Page 60 of Spellbound
Finally, when the darkness was too much, I found something I’d buried deep long ago. It was a faded memory of the mother who’d abandoned Mona and me long ago, leaving us with a father who drank himself to death, leaving us to the mercy of the orphanage. Salvius wasn’t as forward-thinking as Istinia and didn’t look after their weak or old. No one cared for us. My mother had moved away, built a life for herself with a wealthy merchant. I didn’t care if she ever thought of us after. She had abandoned me, I’d been taken from Mona, my dad left me by choosing alcohol over his daughters, and Naomi had decided she’d had enough of me.
I opened my eyes, staring at the large stone beneath me through red-tinted eyes. I blinked twice. “No.” I sucked in a deep breath as I fought wrath. I wouldn’t let it beat me. I couldn’t. It didn’t matter how hurt I was, or the pain I felt. It would be nothing compared to failing this test. I’d lost hope, but I was at the end, and maybe, just maybe, I actually stood a chance.
I thought of Dora, Edmund, and Maddox. He wanted me to win. He’d told me so. Edmund was rooting for me too. Dora took care of me as a mother would. I had family here, and I was worth something to them.
It recoiled slowly, then left my body, slipping back into the box with the others. The lid closed with a slam, the key shooting out of the keyhole on its own accord. I curled into a ball as the magical barrier fizzled away. Bright pale light hit my eyes. I rubbed them, then looked bleary-eyed at Edmund and Maddox. Dora wrapped her arm around me, helping me to my feet.
Edmund clasped his hands together. “You did it.”
Dora smiled as she steadied me. My legs were weak, and my knees felt like they’d buckle at any moment. “Pandora’s Box is the most difficult part of the test. You can finish this.” She handed me a bar of chocolate. “Eat this, honey. It will help you regain some strength.”
Maddox patted my shoulder. “Good going.”
Edmund held a black cane, with skulls and roses made from metal as the handle. I looked at the old crow’s cane, the second object. “You know how this works. This one, like the others you’ve done, you need to contain the curse without allowing it to pass to another object.”
I wolfed down the chocolate, closing my eyes as the bitter, smooth cocoa coated my tongue. It was like Midas’s book, where the curse of turning everything one touched to gold must be held within the person so it didn’t transfer. I still couldn’t believe it when Viktor—no wait, Raiden—had mastered it so quickly. Sometimes I still got them confused.
I couldn’t think about him right now. I had more important things to think of. My sister, my place in the coven, getting everything I’d worked for over the years... I placed my hand over my stomach, where nausea still lingered from being hit by the seven sins. “Give me the cane.”
He handed it to me. I closed my eyes, wondering what curse lurked inside. It was a grade ten object, strong enough to hold in a vault.
Maddox cleared his throat, stepping into the circle. “Touch me.” He extended his hand.
With the cane in one hand, I touched Maddox and he aged thirty years. The skin around his eyes sagged into wrinkles, his laugh lines deepened, and his dark hair grayed.
“Oh, gods no.” I let him go, and his youthfulness returned. No matter how much I tried to contain the curse before it left my fingertips, the stronger it grew.
Minutes fell into hours, and I was exhausted when I finally found the strength to touch Edmund without him aging twenty years. I gasped when the curse neared my wrist but didn’t reach my hand. The blocks I’d formed in my mind, the resilience of my own magic syncing with my body, and pure will stopped the aging curse before it could leave me.
I touched Maddox’s, then Dora’s hands in turn. They both, gratefully, looked exactly the same. “I did it.” Tears seeped from the corners of my eyes. I held the cane longer, delighting in the power beating through my veins as the curse tried but failed to move through me. I’d beaten it.
With my peripheral vision, I noticed the headstone carved in Lor on the desk. Newfound confidence pushed me forward.
“Let’s get this over with.” My voice charged with hope as I approached the text.
Could I really be a keeper by the end of the day? Could I beat an actual god?
***
Ipaced my room. Icouldn’t stay still as we waited. He hadn’t told me if I’d passed the Lor translations, but apart from two words I’d stumbled on, I thought I got it all correct.
Tingling pulled my gaze down to my hand. A magic quill appeared. Come to the garden. A decision has been made.
My heart skipped a beat. The moment of truth. Goose bumps ran along my skin as I walked downstairs. I stopped halfway, placing a hand against my stomach. Bile climbed my throat. Scrunching my nose, I willed it away, closing my eyes and finding peace in the temporary darkness.
“No hard feelings, Elle.”
I spun around, peeling my eyelids back to take him in. Pine with spicy undertones wafted into my nose as he passed. “Same goes to you.”
“I know you’ve been having trouble handling some of the more advanced magic.”
I tried to keep my expression as apathetic as possible. “What makes you say that?”
“I’ve been watching you. I had to ensure I wouldn’t have any real competition.”
“Wow.” I shook my head and placed my hand on my hip. “Are all the gods assholes, or is it just you?”
He chuckled. “None of this is personal. I hope you know that.”
