Page 135 of On Wings of Blood

Tears slid down my cheeks. I ignored them and looked down at the knife. The dried blood had liquefied. The spell had worked.

Blake’s blood shimmered darkly in the moonlight.

I tilted the knife and the blood dripped down the blade, pooling at the tip.

I had to do this now or I would never find the courage. I pressed the dagger across my palm, wincing as it cut me. Drops of blood welled on my hand. I rubbed them over the blade, letting them mingle with Blake’s. A sharp sting shot through my hand, but it barely registered. My mind was fixed on the next part of the spell.

I held the dagger over the earth, letting the blood drip down onto the ground, and began to speak the ritual words:

By blood and breath, by night and sky,

The binding of souls I sever,

Let what was trapped be freed to fly,

No longer bound forever.

From heart to soul, from blood to bone,

Let life return where stone has grown.

What’s chained away, shall now take flight,

Awakened be the soul tonight.

The final words hung in the cool night air as I finished.

I waited for something to happen.

Did it work?

My heart sank. We’d failed.

I can still hear you,I said sardonically.So, no, it didn’t work. Fuck. What do we do now?

We don’t use curse words, for one, my mother chided.

Really? You’re going to lecture me about that now, of all times?I exclaimed.I would have thought you’d be more worried about the fact that, oh, I don’t know, that you're stillhere.

It is strange,Orcades said thoughtfully.I feel different. And yet as you say, we’re still intertwined.

I stopped breathing for a moment. Realization hit me in the head like a brick.

I stared down at the dagger in my hand.

“Oh, shit,” I whispered aloud.

Well, that was only our first attempt,my mother continued, still oblivious to what had happened.We’ll try again tomorrow night. If that doesn’t work, there are always other books. We’llfigure this out, Medra, one way or another. I suppose I was too greedy to think I might simply go free. Perhaps the option with the anchor would have been simpler somehow.

I think you’re right,I said slowly.It would have.

A pause.You sound rather certain about that, darling.

I am certain,I said, gritting my teeth.Because it’s already happened. You aren’t in my head anymore, Mother. You’re in this dagger.

A longer pause this time.

By the gods, I think you might be right. Oh, for fuck’s sake. Of all the slip-ups. I should have foreseen this. You were holding the object as the blood fell.

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