Page 43 of Curses and Casualties
Ryan
With Scarlett removed, Magnus lowers himself into the leather throne behind his desk. His fingers tremble before he laces them together—barely restrained control, like a wolf with its teeth bared behind bars. The strange gold flashes in his eyes have stopped, but something raw and desperate still lingers in their storm-gray depths.
Broken wolf. Trying to free itself from cage,Kane observes, his mental voice tight with recognition.Can smell the battle raging inside him.
I saw that too,I tell him.Let’s see what he has to say.
“I understand you want information about a curse,” Magnus says, his cultured voice steady again, though the effort it takes shows in the white-knuckled grip he has on his composure.
“You know damn well that’s what we want,” I say, not bothering to hide my anger. The words come out sharp enough to cut. “You cursed those scrolls. You killed Kane and Luna’s vessels. You’ve left us clawing through ten years of agony?—”
“Ten years of what was necessary,” Magnus interrupts, his eyes meeting mine without flinching.
“Necessary?” I spit, every ounce of fury bubbling to the surface like lava breaking through stone. “You think a curse thattrapped Luna and cost Kane his vessel’s life was necessary? You turned their bond into a blood-soaked tragedy!”
Magnus’s face hardens, defenses rising like walls with each accusation. A muscle ticks in his jaw. “You do not understand the intricacies of what you speak. What I did was for the greater good?—”
“There is no greater good in destroying souls!” I shout, fists clenching at my sides hard enough that I feel my bones protest.
A flicker of what looks like genuine regret crosses Magnus’s expression. But it’s there and gone so fast I almost miss it. “You think I had those scrolls cursed to destroy you?”
“Yes!” Ethan pipes up from behind us, his usually calm voice vibrating with anger. “That’s exactly what we think. That you hate yourself so much, hated being a wolf so much, that you were willing to curse the one thing that could save all of us—the truth about Soul Bonds.”
Magnus is quiet for a long moment, his fingers drumming against the desk in a rhythm that speaks of barely contained agitation. The silence stretches until it feels like it might snap. When he speaks, his voice carries a weight I wasn’t expecting. Centuries of exhaustion compressed into words.
“Magic is dying,” he says simply, as if stating the weather. “Has been for decades. The supernatural world grows weaker every year, our abilities diminished, our children born without gifts. The old ways are failing.”
“And that’s our fault how?” I demand, though something cold settles in my stomach at his words.
“It’s not your fault. It’s the absence of Soul Bonds.” Magnus stands, moving to the window that overlooks his fortress-like grounds. His reflection in the glass looks haggard, haunted. “Soul Bonds are the key to magical flow. When they were common, magic was abundant. Since they’ve been hiddenaway...” He shrugs, but the gesture carries the weight of worlds. “We all suffer the consequences.”
Ethan leans forward, his analytical mind engaging. “Then why curse the scrolls? Why bury the truth?” His voice fills with heat, anger vibrating through our pack bonds. “If Soul Bonds are so important, why not bring them back instead of condemning us to this slow death?”
Magnus’s gaze remains hard as granite. “I cursed the scrolls to bring Soul Bondsback.”
“What do you mean?” I demand, disbelief threading through my tone. The weight of his words hangs in the air as if they’ve shifted the very foundation of our understanding. Georgia’s hand finds mine, and I feel her confusion matching my own.
Magnus turns to face us, brows drawn. “I cursed them to make sure the right vessel found the only mate that mattered.” His gaze flicks to Georgia, and she shifts uncomfortably. “Kane finding Ryan was the first step. But since Luna’s vessel at the time wasn’t Ryan’s human soulmate, the curse ensured that vessel would fail, trapping Luna where she could call to the correct human.”
The pieces click into place with sickening clarity, like a puzzle I never wanted to solve. “You engineered this,” I breathe, horror and rage warring in my chest. “All of it. Georgia finding the cave, absorbing Luna...”
“I engineered the circumstances,” Magnus corrects, his voice carrying no apology. “The rest was... magic. Fate. Call it what you will.”
Kill him,Kane snarls, his fury seething through me like molten metal.He used us. Hurt Luna. End him.
“Why?” Georgia asks, her voice tight. I can feel her mind reeling, trying to process this level of manipulation. “Why put us through this? Why not just... help? You could have revealed the information in those scrolls and just let nature run its course.”
Magnus laughs. A bitter sound that holds no humor. “Do you realize how rare the Soul Bond is?” His brow knits tight as he studies each of us like specimens. “In all of shifter history, there have been perhaps a hundred documented cases. A hundred in thousands of years. The conditions have to be perfect—not just compatible wolves, but human soulmates who happen to encounter the right heartstone at the right time.” He shakes his head slowly. “I couldn’t leave that to chance. Magic doesn’t have centuries to wait for coincidence.”
“So you forced it,” I say, the accusation hanging like a blade waiting to drop.
“I created the opportunity,” he corrects, returning to his desk and gripping its edge. “The curse ensured that when Kane found his vessel, Luna would be positioned so her heartstone would call to the right human. Without that...” He gestures between Georgia and me with something almost like wonder. “You might never have found each other, and magic would have continued to die.”
“Then why bind your wolf?” Georgia’s voice trembles. “If you believed in the power of Soul Bonds, why not embrace it for yourself?”
Magnus’s gaze immediately drops as anguish flits across his features.
“Because he wants to be free,” Ethan supplies quietly, understanding dawning in his voice. “From being a shifter. He wants to be human again.”
