Chapter 29 #2
He runs a hand down his face and shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. Just know…my Petra only worked for Marek because she thought it would protect me and the others. Little did she know, her proximity to that monster would lead to her untimely death.”
My pulse skitters in my veins in warning, but curiosity demands I ask, “You don’t like the king?”
Anger flares across his features, as hot as the flames next to us. “I despise my uncle.”
Whoa…
“Then why work for him?” I’m careful to keep my voice even.
“I work for Rian,” he snaps. “There’s a difference.”
I don’t see how.
Sure, Rian is his friend and cousin, but the prince answers to the same master who killed Petra.
How can Darius stay by Rian’s side, knowing his path could lead him back to the male who stole his love from him?
Those questions and so many more burn on my tongue, but I don’t give them life.
I don’t understand the circumstances that led to the king cursing Darius or the death of his mate, and while they matter, they are not the pressing issue at hand today.
Magic trickles from my fingertips, crawling down the chair’s legs. The light is dim, controlled, as it slithers across the floor.
I need to cure Darius.
But, more importantly, I need him to want to be cured.
“I didn’t know your mate,” I say, voice soft, attempting to distract him from the magic inching its way up his chair’s leg. “But I doubt she’d want you to succumb to the curse.”
The power spreads along the seat. Sweat beads on my forehead. A thin tendril reaches out, reminiscent of the Fae’s shadows, and brushes along the edge of his tunic.
He snorts, shifting in his seat.
I stiffen.
“Petra is gone,” he mutters. “Her wants are no longer relevant.”
“You can’t truly believe that.” My healing magic pivots and travels along his arm, the light pulsing as it moves toward his chest.
The look he levels on me is so pitiful, so…empty.
The gaping loneliness threatens to pull me under, tossing me in the sea of despair that lives behind Darius’s carefree mask.
How did I not notice how broken he is?
The magic coiled behind my heart warms, eager to join the tendril I sent to assess Darius’s health, desperate to help.
I hold it back but give the magic hovering over his chest the go-ahead to proceed.
With a flare of blinding brightness, the power dives beneath Darius’s tunic and skin.
He sucks in a sharp breath and jerks back, eyes flying wide—
Darkness slams into me like a tidal wave. I’m a small, fragile dinghy, tossed violently as the entity inside Darius surges up to meet me—vast, ancient, and far stronger than I prepared for.
A hiss escapes my lips as the force rattles me to my core.
The curse has spread.
Far.
“Touching a male without asking permission…” Darius pants, his voice strained. “I didn’t think you were that kind of woman.”
I ignore the weak attempt at humor.
I push myself upright, close the distance between us, and drop to my knees at his side. His fists are clenched tight, knuckles pale. I take one in mine, grounding us both, and force more power forward.
Light crashes into darkness.
The collision sends a violent tremor through me.
It’s worse than the first time.
So much worse.
The darkness doesn’t recoil in surprise. It doesn’t flinch.
It expected me.
It anticipated my light—planned for it.
The curse has threaded itself deep into Darius’s body, embedded in bone and marrow, woven through his veins. Inky black stains every organ, every cell.
Sweat rolls down my spine, my breath turning shallow as I fight to burn the darkness away.
Each inch of progress is earned with pain. And it’s torturously slow.
I grit my teeth. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
The curse’s damage is extensive. How could Darius have endured this without complaint?
“There was no point,” he says.
I tighten my grip and glare at the Fae. “I didn’t take you for a quitter.”
Darius attempts to smile, but unlike the last time I healed him, he’s awake now. And the tight lines tugging at his eyes and mouth reveal that he feels the excruciating battle taking place within his body.
“There’s wisdom in knowing when to bow out.”
“No,” I growl and shove more light into his body.
The blackness recedes a little more.
“You matter, Darius. To your friends. To me. To Petra. I can heal you. I know I can.”
The curse thrashes against the brightness, but I am unrelenting.
Determined.
I don’t know why Darius has lost his fight. Maybe he never had it.
Maybe he’s been pretending since he woke up.
Maybe subduing his shadows was a blessing in his eyes. Maybe he wants the curse to ravage his body. Maybe he wants to give up.
There’s a time to meet one’s demise with dignity. But that’s not today. Not for Darius.
The curse screeches as another wave of light crashes into it. The darkness rears back, releasing its hold on Darius’s veins and bones.
Darius grunts. His complexion is ghostly white, but his lips lose their bluish hue.
“You’re stubborn,” he mumbles.
“So are you.” I squeeze my eyes shut and drive another wave of light into his body.
Minutes stretch.
Heat slicks my skin. Sweat soaks my hair, strands plastered to the back of my neck.
My gown clings to me like a second skin, heavy and suffocating, every breath an effort as my strength bleeds away.
At last, the curse begins to yield.
The mass of darkness coils in on itself, shrinking to the size of a throwing stone.
Then smaller.
A pebble.
I push harder, deeper, forcing my power to finish what I started. To eradicate the vile thing hollowing Darius from the inside. To pay the debt binding me to the Shadow Prince.
To earn my freedom.
My magic strains, screaming in protest, burning me from the inside out.
The darkness dwindles to a grain of rice.
Victory hovers so close I can almost feel it between my fingers. I reach for it, desperate, reckless—
But like a candle caught in a sudden breeze, the fire of my magic flares once, blazing and searing…
Then vanishes.
My eyes fly open. “No!”
I claw inward, digging for anything—anything—a spark, a cinder, a single thread of warmth left behind.
Please.
I’m right there. So close. I just need a little more.
There’s nothing.
The well is dry.
I’ve burned out.
I failed.
The thought lands heavy and final as the world tilts, darkness swallowing me whole.
Just like last time.