Page 37 of Necromance
He turned back to me then, his gaze searching mine. A shadow of concern crossed his face before he spoke.
“How do we break the curse?”
I wrung my hands in my lap. He was right. I scanned the page again, but some of the text was missing, perhaps faded with time and age… or perhaps removed on purpose. Either way, there was nothing about how to break the curse. Only the vague riddle in the curse itself.
I smiled reassuringly, hoping it was convincing, but before I could speak, a low, deep groan echoed through the walls, the very stones of Ravenspire seeming to shudder beneath our feet. A rush of cold air swept through the library, extinguishing the lone candle I had lit. Shadows stretched unnaturally, shifting as if they had minds of their own.
I stiffened, my pulse hammering. “I think she knows we’ve found something.”
Lucien’s gaze snapped to mine, his expression sharpening. Then, as if to confirm my suspicion, the castle trembled again—books rattled on the shelves, dust rained down from the rafters, and a deafening hiss slithered through the air, just beyond the edge of hearing.
Lucien stepped closer, his presence grounding even as the air thickened with something unseen. “We need to move,” he said, voice low. “Now.”
I nodded, grabbing the spellbook and clutching it tightly to my chest. The moment my fingers closed around it, the whispering grew louder, turning into a chorus of soft, breathy voices—almost as if the book itself was warning me.
Or taunting me.
A sharp crack sounded above us. I barely had time to react before Lucien grabbed my arm, yanking me back just as a section of the ceiling gave way, crashing down where I had stood only seconds before. Dust and debris filled the air, but through the swirling haze, I saw something shift in the darkness beyond the doorway.
A figure.
Tall. Waiting. Watching.
The air turned freezing, the shadows curling like living things.
Lucien tensed beside me. “We’re not alone.”
He moved fast. Before I could react, his arms wrapped around me, pulling me flush against his chest.
“Lucien…”
“I guess you’ll have your request granted after all,” he murmured against my ear, amusement lacinghis voice. Then, softer, “Hold on tight.”
The world lurched, and I felt as though I were being wrenched from my body. The air turned frigid, the pressure around us shifting in a way that made my stomach swoop. It was as if we were falling through nothingness, a great, endless void stretching beneath my feet.
I buried my face against his chest, gripping onto him with everything I had.
Then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped.
We were frozen, suspended in a dark, swirling space. It was hazy, tendrils of onyx smoke hovered around us. Time stood still.
I pulled back just enough to look up at Lucien who was smiling down at my confusion. “Where are we?” I asked, my voice seeming to echo faintly in the hollow space.
“The void,” he said simply, dimple peeking out from his crooked grin.
“I don’t understand,” I mused softly, looking around us at the cavernous blackness.
“When I move between spaces, I come here first,” he explained. “I can stay or continue through.”
My brows furrowed. “But when you brought me my bag, you were gone for less than a second.”
He laughed, the rich sound bouncing through the void. “That’s because time doesn’t exist here. Nothing exists here. We could stay here forever yet, when I bring you back, only a moment will have passed.”
It made sense now why he had no idea how long he had been in the void. I nodded at my own thought.
“And when you leave… at sunrise I mean. This is where you exist until I summon you?”
He nodded and I instantly felt heartbreak for him and the guilt over the curse burned deep in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to tell him how sorry I was for his torture… for his pain, but before I could say or do anything, he pulled me against him once again, his gentle voice close to my ear though it felt like it was all around me.
