Page 174 of Her Dark Promise

“You loved that she was a cure for your loneliness.”

She sent out a blast of power toward me, pushing me back. My body lifted from the ground and slammed into one of the pillars, knocking the breath from my lungs. I heard something snap as an agonizing pain shot up through my left leg. I crashed to the ground, and tried to stand but collapsed.

She kept going, never easing. Sending her power at me, and where it made contact, I was bruised, cut, and beaten. I could hardly breathe; my lungs wouldn’t expand fully. I couldn’t take much more of this. If I died, they would be next. I couldn’t die and leave them here with Circe.

She was walking toward me, and for the first time since that fateful day, I felt frightened. “Circe! No, Circe!” True, undilutedfear quickly ran through my veins at her quick approach. She was far stronger than I was. I wasn’t going to win. I was about to lose everything.

She raised her hands, and I quickly shouted, “I will be your tool. I will be your slave. This I vow.”

She bent down, and grabbed me by the throat. “I can’t trust you.”

“You were the only reason I didn’t completely lose my mind. You have been by my side since I was a child. Why? Why would you stay with me? Was it just to torment me?”

“I was trying to break you,” she reminded me.

“I don’t believe you,” I said.

She pondered a moment, fingers digging into my throat. “Let’s make a deal. I will let Emilia go if you freely invite me in.”

The idea panicked me, but I didn’t have to think about it long. “Fine, but then what?”

“Give up your life for theirs.”

“How many people will you hurt if I do?”

“That is not for you to decide.”

I must not have answered Circe quickly enough and she brought the blade up to Emilia’s neck.

“Stop! I give myself freely over to you, Circe, as long as you make a vow to not harm them. Don’t harm my family.”

She smiled wickedly at me. She’d won.

I looked over at their slumped forms. I would miss them. All of them.Please forgive me.

“Deal. I will spare them.”

I nodded, bared my teeth, and pushed myself from the floor. If I was going to give myself over, then I would do it with dignity. My wounds had somewhat healed, the pain lessened, but the limp in my foot was still present. I slowly made my way over to her.

“No! Don’t give her what she wants!” I tensed hearing Soren’s voice. They must have woken up. I blocked him out, knowing that I needed to focus on what came next. I couldn’t have any distractions. I could see him waking Bastian out of the corner of my eye, sending my shadows over toward them to hold them on the ground.

“Thea! We can figure this out! Just stop!” Bastian hands were under him, using all his strength to get up. I sighed at his tenacity; I prayed he’d never change.

Circe placed the bloody knife in the belt of her dress and put both her hands around my face. “We are going to do wondrous things together. Wicked things against those who would hunt us. Our people will rise once again because of you.”

I stared at her. My mind cleared, waiting for the intrusion—for the moment I would no longer be myself. I wonder if it would be any different from how it currently was. Would I still be conscious of what she was going to do? Would I have to witness all of the atrocities I allowed to happen because I refused to consent to the murder of my family? Were their lives more important than the lives of millions?

I closed my eyes and felt a burning sensation start at my face where her hands were and then spread throughout my body. My lungs felt like I had breathed in too much smoke. I knew whatever power Circe had stored within her was nothing short of spectacular. She had centuries worth of others’ powers within her, fighting each other for dominance. It made my blood boil.

I could tell that I was screaming, pleading with Circe to hurry up and put me out of this misery. I couldn’t tell if she had so much raw power that it was taking a while to transfer all of it to me, or if she was doing this as punishment.

I wasn’t sure how long the process was, but the pain ceased, the burning extinguished and I could hear her in my head.

“Ah. It feels so good to be powerful again.”

No. That wasn’t in my head. She had control, but I was still present. I was still present!

I could hear her laughter growing louder and louder, but I didn’t focus on that. No. All I could focus on was Emilia’s terrified eyes as they changed back to her honeyed eye color.

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