Page 148 of Foul Days

“What now?” the Zmey asked.

Kosara nodded towards Asen’s wedding ring, swinging on its long chain around the Zmey’s neck. “You have to take it off.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a spell suppressant. And because I say so.”

The Zmey undid the chain. He threw the wedding ring at Kosara, and she pocketed it, stopping the sigh of relief a second before it escaped her lips. She was worried he’d try to argue.

“What happens next?” he asked.

She extended a hand towards him, palm up. “Give me your hand.”

He quirked one perfect eyebrow. “What?”

“Your hand. I need to hold it.”

“What for?”

Kosara let out an exasperated sigh. “Who’s the witch here? If you want this to work, do as I say.”

The Zmey held her hand. She winced as the heat from his skin reached hers. Then she felt something else: a warm sensation stirring in the pit of her stomach, running through her body, ending with a tingle at her fingertips. Her shadow sickness melted away, like a drop of ink dissolving in water.

Kosara took a deep breath. It felt like her first one after she’d been held underwater. The colours grew more vibrant. Every sound resonated in her ears.

Her magic was back.

It wasn’t completely hers, of course—she shared it with the Zmey. While she held his hand, the two of them were one.

Kosara felt the magic, but she also felt him. A dark, sticky presence, slithering in the corners of her mind. She couldn’t read his thoughts, not exactly, but she made out their distorted, vile shapes. There was nothing human about them tonight.

Kosara cleaned the snow off the ground with her boot and fell to her knees, dragging the Zmey after her. The cobbles were cold and wet, and painfully hard. She paid no attention to any of it. Her fingers gripped the chalk and she began drawing.

The symbols came to her automatically, even though she was out of practice. Kosara didn’t even need to consult her cheat sheets all that often. When she did, she had to fight with the wind so it wouldn’t snatch them away.

She put all her focus into drawing—she could afford no mistakes. The embedding magic tugged at her own body, hungry for a victim. If she failed to perform the spell, she’d be the one it would take as retribution. Getting imprisoned in the Wall was perhaps the only fate worse than turning into a shadow.

Ignore the Zmey’s eyes following your every move. Ignore his hand in yours. Ignore the echo of his thoughts, detailing exactly what he’d like to do to you.…

The Zmey faded to the background, and so did the Wall, the monsters, and the rest of the dark city. All that was left was the scratching of the chalk.

Kosara bit her lip. The circle was nearly complete. As she turned to draw the next symbol, she looked up briefly, to make sure the Zmey was watching her. His hungry eyes followed every line as it appeared under the chalk.

“What does that mean?” he snapped immediately, pointing at the last symbol.

“What?” Kosara shuffled in her place, pretending to be having a closer look at it. Her hand holding the chalk fell behind her, right next to a different symbol—an intricate interlacing of lines which meant “wall.”

“This rune over here.” The Zmey tapped his finger next to it. His eyes narrowed down to slits. “What is it?”

“Oh?” Kosara shuffled again. The rustling of the Zmey’s coat masked the screech of her chalk against the ground, as she ran it over the symbol behind her. “It’s a part of the circle, of course.”

“No.” The Zmey squeezed her hand tighter, his talons sinking into her skin. “No, it isn’t. Did you really think I wouldn’t research the spell myself before asking for your help? Answer me: what is this symbol?”

Kosara gave him a sheepish smile and used the back of her hand to wipe the symbol away. Truth was, it wasn’t even a real symbol. Just a squiggle. “Sorry. I must have got distracted and drawn the wrong thing.”

The Zmey’s smile returned to his face, the edge to it a tad sharper. “Easily done.”

And then, once the Zmey had turned his attention to the newest magic symbol she was drawing, she risked throwing a quick glance over her shoulder, to the one behind her.

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