Page 40 of Bound By Darkness

The witch leaned back in her chair. Her hands splayed against the red fabric. “Oh, but my information is passed from the Fae gods themselves. A message woven for you.”

Squaring my shoulders, I gripped the symbols Gwen had etched into my straps tighter. “The Fae gods abandoned Cethales years ago. What you suggest is a farce… a petty trick.”

The witch’s ears perked, a sly grin crossing her face. “This is no trick, girl. The gods never abandoned you. They are forging you in darkness, molding you to become a creature of night.”

She pointed a crooked hand toward me, a wisp of darkness curling at the edge of her hand. “Don’t you want to know why the gods blessed you with darkness? The only one to possess casting without killing a god in centuries?”

My breathing grew ragged at the truth she spoke. “How do you know?” I asked as my feet stepped toward the creature in front of me.

The witch cackled, the lights flickering above in response. “Questions are not free.” Her hand gestured at the vacant chair opposite from where she sat.

Biting my lip, I followed the singular thread of curiosity as I sat in the chair.

She wasted no time grabbing my hand, her yellowed nailstickling my sweaty palm as she traced each dip and crease. Her eyes brightened as she turned my hand over, her nails prodding and poking the calloused skin?—

She gasped, my hand slapping against the fabric as her chair slid against the floor. Her back hit the red fabric tent as it rippled from the source.

Her face twisted in a gruesome, silent scream. “You,” she hissed, her voice shaking the stones. “You’re cursed by prophecy.”

Chapter 14

Dark Rumors

THALIA

My heart thuddedagainst my chest, my chipped nails digging into the chair’s wooden arms.

“The Fae gods are indeed molding you, twisting the bonds of your fate in their favor. You were bred for a higher purpose. One tying you to Cethales.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but my lips pursed together as a song floated out of her open mouth, a lullaby and nightmare weaved into one as she sang:

When two sisters, born in winter

Should claim the power from Mother Nature

Born of Light, and born of Dark,

Twist together to unwind Cethales’ heart.

Turmoil and troubles through

Only then can love come true

To unlock Mother’s hold on all those who fold

To higher beings, cruel and old.

Her body slumped as the song finished its verse, herhands clutching the edges of her withered chair. She did not stir for minutes.

I would have been concerned if not for the constant rise and fall of her chest. Her mouth was parted slightly, revealing long canines… canines that could easily rip flesh from bone?—

Her eyes snapped open, a gasp leaving her lips as white stared at me. Her cracked lips curled into a harrowing snarl. “What are you doing here?”

My hand quickly covered the blood stone as she turned her head to the side. “You invited me here. You were telling me my fate.”

I removed my hand, taking advantage of her disoriented state as I pocketed the tiny gem. The weight was heavy as it settled against the fabric.

The witch cocked her head to the side, her canines gleaming with saliva. “Hm, I would have remembered,” she muttered, her gaze trailing over my flesh. “But even so, it’s unusual for a ravishing morsel like you to walk into my tent.”

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