Page 57 of The Curse of Ophelia

“Right.” I nodded, twirling the spear expertly between my fingers. How I could foreshadow a move I barely knew I was about to make was beyond me, but I did as she instructed. I tried to predict the power flowing through my muscles and control it.

Thankfully, the Curse seemed to be offering a reprieve for the moment.

We had risen before dawn and hiked the next stretch of rolling hills that morning, Tolek and I hobbling between the horses, his walking becoming steadier. When the sun rose high in the sky, we stopped to train in a small expanse of shaded grassland.

“Watch your stance,” Jezebel ordered, tucking her hair behind her ears.

“Now you’re finding nonexistent flaws,” I fired back. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and shook out my tired limbs.

From his position lounging between the trees, Tolek barked a laugh and continued to write in his journal. Though his leg was healing—thank the Spirits—we insisted he sit out of our training session so he would have energy to continue on this afternoon. His eyes flitted between us and the spot behind me where Cypherion instructed Santorina on basic hand-to-hand combat, shouting instructions to both parties every few seconds. The dagger I’d given her glinted on her thigh.

“CK, good lad, show her the Alabath sisters’ favorite move. The one that renders an opponent three times their size on his back before they’ve had time to blink.”

“I believe that’s their impressive charm,” Cyph replied with a grin.

Jezebel and I rolled our eyes at them and prepared to duel once again. This time, she lunged first, but I moved to catch her blow with the hilt of Malakai’s spear. She didn’t follow through with the move—a feint, I realized.

I ducked her next slash to my left, losing my balance, and rolling across the grass before springing to my feet. I dropped the spear, unsheathing Starfire with the motion, and Jezebel laughed.

“Back to your sword?” she attempted to distract me.

“Why quit when it’s a certain win?” I taunted.

She sighed, feigning boredom. “Always taking the easy way out.”

I growled in response, Tol’s laugh barely an echo as I honed in on my sister. I lunged. Unable to get her weapon raised in time, Jezebel lifted her wrist at the last moment. My blade landed against the metal guard she wore there, the clash echoing.

“You’re lucky you still wear that,” I reminded her, but the words were futile.

In the moments that it took me to speak, Jezebel had unsheathed a dagger from her thigh. In one motion, she brought it down upon me, a hairsbreadth closer than she intended.

The blade ripped through the sleeve of my training gear.

The fabric tore in slow motion.

Sunlight illuminated the discoloration of my skin as the material peeled back.

Each thread that was severed practically echoed in my ears, snapping the tentative hold I had on my secret one string at a time.

Jezebel dropped her weapon at the sight of the green-gray webbing printed on my skin, the black center nearly throbbing by the light of day. A wave of ice settled over me as my sister’s horrified stare met mine.

Color leached from her heart-shaped face the moment Jezebel realized I bore the Curse.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Keep fighting,” I whispered, the world resuming its roar of motion and sound. I prayed Tolek had not noticed my sister freeze.

Jezebel only stared at me, her mouth popping open into a perfect circle of stunned silence, hands hanging loosely at her sides. I could not remember a time I saw her so shocked, tawny eyes so wide. Her chest rose and fell rapidly.

“Please, Jezzie,” I urged. “Please, don’t let them know.” I adjusted my sweat-slicked grip on my weapons.

Jezebel’s eyebrows rose, but I watched as she tried to work through the truth and slowly recovered her fallen weapons. Tremors wracked her hands, but she backed up a few paces, preparing to parry.

I looked over my shoulder. Tolek had risen to Rina’s side and, using a fallen branch as a makeshift cane, was assisting with her stance. His eyes were locked on her feet as he stretched his cane forward to nudge them into the precise position.

I exhaled a sigh of relief.

“We’re going to go rinse off,” I called to their trio, grabbing Jezebel’s wrist and pulling her after me into the cypher trees, low-hanging branches blocking us from view immediately.

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