CHAPTER 31 #3
I lifted my chin, trying to summon all the confidence I could muster. As I went for the clasp of my bracelet, my hand miserably unsteady, I felt their gazes upon me, their expectation.
There was only one way to prove it.
The idea struck me, and I had to thank Alameda for telling me about the gemstones, about their capacity to resonate with the energy of others, to mimic their very essence. By sheer luck, I had the one I had gained with me, the little crimson stone Alameda had given me with my bangle.
I couldn’t waste this. But—
What if this wasn’t how it worked? What if his gemstone was gone? Maybe he lost it at the end of the curse, and it wouldn’t help me prove anything. Or worse, what if the heartstone resonated but turned dark?
Sometimes I think I’ve tainted this one.
The bloody clasp wouldn’t budge. With my hand clearly shaking, Finn reached out and unclasped the bracelet for me. I gave him a tight smile, feeling my heart in my throat.
I unscrewed the gemstone from my bracelet and knelt beside him.
I needed so much to make this right, to save Reagan like he had saved me so many times.
I needed him back.
“The curse said, ‘What binds you shall yet free you.’ Reagan told me about the heartstone binding his sentence. I think that’s what the curse meant, right?
The tether that could free him?” I paused, not breathing as Malory took a step past Varian and closer to me.
“We can’t see his heartstone now because of the animal form.
But what if it changed? If Reagan truly broke his curse, his heartstone would shine bright and ivory.
And if another were brought near him”—I lifted my jagged stone—“we could see what colour it becomes. Gemstones hum to the same tune.”
I froze for a second as Malory crouched. My face slackened, but she only dipped her head, signalling for me to keep going.
“I have this one,” I went on. “It’s not bound to me, so if I put it closer, I’m thinking it will mimic Reagan’s heartstone, and we can see the colour.”
I stared at her, waiting to hear that it didn’t work like that. That I was wrong. That my simplest idea was innocent and pathetic, and I couldn’t help him.
But she said none of that.
Instead, Malory said, “Go on, put it closer to him.”
With my heart in my throat, I outstretched my hand to where the beast’s chest was. To where Reagan’s heart was still beating.
The gemstone didn’t shift, didn’t change colours. But I didn’t tear my gaze from it. The others had stepped closer, leaning over to watch the stone.
And then—
Like drawing air into my lungs—
The gemstone glowed with colour, its light emanating from within. The red was gleaming, fading into itself. Paling. Paling.
Pale.
After a pause that felt like forever, the gemstone was the colour of the teeth in his smile, the white of his eyes. Bright and light and gleaming in my hand.
Gwinifer cursed.
I drew a long breath.
My gemstone resonated with his, which was still there. My eyes shot to Malory, who had the faintest curl in her lips as she stared at me, her face hidden from the others, only giving me the chance to see that rare moment of emotion. Like she was satisfied.
Or it was just a flicker of my imagination, because the judge stood up in the next moment. Her expression was back to cold authority, her voice cutting through the quiet. “It seems Miss Darling found a problem with the curse. The question is, why is Lord Reagan stuck in his animal form?”
“There must be something interfering. Something we can’t see,” Finn said.
Varian’s hand slackened at his side, his face solemn and paler than the stone.
“What have you done?” Gwinifer asked, her voice sharp. “We know this is your doing.”
With a glare in her direction, Varian seemed to break from his stare. “That sounds like a righteous, fair way to prove someone’s guilt. No proof, just throwing accusations. As if I could interfere with something like this.”
Malory regarded him, and so did all of us. Not a denial.
“We will uncover this,” the judge said, staring at Varian. “There can’t be interference with the products of the Fates. I’m not sure what could do something like this, only powerful magecraft. And forbidden. I imagine this type of owner wouldn’t leave a trace.”
“With all due respect,” Varian began, “you cannot seriously trust this . . . trick.”
The judge tilted her head, calm and undisturbed.
“Trick? Miss Darling was correct in all she said. Gemstones do resonate with each other at close distances.” The judge’s eyes hardened, cold steel beneath an elegant facade.
“If I were you, Mr Ilya, I would be more concerned with the accusation of casting a forbidden hex on at least one person tonight. If Miss Wicklow can prove her accusation, you will be getting a passage to Pavilion.”
Varian blanched further. For the first time, I thought I could see real fear in his eyes.
“What does that mean . . . for Reagan?” Finn asked.
We all turned to the judge. I stopped breathing.
“We’ll start an investigation into the interference with the curse,” Malory answered. “In the meantime, Caedmon Reagan will return to his natural form. To his rightful position as ruler of Mountheim.”