Page 146 of Cursed

“Youdidn’tmatter,” Clara replied. “And youdon’tmatter now. If you think—”

Her words were cut off as one of the guards struck her with the back of his hand.

Clara’s head rocked back with the blow, and someone in the crowd let out a moan.

I laid the dagger against my palm and closed my hand around it. The blade was so sharp that I barely felt it until the blood began to flow. I pulled the dagger away and flexed my wounded hand. Without hesitation, I reached out and cupped Clara’s cheek with my bloodied hand.

The Council members closest to us let out gasps of surprise, as though they hadn’t expected me to know what to do—

“They wanted you to fail,”the whispers in my mind said.

Her eyes were unfocused, but then she stared back at me and her gaze was full of anger.

Clara’s nose was bloody, but I didn’t care. She had deserved that. “You can’t—”

With a motion that didn’t feel like my own, I pressed the blade of the knife against Clara’s arm and she let out a choked gasp and tried to twist away as the impossibly sharp edge bit into her skin.

Time slowed—seconds stretched impossibly long—as the world faded away, leaving only the two of us suspended in this grotesque moment.

“Please,” Clara whimpered, but I couldn’t let myself falter.

I gritted my teeth and drew the dagger down Clara’s arm. Dark blood welled up around the blade and dripped down her elbow to spatter on the cold stone floor, where it pooled like dark jewels beneath us. It soaked into her filthy nightgown and stained the silk heels I wore, but I couldn’t stop.

It was wrong, so deeply wrong.

“Avril—” Clara moaned.

“By blood unbound and power’s rift,” I murmured.“I drink your breath, and take your gift—”

I moved closer and pressed my wounded hand against her arm. Clara stiffened and let out a sharp cry as an unbearable heat flared between us, but I couldn’t pull my hand away.

Her blood-streaked face was a mask of terror—as though she couldn’t believe that I would dare such a thing.

But I was.

And I did.

I did dare.

I crouched in front of her and looked directly into her eyes.

“Heart to shadow. Soul to bone. Your strength is mine—your life is gone.”

Clara’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly as she gasped for air.

Her power flowed into me like a river—more intense than anything I’d ever experienced.

I felt her magic slithering in my veins, dark and thick, filling the hollow spaces in my soul.

A part of me reveled in this newfound strength, while another screamed in agony—

“Yessss,”the grimoire purred.

She was close—drained.

I tightened my grip on the knife. I knew what was required now.

Without thinking, I pushed my face forward and pressed my lips to Clara’s.

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