Page 6 of The Cursed

“A witch. I don’t know her name, nor do I care to. Beelzebub made it quick and painless, just as he did with you,” he said, the matter-of-fact statement feeling like truth. Gray didn’t bother to acquaint himself with the witches that couldn’t offer him anything in return.

I nodded, hoping he would have at least recognized Della or Margot as my roommates. I could only hope they hadn’t been harmed because of me, unable to live with that on my conscience.

I slowly lifted my legs into the bed, ignoring the ache in my bones as it felt like my very being shifted with the movement. Like my body couldn’t adjust to the strangeness of coming back from the dead. I laid back awkwardly, wishing I had more clothes and hating the thought of Gray changing me while I’d been unconscious. Gray covered me with the blanket the moment my head hit the pillow, taking up residence in the chair beside the bed.

I sighed, staring at the ceiling.

Who could sleep while the devil was watching them?

4

WILLOW

Light trickled in the window at the edge of the room, the faint hint of sunshine fading over the horizon as I slowly peeled my eyes open. A soft grumble crawled up my throat as I forced myself to sit, cradling my forehead in my hands as a piercing headache seemed to split me in two.

Drawing in a few deep breaths, I glanced toward the chair that Gray had occupied when I’d somehow fallen asleep. My sense of self-preservation was severely lacking if I managed to rest at all with the devil watching me, since I clearly couldn’t trust any of his motivations or plans.

Let me love you.

Those haunting words rang in my ears as I kept staring at the empty chair while shoving the blanket down to my feet and freeing my legs. It would seem he’d closed the bedroom door when he left, so I walked slowly on unsteady feet to try and test the knob. It barely moved, the lock keeping it stationary as I turned too quickly and stumbled.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

I shook off the unsteady, tight feeling in my body, moving toward the window where the last rays of daylight shone in. Looking down at the courtyard beneath Gray’s rooms, I swallowed as I searched for any hint of a Vessel or Archdemon below.

I found none, glancing back toward the door to Gray’s office. I couldn’t imagine abandoning the others to the fate I’d played such a key role in causing, but I couldn’t help anyone if I remained locked in the devil’s bedroom.

My eyes drifted closed as I flipped the lock on top of the window pane, only opening as I steadied myself against the guilt I already felt.

I’d come back, I promised myself. Promisedthemeven though they couldn’t hear me. Only a few weeks prior, I’d arrived determined to destroy the Coven and everyone in it. I’d been committed to getting the vengeance I’d been raised for, even if it meant my own death.

So why did I hesitate to leave them to their fate now?

I grimaced as I shoved the window up in anger at my own hesitation, wincing when the force of the window sliding into place cracked the glass. I touched my trembling fingers to the spider web-like cracks, staring at the hands that didn’t look any different from what I’d rememberedbefore.

Before I died.

Swallowing, I climbed up into the windowsill. I knew my time would be limited, and that Gray would never leave me unattended for long. Surely, he knew escape would be the first thing on my mind, so he must have simply not expected me to wake so soon.

I managed to get my legs out onto the windowsill, feeling as awkward as a newborn deer as I maneuvered my way through the small space. The stone building was like a cliff, with no shorter parts of the building in this section to get me closer to the ground. Glancing down to the courtyard, I closed my eyes and drew in a breath as I called to the part of myself that was as vital to me as air.

The earth below answered, the vines of the trellis that scaled the sides of the building twitching as they came to life. They grew slowly, extending toward me until I could reach out and grasp them. Wrapping it around my hand and gripping it tightly, I sucked back a deep breath.

Green witches were not meant to fly, and the knowledge of the impact that awaited me if I fell was almost enough to send me back into the bedroom that had become a prison.

Petty spite drove me forward. I jumped, content in the knowledge that if I died in my attempt, at least I would go out having ruined Gray’s plans.

He didn’t get to win. Not after what he’d done, not after the way my entire life had been a wasted manipulation for his own selfish gain. I didn’t want to think of who I might have become if it hadn’t been for the suffering he caused through whatever connection he and my father shared.

I bit back my scream as I plummeted toward the ground, moving gradually at first as if time itself stopped the moment my body left the windowsill. Air rushed up to meet me, forcing my nightgown up around my waist as I fell into the gentle embrace of the vines that shot forward to catch me.

I closed my eyes as the ground came closer, sure that the vines wouldn’t be able to stop me from the death waiting for me. Curling into the fetal position, I winced when I crashed into something soft that shoved me back into the air the moment it caught me.

The momentum took some of the force from my collision, making the second thump against something plush more uncomfortable than painful. Relaxing my body, I let my legs drop from my chest as I finally opened my eyes and glanced down at the pillow of flowers that had risen up from the garden beds to cradle me.

They rose higher, pushing me to my feet before retreating back into the earth. The vine that I had wrapped around my hand coiled tighter, thorns sinking into my skin to take the blood required for the aid.

The bones around my neck clinked together as I stepped away from the plants, reminding me of their presence with every footstep. I considered the driveway and the road that cut a path through the woods that I knew would probably deliver me to certain death, but I knew sneaking out of Hollow’s Grove would be far more difficult if I did it in plain sight.

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