Page 78 of Don't Fae With Dragons

There’s no other choice, is there? I crawl gracelessly to my feet and sit warily in the chair. As soon as my spine hits the chair’s back, another invisible force restrains me. I cry out as it constricts tightly, reducing my breaths to nothing more than shallow gasps of air.

Kar pulls up a chair facing backwards and sits in front of me, slinging his legs over the sides and resting his head on the top of the chair back. He smiles crookedly, his cheek pressed to the pale wood, and sighs. I watch him, helpless, until he speaks.

“Well, I have some new powers.” I scowl at his flippant words;new powers? This is dark magick. He ignores me and continues, “Oh, and welcome to my new home. The Den of the White Warlock.”

The force holding me to the chair tightens further as Kar twists his fingers; he hardly moves them at all, but the restraints grow suffocatingly taut. He smiles as I bite back a groan of pain.

“You’ve heard of the Chasm Ritual, I presume?”

My blood runs cold. “You couldn’t have performed it,” I huff out. “You need the Sun and Moon both to help you. It’s impossible.” The Sun and Moon don’t work together,ever. The Moon’s wickedness and capricious nature is abhorrent to the noble and steady Sun. Kar is certainly bluffing.

Kar shrugs, eyes hardening as his smile widens. “Not impossible. The Sun needed a little favor; the Moon cashed it in. Isn’t it funny? Sometimes things are so simple.”

A little favor? The Sun should want for nothing, so there should have been no reason for the Moon to be owed a favor. How, then, does Kar suddenly have these powers?

My mind races as he continues, “When I first performed the Chasm Ritual, I was worried it would be for naught. I fell from the Moon, my beloved Moon, terrified and hollowed out. To lose a part of yourself in favor of the emptiness of pure chaos ... well, it’s a challenging transition, as you might believe. Imagine my delight, then, when upon my descent to this Realm I metyou. Powerful, silly faery that you are –you’re too good hearted to anticipate maliciousness. You didn’t see me for what I was, did you? Not the parts of me missing and warped, nor the parts of me crooked and cruel. Lucky day for a White Warlock.”

Then Kar stands, swinging his legs over the chair in one smooth motion, and drags it over beside me. I writhe against the forces binding me as the chair legs screech against the frigid stone floor, but they grow tighter until I can’t move at all.

Kar sits beside me, facing me, and brushes a finger over my cheek. I gasp for air and try to pull away from his touch, but he grabs me by the chin and forces me to look at him.

I whimper despite myself as he continues, “You’d hate someone to take part of you away, wouldn’t you? Clip your wings ... cut your hair.”Cut my hair ... like my nightmare all those months ago.My panic grows as he smiles and says, “You’ve been afraid ever since I first sensed you –only now you know thatIam the cause of that terror. The Moon guides me, butI alone will bring chaos back to this Realm. You believe in peace, in order? Milica, you are a fool! Chaos will balance the Realm, will give me the foothold to grab what I need and take it. It’s all so simple, isn’t it? Everything within my grasp.” I struggle as hard as I can against my restraints, eyes welling with tears again as he whispers the one thing I dread the most.

“Even you.”

A true sob escapes me, a vicious choke breaking loose from my throat, and Kar’s smile morphs into something more sinister, more vicious. His teeth shine like bared fangs as his eyes roll back in his head, and he holds my face as he chants his cursed spell:

You are powerless to me, you are my pawn. By the time of Night, you are mine.

Your parts are part of me. Your self belongs to me. Your essence will fill my chasm.

You are my kind, you are my pet. By the time of Night, you are mine.

I feel tendrils of freezing light wrap around my psyche, his spell working its way into my mind, my soul. Gasping for air through my terrified tears is all I can do, and I fight, I fight against the invisible force holding me.

I will not be beholden to Kar. I won’t.

I will, an unfamiliar voice says.

No! I won’t. I am my own.

I am not my own.

I start to hyperventilate as I think back: Stop it! I am not Kar’s. I don’t love Kar, I won’t be –I can’t be his. I’m not.

I am Kar’s.

Then I wake up, screaming, on the forest ground.

CHAPTER 47: CORY

Mili’s scream tears through the forest like a burning blade, and I shoot for it like an arrow launched from a bow. I don’t think about Max or Port –I just fly.

She’s not far, so it only takes me a few seconds to reach her. My heart thunders in my chest, a roar of agony threatening to rise out of me at the sight of her. Seeing her lying there, desperate cries tearing from her lips, burns a hole in my soul.

She’s on the ground, but her wings are beneath her –crushed. It’s not irreparable damage, but it’s certainly enough to hurt, enough to terrify. It also means that Kar found her before we could, beforeIdid. A spike of rage and horror sends my pulse racing, but I kneel beside Mili and steel myself to not show any weakness.

I sweep her into my arms without thought, and she screams louder for a second as she tries to pull away. The sensation of Mili rearing back from me breaks my heart, but I force the pain down and focus on helping her.

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