue so she couldn’t annoy me anymore.
I supposed that was a bit too cruel. Without a tongue, she’d never fulfill the curse requirements.
She’s not going to break the curse, you fool. It’s hopeless.
I shook the reminder from my head, and met her pleading gray eyes. “Well, this is your home now, so you better get used to it.”
I watched as her eyes brimmed with tears before she skillfully shut them off, replacing them with a mask of cold fury.
Well, that was interesting.
I called on my magic, intending to try to feel her emotions and understand what she was thinking—though the sleeping gods only knew why—but found that I couldn’t.
My magic was drained after using the portal to return to Avalea and then keeping the rivers of fire from consuming her.
I let out a silent sigh. I used to be the most powerful Dark Fae in all of Avalea, even amongst the rulers of the other three kingdoms. But because of the curse, it had been reduced to pitiful Simple Magic—and even that was difficult to control these days.
I was running out of time.
Thinking about it only made me angrier, which didn’t help this current situation at all.
So I shoved everything down, down, down, and stepped through the gates and headed into the castle.
“I suggest coming inside unless you feel like burning to death,” I called, flicking a hand in the lava’s general direction. It crept toward us, never ceasing.
For a second, I thought Maren would defy me and remain outside, though that would have greatly surprised me if she had.
Thus far, she hadn’t proven to have much fight in her.
She backed down, shut down, hid within herself at any sign of conflict.
Just another reason why this girl would never be a cursebreaker.
Mice didn’t fall in love with predators.
Finally, she kicked at the dirt and followed me inside.
It took several tries, but faint gold magic finally filtered out from my palm, closing the metal gates and sealing her inside the castle grounds with me, keeping the danger of the Scorching Rivers out.
If only she knew of the danger within.