Chapter 28 #3
‘The prisoners were all here, and you took me to them. Said I should channel them again, so I’d have magic for the party.
You complained that your stomach hurt, and you were too hot, so you removed your cloak and caught sight of your neck in the mirror.
Then you said, She’s a Souleater and, She’s got so much more to care about. She’ll be easier to convince.’
‘So you see?’ I say eagerly. ‘He invited you here to channel the prisoners, to load up on magic, before coercing you into finishing the potion. He doesn’t care about you, Eira, and he never will. But . . . I could be your friend, if you’ll let me. I can help you. If you untie me, we can –’
‘Quiet,’ Damian snaps. ‘Darling, I told you, I knew what she was all along. She’s always been the plan. That’s why I invited you here. So you could watch her die.’
He winces again, pressing a hand to his stomach as though it’s still hurting – or maybe he’s trying to garner Eira’s sympathy. I wouldn’t put it past him.
‘Do you know what the worst part is?’ I go on, trying to regain her attention.
‘I know you would’ve given him everything he wanted.
You love him. You could’ve had a life together.
The kind neither of you had growing up. But he’s too bitter and twisted to ever love you back.
He’s been using you this whole time. He made you conduct those experiments for his benefit, not because he wanted you to be more powerful.
Deep down, you know that, don’t you? And if it came to it, he’d have watched you die, just to get what he wanted. ’
Her lower lip wobbles.
Damian spins her round, tucking a knuckle beneath her chin and forcing her to look at him. ‘Don’t listen to her. You know how I feel about you.’
Eira, for once, doesn’t buy the lie. Her lips purse. ‘It is strange, that you didn’t tell me your plans sooner.’
Shadows creep along the corners of the room, and Damian’s eyes widen.
‘The fewer people who knew, the better. I couldn’t risk Daisy finding out the truth.
’ He pulls her to the far side of the room, as though my words won’t be able to reach her there, and opens his arms. She immediately melts into his embrace, eyelashes fluttering, while Damian’s nostrils flare, like he’s a Souleater already and can’t abide her scent.
‘Don’t believe him,’ I beseech. ‘What has he ever done to earn your trust?’
She’s too besotted to listen. My hope evaporates as she holds him tighter, clinging to him the way she’s clung to him from the moment they met, never realising he’s her damnation not salvation.
She isn’t going to help me.
And if I don’t agree to finish this potion, Damian’s going to kill Astin.
And if I do manage to complete it, the magic involved might kill me instead.
I tremble.
I don’t want to die. Astin shakes beside me, because he must know he’s going to have to watch it happen, and it’ll be like Olivia and his mother all over again.
He’ll be forced to sit here, powerless and out of control, as he loses someone else he cares about.
I shouldn’t have tried to make him feel something.
I should have let him carry on protecting himself from the inevitable pain that feeling brings.
A light touch on the back of my hand jerks my focus.
‘You have to channel my emotions,’ Astin whispers.
‘What?’ I fight to keep my voice low, but my head whips round of its own accord. ‘Are you out of your mind?’
He angles himself closer. ‘If we’re going to escape, you need magic. It’s the only way. Do it now, while they’re distracted. Can you reach my hand from there?’
Without waiting for an answer, he’s already forcing his bound wrist between my fingers.
‘Astin, I can’t. The amount I’d need to take . . . I’d hurt you. I’d hex you. Damian’s about to bring me a captive, I can –’
‘The captives have been through enough,’ he says firmly. ‘Besides, you don’t want their emotions. You want mine. Because you’re not going to hex me, Daisy. Hexes are left in exchange of negative emotions. Do I smell scared or angry to you?’
I sniff. Sweat slides down the side of my face. Damian is stiffening, looking ready to extract himself from his and Eira’s embrace, although Eira is only squeezing him tighter. There’s only a matter of time before his impatience wins out.
Could I stop this? Do I dare?
I inhale again. The emotions in the room are cloudy and confused and cold, apart from . . .
Roses.
I gasp.
‘You were right,’ Astin says. ‘I did love Olivia. And after she died, I tried to shut it all away. I don’t want to do that any longer.
Giving in to it might be terrifying, but it’s worth it to feel the way I do about you.
And that is why I can’t watch you die. It’s why I trust you won’t hex me.
The way I feel is too strong for any negative emotion to get in the way of that. ’
The floral scent is overwhelming now, like I’m lying in a bed of petals.
‘It’ll leave a charmmark, isn’t that what Clarabelle’s letter said?’ His hand is firmly in place now. My fingers twitch. My nails are close to piercing skin. Hot breath fans my ears. ‘Go on, Daisy. Charm me.’