Page 134 of Brambles and Bellflowers
“I have to be,” I told him. “She needs me.”
Tu scowled. “That’s not an acceptable response.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked him. “You know what happened.”
“I’m aware,” Tu replied, lowering his chin. The red mark on his bald forehead shimmered, and power swelled around us. “And we’ll have vengeance for her. However, you’ll achieve nothing until you release your lingering attachments.”
My heart stuttered. “I’m not giving her up.”
“That is not to which I am referring,” Tu responded. “You can’t continue to serve two masters. What will it be—duty or family? Step into your role, or abandon it for another calling. You must make a decision.”
“I—” I began, my pulse roaring. “I won’t give her up,” I reiterated.
I didn’t care about anything else.
Tu was looking at his sandaled feet. The ground seemed to quake beneath us. “Then you’ve made your choice,” he said,voice low. “It will be a difficult road, but you’ll be rewarded if you persevere.”
I frowned. I didn’t want a reward. I wanted Bianca.
“Then it’s time,” he continued. “Be ready to embrace your inheritance. I hope, for your sake, you both can withstand it.”
Wait. What?
I stepped back—this wasn’t supposed to happen. The potion was supposed to bring me closer to Tu, so that I could access him like the others could with their past lives.
What was this about ‘withstand’ anything?
But he’d vanished before I could ask. Darkness moved in, blanketing the ground and cloaking everything in the heavy night.
It fell over me, taking away my breath and thoughts. My throat closed as everything good in this world fell away.
Bianca POV
Miles had stopped dry heaving and flopped onto the ground in a dead faint. Usually, I would have gone to him, but the second he hit the ground, a stillness fell over the space, and his expression changed from disgust to peaceful serenity.
Perhaps he was in a pleasant place.
A brownish-tan light had slowly filled the finger-drawn runes, and the space around him was thick with an ethereal quality. The flames caused shadows to flicker over his form. He seemed to be sleeping.
If this was meditating, it was certainly more appealing than the options that Finn had given me. Plus, Miles was a lot more interesting to watch.
It was because I was studying him that I witnessed the moment his expression changed.
“Miles?” My skin tingled as I edged my knees to the outside of the circle.
His features had hardened, and he bent forward as his shoulders tightened. I pressed my fingers against my knees, biting my lip as my attention moved between the runes and the witch.
“Miles…” I tried again, whispering. The air was thicker, and the knot in my chest grew larger. “Do you need any help?”
I wasn’t even sure what to do, but if necessary, I would go into that circle and—
A ripple passed over my knees while the symbols on the ground began to turn into a blood red. The lightness had faded, and crimson wetness spread the runes to stain the surrounding ground. The stain grew inward, reaching for Miles as the lines on his forehead became more pronounced.
“Go to him.”
I was already moving before Mu’s instructions could finish echoing through my thoughts. The diseased shadow rippled past me as I stepped over the circle, rushing to Miles’s side.
“Hey…” I touched his shoulder.
