Page 19 of Magic Cursed

I look down and am horrified to see my fighting leathers, blades, cloak, and bag is all gone, along with the scale and my saved-up earnings––replaced with a simple, if not finely made, nightgown and robe. I try not to think about who might have seen my nakedness. There are other, more pressing things than that to worry about, like where my belongings are, or where the hell I am.

I take in my surroundings. The chambers are larger even than Des’s back home. I’m in an enormous bed, as soft as a cloud, with gold leaf beautifully crafted into the wood frame in designs that depicts the sun and the moon. The rest of the furniture and accessories in the room are just as beautiful and finely crafted with more gold accenting. The sheets I’m laying are much softer than anything I’ve ever slept in. And the bronze vase on the side table alone could fetch a hefty bag of coins. The man in the chair has been patiently observing me.

“Where am I?” I ask the mystery man. “And where are my belongings?”

“You’re safe,” he says simply.

I give him a hard look. “I didn’t ask if I was safe. I asked where I am.”

A smile tugs at his lips.That smile.It whispers to me, like a secret I once shared. Who is he? “That you did. The guards found you after the attack was reported and brought you here. You’re at Stonemount Castle.”

Shit. As the claws of panic scrape my nerves, I grip the velvet blanket with white knuckles.No no no. This is the last place I want to be. I push the images of blood and gore from my mind. I can’t be here. I move to get out of bed. Hot pain explodes in my shoulders and legs. I stop and groan.

“Whoa,” Mystery-man says and gently helps me back onto the pillows. “Take it easy. You have severe injuries. The palace’s physician did her best, but it will take time for you to heal.”

How am I here? Why? It doesn’t make sense. Why would the Steel Guard bring a random, injured woman to the palace? Unless. . .do they know who I am? No, that doesn’t make sense either. If they knew, I’d be in a cell, not a fancy bed, treated by the palace’s physician.

Mystery-man’s brows crease. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

I try to think, but everything is a blur. I remember leaving Desmira’s for the last time. And the black market. As it slowly comes into focus, my heart beats thump harder and faster in my chest. “Screams,” I say. I rub my temple and squeeze my eyes shut. My breath comes faster and faster. “Shadow demons. They were everywhere. I told Titi and Maasin to get in the sewer.” My eyes fly open. “The children! Are they?”

“They’re okay,” he says quickly. “Scared, grieving, but they survived. I’ve seen to it that they’re taken care of.”

Relief is a balm on my heart. They survived. They’re orphans now, but at least they’re alive. And they have each other. It’s more than Daimis and I got.

“What happened after the children went into the sewer?” he asks.

I concentrate, forcing myself to go back to the alley, back to the misting rain, and back to the shadow demons. Those depthless eyes, jagged teeth, the inky black shadows that leaked off them in tendrils of darkness, forming into unforgiving spears. “I was fighting a shadow demon,” I say. “Holding it off as long as I could.” I reach up to my shoulder where the first shadow spear had struck me.

“Then what happened?” he prompts.

I slowly shake my head. “They killedeveryone. As I was fighting, the screams became less and less. Their bodies fell to the ground.” I tense as the memory pours in. “The thuds. I thought it was the worst sound I’d ever heard until there were no more. The silence was worse. I was alone. With the shadow demons. I was all alone.”

Like a fog dissipating in the early afternoon sun, my memory slowly allows me to see what happened next. I gasp, remembering the tendrils of ice blue-tinged darkness leaking fromme.So similar to the darkness that seeped from the shadow demons. I slowly shake my head side to side. What am I? My hands shake uncontrollably. I ball them in fists, but it does nothing to calm my fraying nerves.

Mystery-man leans forward and lightly touches my chin, turning my face to his. His brows crease in concern. He wipes a tear away with his thumb. When did I start crying? His finger leaves a trace of warmth in its wake.

“You’re not alone,” he says. “I’m here, with you.”

And suddenly I’m back in the castle–––only twelve years ago. Daimis wiped a tear from my face, the same way he did now. I had just finished telling him I was all alone, crying over him ignoring me. He’d said the same words back then,I’m here, with you,only his voice wasn’t nearly as deep, but the concern in his jade green eyes was the same. My stomach does flips.

Daimis.

Before I can think better of it, I reach out and cup his face. His stubble scrapes my palm, and his cheek is warm, inviting, familiar—so achingly familiar. He’s my best friend. For the first time in ages, I feel like I’m home. I swallow back a choked sob. He stiffens at first, but only a moment before he softens under my touch. As we stare at one another, the air grows heavy, and charged, and intimate. I examine him more closely. Gone is the awkward boy that was my constant companion, replaced with the gorgeous, confident man in front of me. I have no right, and yet I feel soproud. Proud that this beautiful grown man ismyDaimis.

“Daimis,” I breathe out.

His eyes search my face more intensely. Reality hits me like a cold slap in the face and I snatch my hand back, realizing the dangerous mistake I’ve made. What was I thinking? He can’t know who I really am. This man is not the kid I once knew. He’s now the prince of a kingdom that hunts down my kind—that’s been huntingmefor the past twelve years. Maybe Daimis was once my best friend, but that was before my father killed his, before the night of the Blood Moon, before I became a criminal. Now he’s my biggest threat. I can’t trust him.

I bow my head. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. No one knew you were back in Stonemount already.” His coronation isn’t for another couple of months, on his twenty-fifth birthday.

“How do you know me? I haven’t been seen in Stonemount for years.”

“I saw you once when you were a boy. Before the night of the Blood Moon. You haven’t changed that much.” The lie rolls off my tongue easily.

I can’t see his face, since I’m still bowing my head, but he’s silent for another moment. I glance up. He’s staring at me again. I don’t know what he thinks he sees, but it must not be the real me because he shakes his head a little before speaking.

“I returned a week ago. And it’s a good thing I did.” He leans forward. “Once I heard about you, I made it my mission to see to your recovery personally. You’reveryspecial…” He stops. “I’m at a disadvantage. You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”

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