Page 171 of Her Dark Promise

Panic began to seep through me, and that feeling of dread I’d been trying to bury for days returned. “When?”

“A few days ago. Once I realized who it belonged to, I didn’t want to give it to you until I had gone over it and…” He smiled at me. “I know how to break the curse.”

I almost dropped the book and asked in a small voice. “You do?”

He nodded. “My birthday gift to you is your freedom.”

“You don’t know what this is. You shouldn’t have touched it.” My voice shook. “You shouldn’t have read it. Return it to where you found it. Return it now!”

Soren stared with confusion and a drop of horror.

“Return it!” I screamed, and then my vision became blurry, my body numbed. If it wasn’t for Bastian, I would have fallen to the floor. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion. One moment, I was yelling at Soren, and the next, there was screaming and a blur of bodies.

“Emilia, no!” I heard Callum’s voice screech.

I looked over Soren’s shoulder to see Emilia’s face twisted in a rage I had never seen before, her eyes glowing a bright gold with her arm raised, holding a blade aimed right at Soren’s back.

And Callum. My sweet, little bird, threw his body in between them.

There was a thud, and then Callum’s body was on the ground motionless, blood seeping from his mouth and somewhere on his body.

I looked down at him and in a small voice, asked, “Callum?”

Chapter thirty-two

There was a ringing in the back of my head. One moment, I was standing, and the next, I was bent down next to Callum with his eyes open, a vacant stare. I shook his shoulder, demanding he wake up. He was supposed to grow old and die. I was supposed to get years with him, decades.

I could barely register someone trying to talk to me; my entire focus was on my sweet little bird. Blood oozed out of him. My shadows called to him, begging him to smile at me and tell me that this was all some elaborate prank. That he was fine. He was fine. He had to be fine!

My throat ached; from what, I didn’t know. I could feel my body rocking back and forth, cradling his head in my arms. A noise rose from me, a sound so guttural that I knew something was breaking inside me.

“Rose!”

The name snapped me out of my trance and I looked over to see Bastian had a knife drawn, facing toward a smiling Emilia, and Soren kneeling on the other side of Callum, trying to talk to me.

“Rose, come back!”

I blinked at him a few times, his face blurring every time I opened my eyes. I was crying. I tried to do as he asked, but the words wouldn’t form. It was as if all the air had been sucked out of me. I couldn’t breathe.

Breathe, dammit!

I could barely see Soren’s eyes widen. He leaned over Callum’s body and shook me violently.

“Rose! Stay with me.” Soren reached down and touched Callum’s throat. His shoulders drooped, and I couldn't understand the sadness in his eyes.

Callum’s hurt. I need to heal him. Right. I can do that.

I bit into my hand, opened his mouth, and pleaded, “Drink, Callum. Come on, drink.” I kept thinking that over and over and over.

When his mouth filled with my blood and he wasn’t swallowing, fear shot through me. No. This had to work. My thoughts turned into a desperate plea. He hadto wake up. Ineededhim to wake up. I could fix him. I could fix anything with my magic.

“We need to move.”

I couldn’t focus on Soren. Not when I didn’t understand what was happening and couldn’t comprehend why Emilia hurt him. It didn’t matter. I needed to save him.

Shadows began to surround us, creating a barrier that whipped around the four of us—protecting us. My emotions were so heightened that I had created a tunnel of wind, hair flying everywhere. All noise drowned out except for the one line flying through my mind. Everything would be fine.

Everythinghadto be fine.

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