Page 73 of Necromance
He sat up to now, taking my hands in his. “Please just hear me out.”
I hesitated, then after a moment I sighed. “Fine.”
”We are going to leave the void and I’ll take us to the study where Serena can hear us. We will argue about what happened in the ballroom. A heated argument where I will tell you that I don’t want you here and that I want you to leave. Then, I will summon Serena a little later and tell her you are leaving.”
I nodded slowly, not liking this plan at all. “And then what?”
”You will leave…”
I opened my mouth to argue, but he presseda finger to my lips. “Ah ah, let me finish.”
”I know things about the curse that I can’t explain. Things your grandmother didn’t tell me, but it’s like she left it in my mind. Things like the fact that you can summon me to you anywhere you are.”
He waited, allowing that to sink in. “So I can summon you to my cottage?” I asked, slowly.
He nodded. “This way, you will be out of the castle, safe from Serena. Then you will summon me to you and I will transport you back here to my body to break the curse.”
”But we don’t know where your body is, Lucien.”
He smiled, wincing guiltily as he tilted his head slightly like he knew a secret that I didn’t. “I know where it is.”
I glared at him. “Lucien! Why didn’t you tell me? I could have broken the curse by now… We could just do it now.”
He shook his head, his gaze falling to our hands before he brought my fingers to his lips and pressed a soft kiss there. “I couldn’t tell you because your grandmother made it seem important not to. I wasn’t sure if you were in love with me and she said it had to be your choice.”
I swatted his hand away from mine and stood, hastily pulling my nightgown over my head. “Well, you know now. I love you so let’s go to your body now.”
He reached for my hand, stopping my movements. “We can’t. She will see us. She will know where we are in the castle and what we are trying to do…” He swallowed, his voice much softer when he spoke again. “I can’t watch her hurt you if I don’t have the energy to save you.”
I stared back at him, my heart aching at the pain in his voice. He was right, of course he was. If we left the void and started toward wherever his body was, Serena would unleash whatever control she had over the castle to make sure we didn’t succeed. I never thought of myself as weak, but the truth was, without Lucien’s help, Serena may have already killed me long before now. Despite my grandmother’s brilliance in making the curse, Serena still held power in the castle.
”So,” I said quietly, my nerves cracking my voice. “What do we do?”
”We’ll stick to my plan,” he said. “We’ll have a huge argument, you’ll leave, summon me to you, then I’ll bring you straight to my body. Hopefully we can break the curse quickly before she knows.”
I sank back to my knees in front of him, my hand cupping his cheek. “But, I don’t know how to break the curse.” I glanced down at the locket around my neck, thinking back to the vision of Lucien’s memory with my grandmother.
Lucien pressed his fingers under my chin, forcing my gaze back to him. “Yes you do. A piece of your soul resides in that locket, Mia. Your grandmother showed you what to do in the memory. Youhave to give it to me freely. True love.”
”True love,” I repeated, my hand falling to the locket.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
PRESENT DAY
Lucien
Inside, the chamber was quiet. Reverent. The stone walls were smooth and clean, untouched by rot or decay. A wrought iron chandelier hung above, its candles still burning with blue, ghostly flames. And at the center of it all, resting atop a stone dais draped in faded crimson silk…
My body.
Though I’d known where it was since my memories returned, I’d never dared to visit it.
I couldn’t.
Not only because I didn’t want Serena to know that I knew where it was, but because it was too hard. The memory of the day Serena took my life from me flooded my mind, rage filling my body as I stared at her.
She moved through the catacomb, rounding my body, her hand caressing my chest as she looked up and grinned at me. I had to resist the urge to break each of her fingers as I watched her trail them over my form.
