Curse the Heart (Mystics of Ashora #2)

Chapter 1

ONE

sinner

For the second time in my torturous, pathetic life, I wished my sister were dead.

Not in a never see you again type of way. But in an I wish I could kill everyone here with no concern about the consequences type of way.

The first time the urge hit me, I was a child. The moment my father discovered he could use her to control me. She was my eternal weakness. The one thing I wouldn’t sacrifice.

Without her, I wasn’t sure who I’d become. A monster, probably. A bottomless pit of killing with no remorse.

I was ready to be a monster, too. When I woke up and discovered we’d been taken—again—and chained up like fucking pawns for the Ministry, I was ready to erupt with destruction and death and havoc.

But when I tried to summon the shadows—when I tried to call for my phantoms to demolish those fuckers—I felt nothing.

Not a single damn thing.

My magic had been blocked, the force strong. A bone-crushing weight pressed down on me, cutting off my connection to my phantoms.

We’d likely been tied up in the back of this disgusting fucking van for hours—since Director tricked Athena into using her power.

Since we lost consciousness—and our powers.

My back was pressed against the wall, and Athena was seated the same way on the other side of the open rear of the vehicle, our legs almost touching in the center. We were alone, a wall separating us from the driver, but we’d been secured with chains at our wrists.

And fuck—everything hurt. From the tightness of my face and the way my skin cracked when I moved, it was safe to assume it was caked with dried blood. And Athena’s pale skin was already covered in newly forming bruises—evidence of our fight with the Ministry as well.

I’d fucking rip the head off every single one of them for hurting her.

Once my power came back, I’d blast them all off the fucking continent.

For now, though, trying was useless. A shield—most likely that traitorous fucker Leon—rode with us, suppressing any ounce of magic we attempted to summon, prohibiting us from escaping.

Athena hadn’t said a word since we were tossed into the vehicle. I didn’t blame her.

Our plan had gone to complete shit. This was the worst-case scenario. No, not quite. Because they hadn’t gotten Mags.

At least she was out there somewhere. Free. God, I hoped she made it far, far away from this wretched fucking place.

The van hit a bump, throwing Athena out of her seat. If she weren’t chained to the side of the van, she would’ve landed in my lap—right on top of my bleeding thigh. Her long hair brushed across her face as she slammed onto the van’s filthy metal surface with a thud.

Murmuring male voices trailed from the front seat, but I couldn’t decipher a single damn thing.

“You okay?” I asked. Fuck, I’d been building the courage to ask her that for forty minutes, and now that I’d finally gotten it out, it sounded even more pathetic than it had in my head.

My heart raced, but this time it wasn’t because of my phantoms.

She focused on me through the shallow stream of light, and I immediately wished I’d would’ve kept my damn mouth shut.

Athena’s brown eyes were no longer the rebellion-filled balls of fire I'd become so familiar with. Instead, they were dull, lifeless black pits. The emptiness there sent a flicker of fear down my neck.

We might not have completed the claiming, but she was still my claimed. Mine. I needed her to be okay.

“Athena?” I pushed.

Those empty pits didn’t change. She didn’t even blink.

“It’s not real,” she breathed. Her cheeks were red from crying, her voice distant, like she was somewhere else entirely. “Director doesn’t know anything. It can’t be real.”

“What can’t?” Desperation clawed at my chest. I cared about Athena—be it the claim or another type of connection, and seeing her this way terrified me more than any of the other shit we’d been through tonight.

In the short time we’d known each other, I’d seen Athena tortured. Threatened. Beat up. Barely holding it together.

But I’d never seen her like this. I’d never seen her giving up.

She angled closer, her breath mingling with mine as she pulled against those metal chains. “That I’m a tier four,” she whispered. “They don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Whether she was trying to convince me or herself, none of that shit mattered to me. “You don’t have to worry about that right now.” God, she looked so tired. “Let’s just focus on staying alive so we can get the fuck out of here. Okay?”

She nodded aimlessly, her eyes still glossed over.

“Athena.” My tone was sharp, and for a moment, I worried I’d drawn any unwanted attention, but I peered toward the front of the van, and when there was no commotion, I turned back to her.

“I need you to get your shit together, okay? I need you on my side. Mags needs you. Your sister needs you. If they haven’t already realized we’re missing, they’re all waiting for us in that damn forest.”

Athena pulled her gaze away. “They’re better off without us. They’ve been better off this whole damn time.”

My gut twisted. This wasn’t the Athena I knew. That trick Director pulled dug up the pain hidden deep within her. “What’s gotten into you? What are you thinking?”

The van skidded to a halt.

“Hey,” I pushed when she didn’t reply. “Let me in, New Girl.”

At the mention of that nickname, I swore that familiar fire in her eyes flickered. But it was gone as quickly as it appeared.

“I wish I didn’t remember,” she said, her words empty. “But I do. I do remember.”

“Remember what?”

Before I could get her to focus on me and answer, the metal doors swung open.

Light flooded the small space. I squinted against the morning sun, though the blazing brightness was quickly blocked out by a dozen armed men and women.

“Out,” a sharp voice ordered. “Now.”

A man dressed in generic black tactical gear, like every other soldier, snatched our chains and yanked. Athena stumbled out first, dangerously close to face-planting before another man gripped her around the arm and forced her upright.

A primal instinct within me growled to life. I jumped out of the van after her. “Any one of you fuckers touches her, you’re dead,” I snapped. “I don’t need magic to make you wish you’d kept your filthy hands to yourself.”

“Your threats won’t do you any good here.” A tall, slender man with ivory skin and buzzed black hair stepped out of the small crowd of soldiers. “Save your energy. And your anger, for that matter. It’ll do you good in the war games.”

“War games?”

My eyes finally adjusting to the brightness, I scanned our surroundings. We were no longer in the woods, hidden beneath the tree canopies and forced underground in a dungeon.

Here, steel buildings stood one after another for half a mile down the slender strip of sandy land. To my left was a large, open field with waist-height grasses, and to my right? Nothing but a massive sea, its waves crashing against a beach of compact sand and black rock structures.

Where the fuck were we?

“You’re part of the Ministry now,” the tall man announced. “Wherever you came from, whatever your past is, forget it. You’re one of us. You’ll stay in the barracks with the other cadet mystics. Follow me.”

My stomach plummeted. Had this man lost his fucking mind?

Without hesitation, he turned and walked toward the steel buildings that separated the rolling sandy hills from the water.

My mind instantly darted back to Athena and the chains shackled around her wrists.

“Take these off.” I clutched Athena’s chains and pulled against them, so the tall man couldn’t drag us behind him like dogs.

Knees bent, feet planted, I prepared for a fight. These were our enemies. Anyone working for the damn Ministry would be our enemy.

Rather than attack, he turned and smiled.

“Right,” he said. “You’re part of the Ministry now. Might as well take these off.”

He nodded at a red-haired soldier next to us, and she quickly got to work freeing us from the restraints.

“You’re unchaining us?” Athena asked in a monotone voice.

“You aren’t prisoners here,” he said evenly. “You’re cadets. Trainees, like everyone else. And your magic won’t help you here. You’ve got a lot to learn about this place. Both of you. So, let’s go.”

With that, he strode away without looking back.

As we approached the first steel building, I shuffled to Athena’s side. I’d never seen anything like the structure; no windows, no wood, no shingles. Just a massive steel box with a heavy, bolted door.

“What the fuck is this place?” I asked.

“These are the barracks. I’ll be your leader while you’re in training,” he said. “My name’s Simon. Tier three, not that it matters. You’ll find out pretty quickly that the tier you fall into doesn’t mean shit. It’s what you do with your power that’s important.”

“What exactly are we doing here in the barracks, Simon?” I asked, bumping Athena’s shoulder lightly. She was too quiet. Too distant.

Come on. Get mad. Get pissed off. Get fired up.

“You’re here to train for the real war. Mystics are fighting the earthlies all over the damn continent right now,” he said, his hands fisted at his sides.

“And your instruction starts here. You’ll learn basic physical maneuvers and decent magic control.

You’ll be taught to fight as the claimed pair you are.

When the war games come, you’ll test your powers along with the rest of the cadets. ”

“Why do you keep saying war games?” I asked. “Surely that can’t be a real fucking thing.”

Outside the doors of the first steel building, Simon stopped. “Trust me,” he said, “the games are very real.” Eyes hard, he looked away, then pushed the heavy door open. “After you.”

I stepped aside, ushering Athena in first. The way Simon eyed her up and down as she passed made fury spark in my veins.

What the hell? Who the fuck was I turning into? We met this man five minutes ago. He hasn’t even spoken to Athena, and yet here I was, being possessive.

She was my claimed, though, right?

I deserved to be a little possessive.