Page 29 of Secrets & Curses of Cerithia

My eyes cracked open slightly. It was still nighttime, but I was no longer in the woods I had been in when I lost consciousness. It was impossible to tell how much time had passed. Minutes? Hours? I closed my eyes tightly as I lay bound on the hard ground. I didn’t want to tip off the men that I was coming out of whatever they had drugged me with.

“This is not a good idea,” one of them said in a panic. “What if Cassius sees us? He will rip our limbs from our bodies.” The mention of Cassius’ name had my heart pounding instantly.

“He won’t see us. It’s the middle of the night.” The one who picked me up in the woods sighed, annoyed.

“Something doesn’t feel right about this. Thea was never cruel to us,” the first man spoke again.

“Get a grip on yourself. We’ve already done it. It’s too late.”

I held my breath as I waited for them to keep talking, but they didn’t for a while. I could hear them walking around as if they were looking for something.

“How are they going to think we're Falgon guards if they don’t see us kill her?”

“Because your dead body will be lying next to hers, and you’ll be in Falgon colors,” the one in charge laughed, but a moment later I heard a dagger ripping through flesh. The sound of the man’s dead body hitting the ground close to me made my magic simmer.

“What the fuck?” another guard questioned.

“Someone had to be sacrificed. Besides, it was clear he felt bad for the Crimson whore.”

My heart hammered in my chest, but I did not dare move. My magic was starting to come back slowly; I just needed a few minutes for it to get stronger.

“Drag her over here,” the one in charge ordered.

Someone grabbed my arms and started dragging me across the hard ground, but dropped me abruptly. I almost opened my eyes to see why, but I got my answer a moment later.

“What do we have here?” Cassius’ voice was undeniable.

It had felt like a lifetime since I heard his deep voice. I had forgotten how it instantly soothed me and made me feel warm all over. My eyes closed tightly, remembering the last time I heard him was when he was so cruel to me. It made my insides burn with both anger and sadness. But more than that, it was comforting, and that pissed me off more.

“We were just leaving you a little gift,” the Falgon guard sneered, then sighed in mock sadness. "Now you can watch us kill your whore.”

I had to fight my instincts to lash out and keep him from killing me, but something held me there. I didn’t dare move. My need to understand why Cassius was here overcame my need to live for a moment. My breathing froze completely as I waited to hear what Cassius would say. It felt like an eternity before he finally spoke.

“You aren’t Falgon guards,” Cassius accused. “I know every Falgon guard, and you do not belong to them. So what kingdom are you from?”

“Falgon,” the man declared, but less confidently this time.

Cassius spoke. “I know you aren’t from Falgon. Valor would never betray me like this.” He paused for a moment. “Let me rephrase that. Valor knows I would rip his body into tiny pieces and feed them to his own mother if he were to ever harm Thea. So, try again.”

The guard scoffed in indignation. My insides twisted at Cassius’ words.

“It doesn’t matter. Are you going to come over here and stop us?” the guard laughed. “You can’t cross the border into Cerithia until the curse is broken, you start a war, or you are invited by the royal family.”

Cassius didn’t say anything, but I could hear enough movement that I knew he was doing something. The crunching of the dirt beneath the guards' shoes let me know that they had moved in front of me, toward Cassius’ voice.

“I do not need to cross the boundary to kill all of you,” his voice dripped with hatred. “Let Thea go.”

I opened my eyes, and they adjusted to the darkness quickly. I could see Cassius’ own golden eyes watching me, and I saw relief take over his features when I slowly started standing. Gods, he looked better than I remembered.

“You would die before you could kill all of us; she is ours now,” the same guard snarled, not letting any of the other guards get a word in. Suddenly, my darkness surged forward, my magic returning to full strength. Not only could I feel it was upset that I had been taken, but I could also feel it was upset because Cassius was being threatened. I chose to ignore that hard truth for now.

Cassius smiled so brightly at me that it actually made the confusion in my mind lift for a moment. Gods, I hadn’t feltanything other than anger, hurt, and betrayal in so long that this new feeling felt so foreign yet so good.

More than anything, pain clung to me. It radiated from me because I didn’t know if he was only pretending to care for me. Was he trying to trick me again?

“Don’t worry, it’s not me you have to worry about,” he frowned at whatever he saw in my eyes. Suddenly, Wisp was there. She twirled around him, her color a vibrant green. “Thea has always been strong enough to save herself.”

It took the five guards only a moment for Cassius’ words to sink in. They all turned, and their fear instantly wrapped around me, sweeter than anything I had tasted in a while. It made my darkness hum with anticipation. They reached for their weapons, but before they could even grasp the handles, my fire exploded out of me. Maybe because Cassius was here, or maybe I had lost my mind, but with the release of my magic, I let my darkness take over.

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