Page 90 of This Violent Light
“I’ll be back,” he says, rather than answer. His wild eyes roam my body before settling on my face. He brushes my lower lip with the pad of his thumb, pulling back far too soon.
“Thank you for coming for me,” I say. My voice cracks, and already, the tears are back.
“You underestimate the things I’d do, little witch,” he says.
“To break the curse?”
“To keep you.” He swallows as he stands. “Now, help Cora if you can, all right?”
He doesn’t give me the chance to respond. He’s already gone, and Theo has disappeared with him.
“You two better work quick,” Beatrice snaps. “Or we’ll all going to die for nothing.”
“Is it working?”I ask.
I collapse against the back wall, so covered in sweat my clothes are wet. We’ve been at this for nearly an hour. Cora is doing most of the work. I’m only sending magic her direction, casting it for her to channel. She leans forward, pressing her head against the iron bars.
“Not well enough,” she says. She gasps for breath, each one coming ragged and slow. Her skin has lost all color, and her balance is starting to waver.
“You have to stop,” I say. I choke out a sob, and I can’t bear to look at her. “You’re going to kill yourself, Cora.”
“We have our direction,” Beatrice snarls. She’s glaring at me, and I can’t bring myself to be annoyed. She’s hated me since I arrived at the manor. I’m only surprised she’s here at all.
“Cora,” I say, ignoring Beatrice. “If you keep pushing, you are going to die. You said it yourself, this isn’t working well enough. We need a different plan.”
“There isn’t another plan,” she says. There’s no bite to her words. There’s only bone-deep exhaustion and those heavy breaths. “This. Is. The. Only. Way.”
I run a hand through my hair, tugging at the roots. This is impossible. Cora isn’t saying it, and Beatrice won’t either, but I still know. I can feel each of Cora’s attempts gettingweaker. She’s withering away before my eyes, and I’m sure I’m doing the same.
Cora lifts her shaking hands, palms facing me.
“No,” I say. I lurch forward, snatching her hands in mine. She’s too dazed to be irritated. I tug her close. “You need to go, Cora.”
“I was in this cage once,” she whispers. “Did you know?”
I glance at Beatrice, who looks away.
“Three months,” she goes on. “Beaten and starved and treated like an animal. I was too dangerous for their liking, and they hoped to break me until there was nothing dangerous left. Do you know what I did?”
I shake my head, lips parting.
“I broke for them,” she says. Her eyes are staring past me, as if she can see herself standing in this very position. “I became small and harmless and weak. I convinced them I was different now, that I was nothing to fear.”
She blinks and pulls back, her hands falling from mine.
“And then?” she says. “When they let their guard down, I killed them all, just like they once feared I would. I ran through sleeping town after sleeping town, until finally, I ran into a man I was taught to fear. He had sharp teeth and a black heart made of stone. He was a monster, Grace, and finally, I felt safe. Like I belonged.”
I swallow. Out of my peripheral gaze, I notice Beatrice has fallen as still as I have.
“You have cracked his untouchable heart,” Cora says. “I owe it to him to save you, as he once saved me.”
Cora lifts her palms, brows scrunching as she closes her eyes.
“Now, give me everything you have,” she says. She starts chanting before I get the chance to protest.
Within seconds I’m gasping again, tears streaming down my face as I give her every ounce of magic I contain.
Be enough, I beg.Please, just be enough.
