Page 33 of Woven Souls

I immediately regret the contact.

My body jerks forward, then backwards. My throat closes up as my palms slam down onto the table. The searing, ungodly amount of pain burrowing into every crevice of my being blackens my sight and splits open my mind.

Eternal suffering.Thatis Rebecca’s curse. Her body might be gone, but her soul is forever in torment. Through the agony coursing through my body, I realize my power is still searching. I’ve found apartof Rebecca’s soul. Trying to tune out the pain that isn’t mine, I focus. Her soul is in pieces. One in the Realm of the Dead. The next piece I find is in the Third Realm and the last… It’s here, trapped in the Realm of the Living. Spread across three realms, forever suffering… I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

How long has she been like this?

Her pain is making me sick. My body cramps up and I can’t breathe. I squeeze my eyes shut as I try to detach myself. As deeply entrenched as I am, I can’t separate myself from Rebecca’s pain. I’m stuck. Just as panic starts to rise, a hand takes mine.

A calmness steals over me as Viktor squeezes my hand. It eases the pain to something much more bearable. I hear him calling for me, but I block out his voice and focus on helping Rebecca.

I can’t let this continue. Her pain is pointless. Unfortunately, there’s no way that her soul can be pieced back together, curse lifted or not. I learned firsthand that welding souls isn’t natural, and it’s not an exact science.

There is only one thing I can do for the poor woman.

I reach for all three pieces, flinching as her pain swamps me again. Whispering an apology, I swiftly remove her from existence. The moment her soul dissolves into nothing, the pain in my body disappears as if it had never been there. I gasp, drinking in oxygen as my vision clears. My body sags over my salad as I try to catch my breath.

“Willow, are you alright?”

Viktor leans forward into view, concern etched into his face. Breathing heavily, I nod. His worry doesn’t ease up.

“You’re bleeding.”

Am I? I reach up to the warm, wet feeling above my upper lip. When my fingers come away, I find blood on them.

“I-I’m alright,” I murmur as I use my napkin to clean my fingers and my nose.

I don’t think Viktor believes me because his expression doesn’t change as he leans back in his seat. Out of the way, I have a clear view of Fredrick.

There’s a knife stabbed through the top of his hand, pinning him to the table and a roll shoved into his mouth to muffle his cries of pain. I gape in surprise.

“What the hell?” I hiss at Viktor.

The worry in Viktor’s face shifts until his expression is thunderous.

“He was trying to cast a spell to take control of your power while you reached out to Rebecca!” he hisses vehemently.

Fredrick spits out the roll in his mouth.

“I just wanted atasteof it!” the warlock snaps. “Is that so wrong?”

For a few seconds, I think I’ve misheard the two of them. There is no way someone would take advantage of my goodwill like that, right? Especially knowing how powerful I am. No one isthatstupid? I stare at the warlock, whose eyes are wide and bright with fervor. The knife in his hand doesn’t seem to faze him at all.

“You wanted me forthat?What about Rebecca?” I ask him after a moment.

Fredrick shakes his head in confusion. “What about her?”

“You don’t want to know how she’s doing?”

My voice is monotone as my temper begins to erupt. My heart begins to race. The heat of it billows out into my chest and nearly chokes me. Twice now, my willingness to help others has backfired. First, with the Ghosts and now with this old warlock. My hands curl into fists on the table as Fredrick simply stares.

“You already know about her condition, don’t you?” My voice trembles. “Theseothernecromancers couldn’t help you because they died reaching out to her, didn’t they? How many necromancers did you end up killing before you realized that they don’t have the Death Magic you so desperately crave?”

“Many.” Gone is the poised gentleman who greeted us at the table. In his place is a maniac. “When my book alerted me to your power, Willow, IknewI had to have you.”

I’m tempted to throw caution to the wind and show him just how powerful I am.

“That poor woman. Rebeccasufferedbecause she tried to protect something of yours that you loved, and you were going to let her soul suffer for eternity rather than just simply ask me to relieve her of her pain.” My hand slams down on the table when Fredrick reaches for the knife in his hand. He tries to yank it out, but it doesn’t budge. Viktor did a good job pinning the asshole in place. “If you loved hersomuch, my power would have been the last thing on your mind!”

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