Page 41 of The Tracker's Dawn: Sunderverse
“Nervous?” Eric said with a frown. “You? The mage who is capable of resurrection.”
The mage made a dismissive flourish with his hand. “Though I assure you there was no luck and muck skill involved in myresurrection,as you call it, I’d rather not take that risk again. Being an earthworm was very unpleasant and although a cat was a nice upgrade, I much prefer my current state.”
“I do, too,” Rosalina said from the door, shooting Damien a warm smile.
After some rest and good food, she seemed to have returned to her usual vivacity. She was dressed in a tank top and a pair of workout shorts. Her tanned legs were smooth and shone with the light from the many lamps in the room. She was barefoot, and as she padded across the layered rugs, Damien’s copper gaze slowly admired her from head to toe.
“Good evening,” she said, taking a seat on the arm of the sofa and crossing her legs.
Damien’s eyes nearly popped out as he admired her legs. All his bluster seemed to sputter out of him, and he had the look of someone who’d forgotten all his words.
“Are you ready to start?” Rosalina asked, gesturing toward the books.
“Yes, we’re just waiting for Jake,” I said.
At that moment, Eric’s cell phone buzzed. He took it out of his jeans pocket and looked at the screen. “Speak of the devil.” He pressed a button to let Jake in.
A couple of minutes later, Jake walked into the study. I welcomed him with a smile that quickly fell as I noticed how frazzled he looked. His handsome face spoke of little rest. Since this morning, his eyes had become bloodshot and his skin sallow. His stumble was longer, which meant he hadn’t even had time for his personal care. He glanced around the room with impatience as if he wanted or needed to be elsewhere.
“Everything all right?” I asked.
“Hmm, yeah, just a lot on my mind. I got here as soon as I could. Are we ready to start?” He shook himself and made a visible effort to focus on the moment.
“We were only waiting for you,” Damien said, reluctantly tearing his attention away from Rosalina.
Eric stood and moved to a spot in front of the fireplace. “You two sit there,” he said, offering Jake and me the twin armchairs. Once we were all situated, Damien pushed to the edge of the sofa and began explaining his plan to undo the unbreakable pact. We all listened, transfixed.
“So, like I said, I readBlood Treaties: My life in Francein detail,” Damien said. “Alodar Rune’s account of how he witnessed the dissolution of an unbreakable pact sworn by a werewolf peasant to his landowner seems quite legitimate, and it makes me hopeful that the method will work for us. We know it won’t be easy, and not only that, but it will also be dangerous. Jake could die,” he said plainly and let that sink in a little deeper as if the awful idea wasn’t already a thorn in my eyeball.
He went on, wearing a stern expression. “The magic of the pact runs in Jake’s veins. His blood and Allison’s were used to craft the treaty between them. Blood magic is the most powerful, the most binding. If Jake were to break his vow, the curse in his system would strike,” he pointed at his heart, “right here. His heart would stop.” Another brutal pause to annihilate any remaining doubt about the seriousness of what we intended to do.
I gulped and avoided looking at Jake. If I did, I would just get angry at him all over again for putting himself in this situation, and I didn’t need to do that. I’d been angry at him long enough, and the time for reproach had passed.
Instead, it was time to fight for our future. Together.
Rosalina put a hand up. “If Jake breaks his vow, as you said, would Allison also... die?”
“No,” Damien shook his head. “Only the person who breaks the vow would.”
“So... what if Allison was... say... struck by a train?” Rosalina vaguely waved her hand in the air.
“The magic makes provisions for that,” Jake said, looking like someone who had imagined Allison’s death a thousand times. I knew Jake wouldn’t be capable of hurting her, but we weren’t innocent little angels, and I would be lying if I hadn’t had similar thoughts.
“Blood magic used for this purpose is so powerful and intricate,” Damien said with a reverent tone, “that it can distinguish between accidental death and one caused by the counterpart involved in the pact. If Allison were to die and Jake was involved in any way—even if someone else committed the crime—he would die along with his victim. If she was generally struck by a train without Jake’s knowledge in any shape or form, then he would be spared.”
“Damn, if only trains were on my side,” I joked, then immediately felt callous. I didn’t wish any ill on Allison. She was in the same boat as Jake and me. In love with somebody else.
“So what does the blood demon do exactly?” Rosalina asked. “How does it get rid of the curse in Jake’s veins?”
“That’s the dangerous part,” the mage said. “The blood demon needs to enter Jake’s body to be able to eat away the magic that binds him.”
“Enter his body?!” Rosalina exclaimed in horror. Her green eyes flicked in my direction loaded with an implicit question.Are you crazy?she seemed to ask.
Jake reached across the small table between our armchairs and rested his hand on mine. “I’m willing to do what it takes to be with Toni,” he said. “I had to convince her to agree, but she understands why I must do this.”
Rosalina’s expression grew sad, but she nodded. If she disapproved, I knew she wouldn’t say anything else. She always respected everyone’s decisions and knew how to be supportive, even in the face of adversity.
“So how do I let the demon in?” Jake asked next. “Will it be like a possession? Do I invite it in?”
