Page 175 of Cursed Evermore
“I'll think about it, Arielle.”
“Okay, thanks.”
I switched my gaze to Alaric and the others. “The rest of us will research and try to find out what other elements of dragon magic we can include in the spell. I'll also create a schedule that works around our patrol duties. We still have the rebels to consider.”
“Dreynthor's name day celebration is also upon us,” Alaric pointed out. “We'll need to be extra careful during the lead-up to the event and on the day.”
“Agreed.” I gave him a clipped nod. “We will all go to the celebration.”
“Even Elariya?”
“Yes. To keep up appearances. As a mage in training, Dreynthor would expect her to attend. If I leave her here, he'll be suspicious.” That bastard would probe and probe until he found something.
“Do you still want me to guard her?” Garrick asked, his stare wary from our unresolved tension. “I wouldn't want to displease you in any way.”
“Yes. No reason you shouldn't.” Except my possessive nature that I had to keep on a leash. I might not like his interestin her, but stopping him from watching over her was foolish. And it would show my obsession with the woman who was still supposed to be my prisoner.
His eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he nodded curtly.
“What should we tell Elariya?” Arielle asked. “She has a lot of questions, as you can well imagine.”
Elariya would undoubtedly have a multitude of questions, but I thought it was best if we didn't involve her at this stage of uncertainty. “Tell her we're working on a new plan for the spell.”
“Maybe you should see her, Wolfe.”
“No.” It was imperative for me to stick to my own plans of keeping my distance. “I'll speak to her when we have something more concrete. We don't want to look like we don't know what we're doing. It's important that we keep a line between us. She is still a prisoner here.”
Both Arielle and Bastian flashed me questioning looks, but I ignored them. Garrick gave me the same sort of look. I ignored him, too.
Alaric was the only one I could look at safely and not feel like a bastard.
“Let's reconvene tomorrow night.” I stood and they all bowed.
I phased out of the room, still ignoring Bastian's stare. I moved through the void like a ghost. No sleep would come to me tonight, so I decided to make use of the time and head back to the dragons. But when I reached outside, something tugged at my insides.
It was a tingle, a soft but piercing whisper that reached out to me with invisible fingers. I knew the feeling came from Elariya even before I sensed her sitting at the edge of the garden.
I should ignore her and keep going. It should have been easy to, but I stopped, encircled by the black wisps of the void, andallowed myself to feel her. Feel her sadness, her uncertainty, her pain.
The latter cut me deeply. There was something about her being in pain, whether emotionally or physically, that unsettled me, and I couldn't ignore her.
She was the girl I'd claimed and given a piece of my soul to stop her from dying. She was the girl who mystified me more and more each day. And fuck, I couldn't force myself to stay away from her. So, against my better judgment, I sought her out.
One look, then I'd leave. Just like I'd been doing over the last few days.
I found her exactly where I'd picked up her presence, sitting under the willow tree in the garden. The silver moon bathed her in its ethereal glow, making her red hair look like threads of fire.
She was journaling. No doubt she had plenty to write about today's disaster. Her hopeless expression and fragile appearance made her look different from the strong-willed woman I knew her to be.
Shrouded in shadows, I got close enough that I could smell the scent of her perfumed skin on the edge of the cool night breeze. It mixed with the magic in the air and was just as potent.
Her hands flew across the page as she wrote. I crouched next to her and took a peek, reading the last paragraph on the page she'd been writing on.
She'd written:
I feel like everything is slipping away from me. Like I'll never see my family again and I'm stuck here perpetually.
The next reset is upon me. I won't know what to do when I forget this life and emerge to find myself surrounded by people who'll only care about what I can do to find the ring. No one truly cares about me. And why should they? In the end, I'm the daughter of a murderer.
