Page 44 of Necromance
I turned to look at him, but he wasn’t looking at the painting anymore. He was watching me. The golden candlelight caught the hollows under his eyes, the faint pallor to his skin that I hadn't noticed until now.
”You feel it, don’t you?” I asked, softer now. “The curse is unraveling your portrait and taking you with it.”
He looked away and the silence was all the answer I needed.
”Lucien…”
”I didn’t want to worry you.”
I stepped closer to him, resting myhand on his arm. “You should have told me.”
”I wasn’t sure,” he admitted. “But yes I can feel it. I’m fading. My energy doesn’t last as long. It takes more to appear… to stay. Even our connection. Last night when you called for me, I barely heard it. I feel it slipping away piece by piece, like I’m being hollowed out.”
The ache in my chest tightened. This was my fault… again.
I looked back at the painting, the rot creeping higher and higher. The reflection of my failure inched toward me.
”We don’t have much time,” I said. “We need to find your body. We have to.”
He nodded slowly, but I saw the doubt in his eyes, the fear that he wouldn’t last long enough. I took his hand in mine, squeezing gently. His fingers were—cold. He hadn’t even had the strength to keep his corporeal form warm tonight. I held his hand just a little tighter, desperate to share my own warmth.
His gaze locked with mine, a thousand unspoken words passing between us. Then he squeezed my hand back, just barely. I turned, pulling him along the hallway with me as I moved toward my bedchamber. The sun would be rising soon and not only did Lucien need to rest, but I could feel my own body begin to wane. Despite the urgent need to find his body and end the curse, neither of us would be any good without rest.
We slipped into my bedchamber just as the first weak light of dawn stretched its pale fingers through thewindows. The sky beyond had turned the color of ash and rose, and the castle moaned softly with the weight of morning.
Lucien stood near the hearth, already fading at the edges—his form wavering like smoke. Sunrise always took him. It pulled him back into that in-between state, that half-life the curse had sentenced him too, but this was the first time I’d ever actually been awake to see it. My heart lurched at the sight.
He looked at me, pinning me with those dark, serious eyes. “You won’t leave this room today,” he said, and it wasn’t a question. His voice had softened, but I heard the strain in it, the desperation he tried to keep buried. “Promise me, Mia.”
I nodded, stepping closer, resisting the urge to reach for him as he dimmed before my eyes. “I promise,” I whispered. “I’ll summon you as soon as night falls.”
He lingered for one last moment, as if wanting to say more… wanting to stay, then his form shimmered, thinned to mist, and vanished. The room was too quiet after that.
I stood there for a moment, staring at the space where he’d been, until the silence pressed too hard against my ribs. I turned away, and moved quickly, crossing to where my satchel lay hidden beneath thefoot of the bed.
Sleep would have to wait.
With shaking hands, I pulled my grandmother’s book from its hiding place. The leather creaked faintly in my hands, and even though the room was still, I swore I felt the air shift—like something in the book had sensed my intent.
I sat on the edge of the bed and opened it, flipping past pages inked with necromantic sigils and protection wards… past Lucien’s curse, straight to one page that had caught my eye the other night.
Memory Unveiling Elixir
The words curled across the top in my grandmother’s handwriting—sharp, elegant, unwavering. A chill threaded down my spine as I stared at it. All necromancers had the ability to pull memories from spirits. Occasionally, it helped us to help them move on and other times, a spirit could share a certain memory with us to help us see what they couldn’t—or were unwilling to explain.
Unfortunately, the one time I had tried with Lucien, his memories had been hidden away far too deep and Serena had pulled me into a hellish nightmare instead.
This elixir could be the answer that we’ve been looking for.
The ingredients were few but powerful. A lock of the subject’s hair, an object tied to their soul, a binding rune scrawled in ash, and a drop of a necromancer’s blood—my blood. Simple and yet… extremely dangerous.
If it worked, if I brewed it properly, I would be able to step inside of Lucien’s buried memories. I could see what he had forgotten… and finally uncover the truth that he couldn’t give me. I could, possibly, get all the answers I’d been so desperate for. Not only about the curse, but whether Lucien had done something horrible to deserve the curse… or my grandmother had used her powers for evil… My fingers trembled with the thought and I quickly shoved it away.
As with all magic, it came with a cost. The spell demanded that I surrender my mind and body entirely for however long the magic lasted. I would be completely lost inside someone else’s past, unguarded, defenseless… and worst still…
I dragged my fingers down the page, stopping at the final note.
”Side effects include: disorientation, emotional dissonance, and physical arousal.”
