Page 106 of Curse of Thorns
“Iwill kill you ifI have to,” I tell Reahgan, pressing the iron blade tighter to his soul, and I mean it. Although, I’ll do everything in my power to avoid it. He is my brother, and evil or not I do love him.
“You think she is better than me? You think she is not just as evil? Just as broken?”
I nod. “She is certainly broken,” I admit. “But she is not evil. Everything she has done, every bad thing, was for a purpose. All of it was for me. Killing you? She did it to save me. To save herself.”
“Lies! You always were a pathetic fool. So naïve.” He’s hysterical now. I have his life in my hands, and he’s powerless. If there is one thing Reahgan cannot stand its powerlessness. “It’s no wonder father hated you,” he screeches. “Even if you were his blood, he’d hate you. He’d hate you how I do.”
I clench my jaw, anger and pain swirling inside, but I do not react.
“Fine, I was going to play the nice big brother, but if you both must die—so be it!” He snarls and then pushes against me. He’s calling my bluff because all I have to do is not move and his soul would be destroyed, my iron blade severing his connection to this earth.
But I pull my blade back and allow him to leap away.
He spins past me, toward the swamp—toward Caelynn. I throw my iron blade at his flying form, right over her fallen body. He hisses again, dodges the blade, and flits away.
My hands are trembling, my magic running low, and the wraiths surrounding us have begun their descent toward us.
Caelynn gasps as I quickly grab her, one arm gently beneath her head and the other beneath her knees. She winces and whines as I pick her broken body up and carry her to the cottage.
Caelynn
Rev lays me on thebed gently. “Rev,” I say stupidly. What else do I say when he just protected me, his enemy, against his beloved brother? “I’m sorry.”
He shrugs. “I made a choice.”
I bite my lip, remembering those same words from the trials. Only this time, he choseme. I swallow, unsure what that even means.
“Thank you,” I whisper and close my eyes. I don’t know how long it will take to heal from an injury like this. Even with a partial healing it could take a week or more. Reahgan had my heart in his grip—literally. He could have killed me. Would have, if he hadn’t wanted to drag it out. He wanted me to suffer. And Rev too.
I can still feel him. His magic clenches over my chest. It’s not enough to kill me but enough to keep me miserable for an extended period of time.
Rev gets to work boarding up the shattered window, and he carves a new symbol into the wood.
“That’s not going to keep him out, is it?”
Rev shrugs. “Luminescent magic seems to work very well against wraiths. The ward may not hold against my brother, but it’ll help. And I’ll protect you if he does come back.”
