Cursed: Briar Rose's Story - Kaylin Lee Page 0,38
cursed in the end, but we got several years of service out of her by threat alone.” He huffed a sigh. “As it should be. Obedience is the only proper response to power.”
“Drusilla was obedient, yes.” Elektra’s voice drew closer. I heard the horrible clinking of glass on glass over my head. The now-familiar sound always ushered in another one of her curses. “But Demetrius was a nightmare, the foolish old Wolf. Remember how he tried to spare his own clansmen from becoming our servants along with the rest of Draicia? A good curse would have kept the very thought from his mind. And we would be enjoying vast stores of power sucked from the aurists right now, instead of squeezing the last few drops of magic from the land.” Her shadow darkened my closed eyes as she moved closer to me. “Aren’t you sick of pulling magic up from the earth? This worthless continent is nearly empty by now. It’s been three centuries since my skin held the slightest bit of color. I’m afraid we’ll be nothing but mists and vapors any day now.”
“Mists and vapors? Oh, don’t be dramatic.” Piers huffed. “The aurists would only have lasted a few years anyway. Yes, we’ve had to scrimp and save out here, but soon we’ll be swimming in magic, won’t we? Just as the Master planned from the beginning. We’ve waited long enough, and soon we’ll reap our reward.”
Tingles of magic tickled my absorbent sense, announcing Elektra’s newest curse. I pictured the open vial hovering over my helpless, sleeping body. Dread and anticipation coursed through me. I was still burning from her last curse! Why wouldn’t she leave me alone?
“Elektra.” Piers’s voice held a warning note.
“What? I’m not going to kill it. Not for at least a century or two. And certainly not until Zel is here to watch.”
“You just cursed it a few hours ago! Must you waste our resources on an unconscious servant?”
“Has it occurred to you that in less than a fortnight, there will be hardly anyone left to curse? I’m only using up the torture vials I made in the past few decades.” A hot, tingly liquid landed with a wet splash on my chest and stomach. She’d just dumped the entire vial—
“Honestly, Piers, don’t look at me like that!” Elektra snarled. “Killjoy. I’m just as thrifty as you are. Don’t begrudge me a bit of fun. It’s not as though we’ll need them for anything else, will we? Why should I let my hard work go to waste?”
Fire licked my skin, searing my nerves with excruciating pain. I focused on the conversation, the room, the noises—anything to take my mind off the pain.
“—long as you save the strong curses. We might get some use out of them yet. You never—”
An angry clink of glass, the stopper shoved back into the vial.
“—shouldn’t have to curse that foolish Procus couple to get our deliveries on time. And the woman—foolish, vain Althea—I don’t know why you’re not just as angry as I am. She failed to deliver Briar’s twin. Didn’t you want a matched set of sleeping girls for the ballroom? You even made a second bed—”
The burning grew in strength as the new curse spread throughout my body. I tried to picture Tavar’s face, but it wouldn’t appear.
“—would have been nice to have the twin, yes. Of course. But we can’t all have what we want, can we? We must make sacrifices for the cause. Finish the Master’s work, control the continent, rule—”
Fire consumed me.
“—the principle—”
“—final shipment. Can’t you waive your principles for a moment? The crater wall is nearly complete! We should just go and retrieve—”
The pain won. I felt my consciousness withdraw, unable to stand the heat on my skin any longer.
Tavar’s image appeared at last. Memories blended together, a comforting blanket of treasured moments woven by desperation.
“Well done, Bri.”
“She said you’re brave.”
“Their lives mattered. It was enough.”
A voice echoed in the distance as reality faded away. “Oh, fine. Fine! Let’s just go. But I won’t leave those two Fenra idiots standing, I promise you that. They’ll know the price of their disobedience—”
“You’ll make it. I know you will.”
The pain disappeared, taking my mind with it.
Chapter 18
I woke abruptly. It was night. I could sense the darkness even with my eyes closed. But the ballroom was full of mages, the trace of their tingly magic brushing painfully against my burned, scarred skin.
“The one you await is close.” An unfamiliar mage spoke. “The mirrors have confirmed