Page 101 of Cursed Evermore
“What happens if I’m unwilling?”
He didn’t blink. “I assure you, you don’t want a problem with me, Elariya.”
A cold weight dropped into my stomach. I wasn’t sure what was worse. Him calling me by name or any of the other irritating endearments he’d allocated me. Admittedly, hearing him say my name twisted my gut because I knew he was talking about more serious matters I didn’t want to think about. Matters that made me even more terrified of him.
The silence stretched between us as endless as the sea, and my pulse hammered. I couldn’t even come up with a snarky comment to counter him. Wolfe was showing me once again that I was out of my league and powerless.
“The spell to locate the ring requires precision,” he finally spoke. “It will use your blood to summon the ring’s trail and show me where it is. Due to the high-level nature of this spell, it has to be performed in Galaythia.”
“Will it hurt me?”
“Yes and no.”
Great.Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse. “What does yes and no mean?”
“A spell like this doesn't come without risks.” His voice dropped to a whisper that seemed to darken the room. “That's why I need your compliance. Your human side is fragile.” He leaned forward, his eyes locked on mine. “If you resist or fight, the magic may consume your soul.”
My stomach churned violently. Cold sweat beaded along my hairline as bile rose into my throat.
“My soul?” My fingers clutched the edge of the desk until my knuckles blanched white. “What happens if it consumes my soul?”
“Your soul will die.” He spoke quietly, but with the calm of someone describing the weather, not the end of my existence. “Then you'll become a shell. A hollow vessel that walks and breathes but has nothing inside it. Eyes that see but don't comprehend, lungs that breathe without purpose, a heart that beats without feeling. Like the undead.”
“Undead?”My blood turned to ice.
I remembered the crow I'd awakened with my blood spell. How its dead eyes shimmered with emptiness, the unnatural jerk of its movements, the utter wrongness that clung to it like a miasma. But that had been just a bird. Imagining a human—myself—trapped in such a state made my soul shrink in terror.
My hands began to tremble uncontrollably and I clasped them together to hide the weakness. But Wolfe noticed. Wolfe always noticed everything.
“It would be a waste,” he murmured, his eyes traveling over my face. “To lose such fire to nothingness.”
“The spell sounds dangerous.”
“Itisdangerous.”
“I don’t want to lose my soul.”
“Then let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Does my soul not mean anything to you?” I fumed, balling my hand into a fist.
“If that were true, we wouldn’t be talking about it.” His voice dropped to a dangerous timbre. “I’d simply rip you open with my sword and bleed every last drop of blood from your body.”
I stopped breathing, realizing he was serious as fuck.
“This way, you have a chance to comply.” He gave me a curt nod, highlighting the gravity of the situation he’d laid out before me. “And we work together for a common purpose. I’m sure you’d like to be free of your curse.”
“Of course I would.”
“Then bewiseand comply.”
I bit into my lip, weighing the choices I had. Everything pointed at being compliant if I wanted my life back. So what choice did I really have? “How long will the spell take?”
“We don’t know that yet. The words and procedure are simple, but we don’t know how long it will take to work. If we’re lucky, we can get through it on the first try. Or we may need to try the spell several times with modifications. We’ll just have to see what happens.”
“Gods, that sounds like it could take a long time.”
“It will take as long as it needs.” He relaxed his shoulders and drank the rest of his wine. “The spell cannot be rushed. Neither can it be done recklessly if you don’t want to lose your soul.”
