Page 138 of Obsession

“Yes, this interference. I assume you already know how to deal with Jaegen?”

Sem dips her head in a nod, her long hair concealing half of her face even when she straightens again. I desperately want to clip it back but refrain from moving, not wanting another reprimand from Aris.

Aris regards her for a moment. “Have you consulted Maker?”

“No.” Sem’s tone turns sad. “He would not have helped regardless. You remember how he is.”

“Yes.” Even Aris sounds wistful.

“Were you thinking of putting Jaegen back in your, uh… Maker?” I speak up. The three of them were initially all part of one being, after all. One God, who divided himself over conflicting morals.

Sem shakes her head. “No. I was thinking, more simply, of a trap. I have funneled enough magic to Jaegen so that he believes that he is using my power, that he has consumed me. However, the moment I rescind this magic, he will be as vulnerable to it as Aris is.”

Aris crosses his arms and says nothing.

“Once I rescind it, if we startle Jaegen and act quickly, we can incapacitate him.”

“I like the sound of that,” remarks Aris.

“Yes.” Sem’s purple lips twisted into a smile. "Now, let's get that off of you."

I don't know what she means at first, until I follow her eyes to my necklace. Off? This amulet that caged Aris and me both? Aris implied that we might use it to hold Jaegen, and I’d been prepared for that. But… off?

I tried so many times to remove it, even knowing that the bind was unbreakable. Oh, how the back of my neck would sting, how the tips of my fingers turned red and white as the cord squeezed them.

“You plan to trap him inside of it,” remarks Aris. “How… ironic.”

“It isn’t to mock him. The mages worked so hard to craft this. Why put it to waste?”

Aris rolls his eyes, but nods. Again, he knew this would happen. It seemed that discovering the web he’d been trapped in opened his eyes completely, and, now, he’s back to being ten steps ahead. “This is an acceptable plan. I assumed you would be using magic, and that we would use the mages.”

“Yes,” says Sem. “They should take part. It’s too bad you’ve killed almost all of them.”

“There are some.”

“Wait,” I speak up, “Why bring Henry—or the mages, I mean—if Sem can cast the spell? She’s the master of magic and all of that.”

Sem turns to me. “The mages won’t trust our word; they must see Jaegen’s capture for themselves. This is necessary for your world to begin to heal; the humans and mages must believe that there will be no further interference on our parts.”

I nod, and Sem smiles in encouragement, raising a hand. “Now, if I may…?”

The amulet.

I glance at Aris, who nods once, stiffly, before walking toward the shining, purple goddess. Once I’m close enough, her long fingers close around the pendant, and her eyes shut. She smiles, and a tear leaks down her face. I almost ask if she’s all right, but the moment feels private.

Finally, her eyes open, and she lets out a soft breath. “Such a beautiful creation,” Sem murmurs, her hands traveling up the black cord and resting at the nape of my neck.

And then, she simply… unclasps it.

It never weighed much, but removing it feels like a bolder lifting off my chest. Tears come to my eyes. It’s just a necklace—a magical necklace, sure—but it’s a symbol of a horrible time in my life, when I was monitored and degraded. No visitors, no sunlight, no future, Aris and I trapped in an underground cage. It’s a symbol of Aris possessing and taking control of me. Owning me. I’ve sometimes thought of it as a collar, and seeing it off of me, it hits that this time of my life really is over. I’m moving on.

Sem puts the necklace in a hidden pocket of her gown, shooting Aris and me a winning smile. “Wonderful. All we need now is the time, the place, the god, and the bait.”

“Bait?” I say.

Her smile turns into more of a grimace. “Well, Jaegen won’t appear just for anything, and certainly not if he knows either Aris or I are there.”

“It’s true,” acquiesces Aris. “He is a coward.”

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