into my heart. If it killed me before Elektra arrived, at least I’d be spared the fate of eternal sleep. “Can’t … have … both … of … us. Run.”
I knew the moment she understood—the moment my sister knew the truth. She shot to her feet, hand against her mouth, and after one, tortured pause, she was gone.
A strange peace eased through me, making my chest feel strangely light despite the echoes of stabbing pain from the curse. Alba knew my fate.
I was alone as the Masters’ tingly magic overwhelmed my senses, announcing their imminent arrival, but Alba knew the truth now—she knew what they’d done to me. If she hadn’t fully put it together yet, she would soon. The thought was an odd comfort as the air around me seemed to split in half.
SNAP.
They were here.
“Nice attempt, Briar Rose, but as you can see, it wasn’t enough.” I hadn’t heard that male voice in five years, but I recognized it perfectly. “We were impressed by your commitment to death, however. That was quite a fall.”
“Yes,” a female voice added. “It must have been painful, don’t you think, Piers?”
Your pain is just beginning, the curse gloated, practically vibrating with excitement. I told you, creature, I told you, so very many times. We’ve already won.
Chapter 16
Rain poured down, drenching my hair, jacket, and boots. Thunder sounded like a drumroll, ushering me into the crater.
The rocks marking the hidden tunnel into the crater looked different without the cloak of snow during my last visit—bleaker, more alien. More of a warning than an invitation.
Elektra had healed me from the fall. Every broken bone, ever scrape, every bruise. I felt better than I had in months when they dumped me outside the tunnel to enter on my own. I was in perfect shape to fight my greatest enemies, yet I was more helpless than I’d ever been. The curse was ferociously vigilant now, not taking any chances after what I’d done on the cliff.
Alba had escaped. That was good. And Tavar didn’t know what had become of me. There would be no rescue party, no trap, no luring my mother to join me in this fate.
This was a victory.
I let the curse propel me into the tunnel, retracing my steps from exactly five years ago.
The inside of the crater was wet and muddy, with pockets of snow yet to melt still clustered along the edges of the rocky crater walls. The huge, circular valley looked different in the spring—dirty, wet, filled with drab shrubs. A far cry from the lush place the Western explorer had described. Strange, black rocks jutted out from the crater walls, looking unnatural in their perfect intervals and oddly elegant shaping.
The Masters’ enormous, wooden palace at the center of the crater was just as immaculate and beautiful as it had been when I first saw it, like neither age nor the elements had ever touched it.
I trudged through the muddy clearing and up the steps to the entrance, letting the curse lead me. It shivered with excitement as I pried open the grand, double doors and stepped inside.
They will be waiting, it preened as it shuffled me through the hallways. Right on time, right on time, right—
The ballroom was enormous. I scanned it numbly, noting the high windows, the extravagant crystal chandeliers, and the crowd of beautiful, colorless mages who watched me enter, their expressions ranging from bored and disgusted to satisfied, even thrilled. I expected whispers, laughter, or mockery but received only ominous silence.
“Welcome, Briar Rose.” Piers stood at their head.
Elektra smirked at me from beside him, her gaze holding a secret humor. “Yes, welcome,” she echoed. “If you will …” She gestured behind her, and the crowd parted to reveal a high, thin bed in the center of the ballroom. Silvery gauze surrounded it, blown by a magical wind.
My limbs felt heavy, my stomach ill. I’d known. I’d known. I shouldn’t be so scared, but I was.
I fixed Tavar’s face in my mind as the curse pulled me toward the bed. Well done, Bri, he’d said a month ago, and I wanted the words to be the last I ever heard. You’ll make it. I know you will.
I lay down. The bed was stiff. The gauzy fabric scratched at my skin.
My head touched the pillow, and with a satisfied cry of victory, the curse took hold. A heavy, fuzzy wave of sleepiness drifted through my body. Fabric rustled around me, bright and tingly with magic, and I got