Chapter 39
“Iwant to sleep and eat, and then sleep some more.” Malakai groans as we step out of the circle in the library. He quickly sheds his jacket and fumbles with his waistcoat just as my stomach grumbles loudly—a clear sign that I’ve burned through all my energy.
“Food first, understood.” Malakai laughs, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. His broken wrist is already healed but clearly still sore, if the twitch in his face is anything to go by.
I give him a meek smile as I move toward a pile of papers on my desk.
“I’ll whip something up quickly tonight. We should have a celebratory dinner tomorrow,” he continues, while I run my finger over the first page of the list of descendants. “It’s the perfect occasion to use those spices we picked up earlier.”
Taking the pile in my hands, I turn to the fireplace. After a few steps, I toss everything into the flames. They crackle and pop as the papers quickly turn to ash.
“Was that the list?” Malakai asks, approaching me.
I nod and head back to my desk. “It was.” I take the small bag of remaining teeth and dump them into my palm.
“I was serious when I said I’m done with my past, with vengeance.
But don’t worry”—I give Malakai a mischievous smile—“that doesn’t mean I’ll revert to my old self.
I like this new version of me—minus the vengeance, which I’m cutting out right now. ”
I turn to destroy the teeth, but Malakai stops me, his hand clasping firmly around my wrist.
“Really?” He glares at me, taking the teeth from my grasp. “Remember the last time you thought this was a good idea?”
I tense under his touch and his words. “Oh, right.” A blush creeps up my cheeks as I recall the skulls and the library I accidentally burned down.
“Besides”—Malakai returns the teeth to the pouch and places it on my desk—“you might still need them to wrap up the curse.”
“Yes, of course,” I say, absentmindedly running a hand through my hair as exhaustion begins to hit me. “What are we going to do about Nagamaru, though?”
Despite knowing it was the only way to get them to help us, I shouldn’t have made that deal with them.
“They’ll be back,” Malakai replies, his posture rigid. “You know they will.”
“Yeah.” I sigh. “I’m sorry.”
“What for?” He blinks at me.
“For giving them hope. I—” I bite my lip, hesitating, my chest clenching. “I don’t think I can sit around waiting for them to show up again.”
“Then we don’t.” My lip pops free as I look at Malakai, seeing the determination in his eyes. “We’ll take some time to rest, to heal, and then we’ll reach out to them. See if we can peacefully come to a mutually beneficial agreement.”
“You sound awfully optimistic that the three of us in a room is actually going to lead to a peaceful discussion.” I snicker as I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his waist.
“Yeah, well, worst case, I’ll just let them have their way with you and hope they’ll be able to get you out of their system.”
I slap him on the ass in retaliation, making him laugh. “Asshole.”
Malakai smirks at me, but it quickly fades as something else crosses his mind. “I’m more worried about Nahesa.”
Resting my head against his chest, I hold him even closer, trying to ignore the racing of my pulse at the mere idea. “Any idea what that favor could be?”
He sighs deeply. “No.”
“Then I suggest”—I look up at him, finding his golden eyes with my mismatched ones—“that we don’t worry about it until she comes to collect.”
“Hmm,” he hums. “Fine, I can do that.”
My stomach grumbles again, successfully breaking through the tension, and I laugh. “I’m starving. I think I could eat a horse.”
Malakai returns my laughter. “We should probably get cleaned up first.”
He’s right. We both look like we’ve murdered someone—which we did, in a way.
“Bath, food, bed,” I say, running my hand through my hair. “Great plan.”
Suddenly, something starts pulling at me from deep within my stomach. “Looks like I’m really hungry,” I begin to say. “My stomach feels like it’s going to devour itself.”
A click reverberates through my body, stopping me in my tracks. An audible crack follows, and I look down at my chest to find my necklace’s jewel broken. A fissure runs through the center of the stone, and its ice-blue color fades to translucent.
My eyes widen, and I catch Malakai looking at me with a mix of surprise and excitement. “What?”
“Elly—”
Suddenly, power surges through me—strong and violent enough that I fall, my knees crashing down on the floor as I clutch my arms around myself. I scream, and Malakai is beside me in an instant, holding me.
Magic floods my body, drowning out all my other senses until I’m pure, raw energy.
I see nothing, hear nothing, and feel nothing but magic.
And it hurts. It hurts so badly. It burns through me like wildfire, leaving only ashes in its wake.
My whole body shakes, convulsing violently.
I think I can taste it on my tongue: copper and ash and decay.
It feels wrong, so very wrong.
“Too much.” My trembling voice is the only thing that breaks through the magic. “It’s too much.” I claw at my throat as it constricts under the pressure, my breathing erratic even as my head swims through a haze of pain.
It feels like I’m about to explode. My body burns from the inside out, all of it piling up—higher and higher, stronger and stronger. I scream, or at least I think I do. Even though I hear it, it feels distant and unreal.
The only real thing is the magic that inflicts more pain than I’ve ever felt before—worse than the vampiric zombies that tore at my skin.
It’s as if I’m being ripped apart from the inside while simultaneously drowning in it.
Raw, unfiltered magic fills my lungs until they’re ready to burst, coursing through me over and over.
Then it explodes.
I physically feel the magic expelled from my body. Even amidst all this power, I reach for him—searching him out.
“Mal.” My voice is nothing but a whimper—sore and broken.
His hands are back on me, cradling me in his arms. His heat envelops me, comforting me. His heartbeat breaks through the haze, slow and steady, calming me down.
Slowly, my senses return. For a moment, darkness surrounds me until I can make out the trees, the chilly wind against my skin making me shiver.
We’re in the park.
“W-what happened?”
Malakai releases me, allowing me a moment to take in my surroundings.
Uprooted trees and the smell of soil and old blood hang heavy in the air.
We’re surrounded by twitching corpses—both human and animal—frozen in their attempts to break free from the cold, dark earth that holds them captive, set up in a circle around us, reaching for me.
“The merging is done.”
I barely register Malakai’s voice, unable to look away from the corpses that slowly return to their state of immobility.
Malakai gently turns my head to face him. “That bone shard Nagamaru planted in your brain?” I nod, still dazed. “It seems its magic rubbed off on you. The bone magic mixed itself with my blood, and the earth magic was given to you by the witches.”
“Wait, you mean to say that this”—I gesture around us, the movement taking too much effort as I clench my jaw against a sharp jolt of pain—“is my doing?”
“It most certainly is.” Malakai kisses me softly. “And it’s beautiful.”
I’m confused, struggling to understand. “Why are there human corpses in the park?”
Malakai laughs softly. “I might have buried them here at one point or another.”
That’s… not something I want to delve into at the moment. “The bone magic?”
He looks concerned. “It influenced the end result, but I don’t think it will be a problem.”
“You don’t think?” I ask, a hint of hysteria creeping into my voice.
“My first impression is that it actually complements your new magic nicely.” Malakai smiles at me.
“My new magic.” I glance around once more. “What is it?”
“Exactly what I was hoping for, albeit with a twist.”
Malakai cups my face in his hands. His eyes find mine, shimmering like molten gold despite the darkness that surrounds us.
“You now possess one of the rarest kinds of magic, Elly, love,” he says, his eyes burning even brighter. “You’re a necromancer.”
“I’m a what now?” I screech, near hysterical, making Malakai flinch.
“A necromancer,” he repeats patiently, clearly seeing that I don’t understand.
“How?” My hands drop down, and once they touch the soil beneath me, I can feel the truth in his words. A gasp falls from my lips as I become abruptly aware of all the death and decay around us.
My body stills, and my eyes flutter shut. I dig my fingers into the damp earth, and it suddenly makes so much sense. Those instances where I could sense something death-related—was it my magic alerting me to what was to come?
Digging a little deeper, searching, it’s as if I’m connected to everything around me in a new and unique way.
It’s macabre, but also like a missing part of me that has finally clicked into place.
It’s not scary or ugly but surprisingly beautiful.
Because death is as much a part of life as everything else—a part of the cycle—and it’s near overwhelming to be so connected to it.
I can make out all of it around me, even with my eyes closed—the silent bodies near me, those older and buried deep down, resting undisturbed. But also those on the threshold, making a sliver of sadness bloom in my chest for what is to come.
Opening my eyes once more, I find Malakai regarding me with as much wonder as I feel. “What—” My throat closes up as I feel slightly overwhelmed. “What does it mean?”
“It means you’re connected to the dead. Depending on how you train your magic and how it naturally evolves, it could mean manipulating them, raising them, and much more.”
I swallow, unable to believe it. “What does that make me?”
“It makes you,” Malakai says, catching the uncertainty, “someone they will think twice about sending an army of zombies against.”
I can’t help the exhausted laugh that escapes me. “Let’s hope we never find ourselves in a situation like that again.” My eyes widen with a thought, and I pull away to look at him. “Does this mean I’m stronger than you now?”
“Don’t get cocky.” He laughs.
Then my mood sours again. “I… I don’t know if I’m ready for this. I don’t think I can handle it. I barely understand what this is. What payment is this magic going to take from me?” Rambling, always rambling.
“Will it kill me?” My initial wonder is wiped away by panic, making my pulse race and sweat coat my skin.
“Hey, hey,” Malakai quickly says, seeing where this is going. “It won’t kill you.”
“How can you be sure? Do you know any necromancers?” He winces, making it clear that he doesn’t. “Is this how I’m going to die?”
“No, it won’t.” He sounds too sure for someone who clearly has no more information than I do. “Our magic doesn’t kill us. That has and always will be a certainty. Everything else, we’ll figure out.”
I nod, not convinced but accepting that I have no other choice. Absentmindedly, my fingers touch the now-broken pendant around my neck.
“Come here.” Malakai’s arms are around me then, dragging me into his lap and making me yelp in surprise.
He takes my right hand in his left, entwining our fingers, our wedding bands touching.
Then he gently raises our hands to his face, placing a soft kiss on top.
His eyes are on me, the gold shining in the dark.
“We’ll figure it out,” he repeats. “I promise.”
I nod gingerly, feeling more insecure than I have in a long time.
“Want to give it a try?” Malakai asks, and my mouth drops open.
“What? Right here, right now? No, I—” Unease coils tight in my stomach, and then I admit, in a whisper, “I’m scared.”
He caresses my fingers with his thumb, so gently that it uncoils some of that tension. “I’m here, love. I won’t let anything happen.”
It takes another moment of hesitation before I nod and place my free hand back down, the tips of my fingers touching the dirt.
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and concentrate.
I search for something, anything, that would make a good test subject.
Something small, something easy. My magic burrows deep in the earth around us, slithering through cracks and crevices until it settles on something.
I feel a twinge of pain in the tips of my fingers as my magic touches it, fills it, and spreads unease over my fingers to my hand. Sucking in my breath, my brow furrowing, I push it aside, concentrating fully on my magic.
“Elly—” Malakai’s voice breaks through my concentration, his hand against my arm nearly burning my skin.
My eyes fly open, and I suck in a breath, suddenly feeling a chill run through my body, followed by a shiver. Directing my gaze at him, I see him quickly school his expression. Not fast enough for me to catch a spark of worry.
Before I can comment on it, something brushes against me, and I look down.
Next to us sits a squirrel. A very dead squirrel, in such a far state of decomposition that it looks more skeletal than anything else.
It looks up at me with its dead eyes, and unease makes me squirm.
I flinch when it cocks its little head at me and a worm crawls free from its nape.
Malakai chuckles, clearly amused. I don’t really know what to think about it—how this makes me feel other than… disturbed.
Then I catch sight of my hand, still buried in the soil, and I scream.
My fingers look much like the squirrel’s—dead and decaying, the tips nothing more than bones.
I shake my hand in a stupidly futile effort to make it go away.
My magic explodes with a poof, and the squirrel returns to being dead.
It takes barely another five seconds for my hand to return to normal.
“What the hell was that?” I yell, my head spinning to Malakai, worry clearly visible on my face.
He simply gives my right hand, still entwined with his, a squeeze, a soft smile on his face. “The beginning of your new magic.”
Panic sets in anew, and he can tell because his other arm comes around my waist, and he merely repeats his earlier words. “We’ll figure it out.”
“I don’t know if I want to,” I whisper, biting back a sudden surge of emotions.
“No turning back, I’m afraid.”
“I’m a monster.”
“You’re not.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I know you”—he places a soft kiss on my lips—“and you’re not.”
I’m not sure what to do with that, so I release a shuddering breath, letting his warmth envelop me. “Now what?”
“Now we go home, clean up, and eat. Before I get so hungry that I end up eating you.”
I laugh, the sound and feel of it warming me. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
Malakai’s lips curve in a smile against my own. “I wouldn’t dare, love.”