Page 74 of Changeling
He holds my face in his hands, forcing me to look at him. “I think I can break yours.”
CHAPTER22
Sebastian
We siton a thick wool blanket at the edge of the river, in the same spot as our fishing expedition: Dominus, Remy, Laurence, and me. Luckily, we are not here to fish.
The moon’s silvery glow glints off the rippling water, and the air emits promises of more snow. Trees sway in the night’s chilly breeze, but the cold can’t reach us because Remy has kept our little circle warm with his magic. A lantern flickers between us, casting its eerie orange light on our faces.
Dominus’s features are unusually blank. He’s wary, I’m sure, and I suspect he’s trying not to get his hopes up. He’s in his human form, in an ordinary gray cotton shirt and brown wool trousers, on top an equally drab wool cloak. He doesn’t look like himself, but he’s dressed to blend in.
Remy and Laurence wear sleek black cloaks with matching gold trim. They make a handsome pair, side by side on the blanket, communicating silently with a simple look or smile.
I chew on my fingernail as we’re about to get started. What if it doesn’t work? What if all my research, studying, and practice is all for naught? The last thing I want to do is disappoint Dominus.
They’re all waiting for me. My stomach is in knots.
Remy speaks gently, “Sebastian, why don’t you explain to Dominus what you’ve learned.”
I was hoping he’d do it for me. But this is my goal, my project, and I must accept that I’m in charge.
I take a deep breath. “The curse fae placed on incubi is so ancient as to be half-forgotten by your kind. Due to the nearly complete absence of Luminia fae in our realm, we can safely assume that it hasn’t been fortified in centuries. Even millennia. Meaning it’s vulnerable. Degraded.”
“It doesn’t feel vulnerable,” Dominus grumbles.
“Have you ever tried to leave Hungary?”
“Yes. And I can’t.”
“What happens, exactly?”
“I physically can’t leave. It’s like my body turns into stone or the earth becomes sludge, sometimes both at once. At that point, I can only return. I can’t move forward.”
“And before you tried to leave, had anyone told you that would happen?”
He nods. “My father.”
“So you expected as much to happen, and when it did, your beliefs were confirmed. Then what?”
“What do you mean, then what? There’s nothing more to say. I accepted the limitation and made a home for myself in Pest.”
“You never tried again?” I ask softly. I don’t mean to be irritating, but I’m digging for a reason.
“Why would I when any effort would have been futile?” He huffs a sigh. “Are you suggesting I should have? Would the results have changed if I’d been more persistent?”
“I don’t know. In your place, I’d probably have done the same. And I’m betting the curse is relying on that to hold sway over you and your race.”
“You mean it’s only in my head? Sebastian, it’s real. When your legs turn to stone and you fear your heart will be next, you back down. You don’t try again.”
“The curse is real, yes, but it’s also in your head. I’m saying both are true at once, and to unravel the magic, we must work on both ends, the physical and the spirit. For me to break the curse, you must believe in me. Believe that I can do it. Will you try?”
“Doyoubelieve you can do it?” He shakes his head. “I’m sorry. Of course you do, or we wouldn’t be here. Yes, I’ll try to believe too, but after a lifetime of restriction, it’s not an easy thing to ask of me.”
I suck my lower lip into my mouth and bite down. If I’m honest, my confidence waivers. One moment, I’m certain I’ve cracked the mystery, that the curse will be broken. And the next, I wonder if I’m fooling myself to think I can outsmart my ancestors so simply.
“I believe in you,” says Dominus softly.
I meet his sky-blue gaze, his faith reflected to me. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve the confidence of a man like him, but I won’t waste it.
