Page 100 of Curse of Thorns
She’s waiting for you.
“Get inside the house!” I call to her. I throw up a wall of white light between us and the wooden door. We both sprint toward the safety of the warded cottage.
I slam the door shut behind us and press my weight against it. My chest heaves up and down as I press my back against the very small barrier between us.
The attack began as only three wraiths, but how many more will be after us? I picture the army from the plains and shudder. Even with ward magic, I can’t imagine this cottage could withstand such an attack.
I’ve never heard of wraiths hunting someone the way they’re apparently hunting us. It’s part of the “plot” Caelynn uncovered, but even so it seems... odd.
The mountains rumble around us.
Hysterical laughter fills the house, and the overcast face of a wraith appears in the shattered window.
“Would you look at who decided to show up,” Reahgan purrs. “Now, it’s my turn to save my ungrateful brother and the world all in one violent murder.”
My brother chuckles, and Caelynn shudders beside me.
“Reahgan, stop this.” I have a lot of conflicting feelings about Caelynn, but I do not want her dead. I haven’t for months now. She’s already doomed herself, sacrificed herself, in a misguided attempt to save me. She doesn’t need to die too.
“Why would my death save him?” Caelynn asks suddenly through heavy breaths.
Reahgan’s body simmers into a liquid form as he seeps through the small window and his body reforms besides the rusty pans.
“Ah, I see now.” Reahgan tilts his head curiously as he flutters toward us casually. “I’d thought us two eternal enemies, fated to always battle, but we’ve found something in common.”
I purse my lips. What—
“Our love for Reveln,” Reahgan says.
It’s hard for me to imagine a wraith loving anything at all, but this is my brother. The tattered remains of my brother’s soul.
“So, let me explain, my dear, and perhaps we can come to an arrangement.”
“Stop this, Reahgan.” Chills cascade down my spine. I don’t like this conversation at all. “I don’t care what plot you’ve uncovered; unnecessary death is never okay.”
“Oh! But it is necessary. And I think your lover will agree.”
“How does my death save him?” Caelynn says firmly through gritted teeth.
I turn my gaze to hers, pleading. She can’t possibly be considering... “Caelynn, he’s manipulating you.”
But her stare doesn’t leave my brother’s. Outside the walls of this little cottage, the eager moans of wraiths fill the valley. I swallow.
“The Night Terror needs you,” Reahgan says in a pleased, singsong tone. This is a game to him. He’s enjoying it. “He requires you alive and Rev dead. If you were to die, all hopes of his plan are lost. Rev will be of no consequence to him any longer.”
My gaze darts between them—Caelynn is considering his words carefully, still fully ignoring me. Reahgan wafts gently, almost dancing beneath the short ceiling of the wooden building.
“He’ll still kill him for spite.”
“True, but the Night Terror is trapped inside the deepest parts of the Schorchedlands. She has sent messages to all the corners of this place, so all the spirits know you. They know that you are the key to their freedom. They won’t live again, but they can be free within the living world. All they need is you captured and my brother dead. If I were to succeed in my mission to kill you before that happens, I could feasibly get Reveln out before the Night Terror reaches him. And there will be no reason for them to continue the hunt.”
“No!” I yell. Are they both this insane? Don’t they understand how hard I worked to get here? Between the trials and the months I spent desperate to figure out how to get through the Wicked Gates... they think I’d throw it all away because a few wraiths are after me? Or even because there is an ancient being who wants me dead? “I am not leaving without the cure!”
“There is no cure, you fool!” Reahgan yells. “It’s all a farce. You can leave here and save the world by using that magical healing power of yours.”
“He’s right,” Caelynn whispers.
“What?” What the hell does she know that I don’t?
