Chapter 11 #3
She gazed at Nylah, who watched her with so much concern her heart broke, then took a deep breath. “We’ve met before.”
Stellan nodded. “Back in Elyria.”
“Over five hundred years ago.”
Silence enveloped the room. Bridget didn’t think anyone was even breathing.
After what felt like forever, Archer sat down. Then stood up. Then paced a circle around the couch. “I think for once in my life, I'm actually speechless.”
“How can you be speechless if you're still talking?” Nylah countered. “And as long as Cade isn’t really dead, I think I can handle you being older than dirt.”
Bridget let out a choked laugh. She really loved her sister.
Clearly rattled, Alexia backed into Stellan’s tiny kitchen table. “That’s not possible.”
“I haven’t created a curse quite like it since…
” Stellan said, running a hand through his blonde hair.
Bridget could’ve sworn he looked lighter.
Like a weight had suddenly been lifted from his shoulders.
He opened a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of whiskey.
“It put me to sleep for a very long time.
It's a side effect Tuathans encounter if we use too much of our magic at one time… it took me years to recharge.”
“The Bloodstone… it’s your blood, isn’t it?” Bridget asked.
The blood of one of the most powerful Shamans lies inside, Cade’s voice echoed.
Castor paced in front of Archer’s cell. Curses need two things: an anchor and blood.
Quinn’s smirk taunted her. You’ll never guess who was used to bind it.
Her and Cade stood in front of the painting that depicted the memory she’d just seen. It had given her chills. She’d barely been able to look at it. Even then, somewhere inside her had known there was more to the story.
“You created it for the curse that sent the Sanguis to Iegorus…” she ranted, “a regular rune wasn’t strong enough. But why use Cade to bind it? And how is it even possible we were them?”
Stellan took a long swig of whiskey, straight from the bottle. Then opened his mouth. And closed it again.
“Why aren’t you answering?” Bridget demanded.
Archer let out a hollow chuckle. “All magic has a cost.”
Stellan glared at him.
“That’s what the curse cost you?” Bridget asked. “The ability to answer questions?”
Stellan rubbed his eyes. “My memories.”
“Of everything? Then how did you just show me that night?”
“No, not everything. Just the ones that would help explain what I did and why you were killed. Magic takes what you want the most,” Stellan replied tiredly.
“Look… I did not wake up prepared for this conversation today… Luckily, I’ve had a few decades to work out what happened.
Mostly with Marin’s help. She’s the one who’s been able to dig out certain things.
And another Tuathan, Bronwyn, explained some things to me when I woke back up after casting the curse.
I’ll start with what I know… your execution was not a surprise.
Vega had revealed her plan to you early on… ”
Archer let out a choking noise. “Execution? Exactly who were you? Or are you?” He glanced sideways at Stellan. “What’s the proper term in this situation, old man?”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Stellan took another long drink of whiskey. Nylah goggled at her like she was an alien. Alexia paced in the corner.
“I would like to know that, as well.” Bridget ripped the bottle from his hand, scattering droplets all over the floor, before she did the same. She’d hoped the burn of the liquid would calm her quaking nerves, but they still kept pulsing like little alarm bells under her skin.
Stellan glowered at her. “From what I was told, the entire thing was your idea. It was the only way to stop Vega. She was very close to getting her hands on something that would have won her the war. You stopped that before it happened.”
“So that’s why she killed me?”
Not that she’d fully believed it before, but part of Bridget was relieved that she hadn’t been killed just because Cade had chosen her over Vega.
It seemed too silly of a reason for the head of the Sanguis coven.
A shiver went down her spine thinking of the woman with the metal claws.
Then the scars on Bridget’s stomach flared to life.
A night sky. Chanting. Searching. Quinn had been searching for something inside her.
Stellan hesitated. “It’s complicated.”
“Well uncomplicated it,” Bridget hissed through gritted teeth.
“Bronwyn said your execution was inevitable. That we needed more time. And that the only way to give that to you and Cade… was to kill you both.”
“This is crazy…” Archer muttered. Bridget couldn’t help but agree with him. “Why would they agree to that?”
“To bring you back one day so that we could end it, once and for all,” Stellan said, keeping his focus on her.
“A curse within a curse. We would banish the Sanguis, and guarantee you and Cade’s survival in one fell swoop.
It’s why it had to be his life that bound it.
His Tuathan blood, along with mine in the Bloodstone, were the only two powerful enough to make sure it would work. ”
“So is it time to end it then?” Nylah asked. When everyone’s confused gaze cut to her, she shrugged. “Haven’t you been listening? He said he would bring you back when it was time. So it must be… right?”
“Not me… the curse didn’t work like that.” Stellan tiredly rubbed his eyes. “Magic isn’t something that can be fully controlled. Even by me. I had no idea when Bridget and Cade would come back, or even if it would be at the same time. That must have been a risk you both accepted, but it’s why…”
“You and the Shamans stuck around,” Bridget finished, sensing his trepidation.
She’d always wondered why the most powerful of all the species did the royal family’s bidding and almost acted indentured, whose only purpose was to guard a gate.
“The vow you mentioned… how it’d gotten all twisted up.
Ambrose, Marin’s father, was the last one left that remembered all this, wasn’t he? ”
The corners of Stellan’s lips lifted. “Very good… but like I said, the curse weakened me. By the time I awakened, the new king had already destroyed so many gates… changed so many things. Vega was supposed to have no idea about what we’d done. But…”
Bridget heard his unspoken words. Magic couldn't be controlled and always had a cost. And whatever magic the new king had messed with had revealed too much to Vega in Iegorus. Knowledge she must have passed down to the rest of the Sanguis.
“What does this have to do with her staying away from Elyria? Or Andarre?” Alexia fumed, knuckles white as she gripped the back of a chair.
Stellan blinked at her. “Everything.”
“How? The curse broke. She lived. The Sanguis are still in Iegorus,” Alexia hissed. “Shouldn’t you want her back in Elyria… to end it? Wasn’t that the entire purpose of this whole thing? There are people that need—”
“This is about the other curse, isn’t it?” Bridget asked.
Once you cross, there’s no coming back.
Stellan’s words of warning were not for her, but for Cade. If she went back to Elyria… fate would take its course. Just like it had done with her.
“To break the curse on the Sanguis, Cade needs to die in Cavamyne.” Archer held up his hands when Bridget glared at him. “We were all there the first time Quinn tried. Obviously, we don’t want that to happen.”
“Then all we have to do is keep him away from there,” Alexia said.
Stellan slammed his fist against the cabin wall.
Books from his shelf tumbled to the ground.
“You don’t understand. It’s not that simple.
All three curses are connected. When Cade and Bridget were born, the veil shielding Iegorus from everything else weakened, but just slightly.
That’s probably why Quinn could communicate with the Sanguis. ”
Narrowing her eyes, Alexia spat, “Or why creatures covered in black ooze with a thirst for blood suddenly arose from the sea?”
“Now that the curse on the humans is broken, it’s probably much worse.”
Stellan’s dark statement silenced Alexia. The girl paled, then slowly sat down in the chair she’d been using like a lifeline.
“Yep. That’s two out of three,” Archer muttered under his breath. “I would say life in Elyria isn’t a picnic right now.”
“If Vega hasn’t figured out she has a real foothold between worlds now, she will soon… not enough for her to come through completely, but probably strong enough for her to do some real damage,” Stellan said.
“Vega is alive?” Bridget sputtered. Ice filled her veins. She rubbed her neck, unable to stop herself from imagining the sensation of bloody claws digging into her carotid.
I don’t want to be around for what she has planned.
Quinn… the fear in her eyes. She hadn’t learned from a random Sanguis Witch, but from Vega herself.
“Time in Iegorus doesn’t work like it does here.” Stellan crossed his arms, then almost to himself, mumbled, “We might already be too late. She won’t stop until she gets what she wants.”
“Which is what?” Bridget asked.
Taking a deep breath, Stellan locked eyes with her. The guilt swirling there brought her stomach to the floor. He didn’t know.
“Please tell me you have some kind of idea,” Bridget growled.
An ear-splitting scream pierced the air.
Heart stuttering, Bridget whirled around and ran to Archer. On the ground, he writhed on his back like electricity was burning every single part of his body. Blood poured from his nose and his ears. Beneath his closed eyelids, his eyes moved rapidly back and forth. “What is this?” he croaked.
“What happened?” Bridget demanded, trying to get him on his back. He screamed again, his arms contracting into his chest.
“You have to help him,” Nylah begged.
Bridget followed her gaze. Above them, Stellan stared at Archer in absolute shock.
“Stop,” Archer pleaded, his entire body shaking. Red liquid sputtered onto Bridget’s jacket as he continued to speak. “Of course, she’s fine. She’s standing right in front of me.”
All of a sudden, Archer stilled. Bridget flinched when his eyes popped open. Except they were no longer his eyes. The foreign orbs glowed a bluish hue she’d only seen once before… the night a possessed Shaman had stopped her from crossing the gate. She gasped.
“Cade?”
It was him. She knew it. In confirmation, Archer’s hand floated upward.
A half-sob escaped Bridget's chest. Seconds before his fingers reached her cheek, it fell to the ground as Stellan slammed his hand against Archer’s chest. His eyes and tattoos radiated a bright blue as he confronted Cade in Archer’s mind.
“What did you do?” Stellan demanded.
Tears blurred Bridget’s vision as she wrapped her hand around Stellan’s wrist, hoping it somehow would connect her with them.
Moments later, a blast of fire zinged up her arm.
For a second, she heard Cade’s screams as Stellan tried to help him control the magic surrounding them both.
The sound rattled her bones. She recoiled, flying back into Nylah with a smack.
Her sister, eyes wide and horrified, tried to copy her movements.
Bridget pushed her away and caught Alexia’s gaze. “Take her.”
For once, Alexia listened and pulled Nylah to the corner with her.
“Of all the stupid, idiotic things to try…” Stellan growled. He stiffened, then pressed harder on Archer’s body. “Stop fighting it. You have to let go of the spell…”
Blood continued to escape Archer’s nose. Panic shot up Bridget’s spine. Any longer and he might not…
Stellan sucked in a breath. “Marin, no!”
A wave of magic exploded from Archer, knocking everyone down except Stellan. Chest heaving, the glow from his power slowly disappeared from skin. Arm still burning, Bridget crawled over to Archer. The sight of his chest still moving up and down had her slinking all the way to the floor.
“Looks like you might be getting your wish after all,” Stellan growled at Alexia.
As Bridget hugged Nylah close, she was left with one question…
What the hell was going on in Elyria?