Cursed: Briar Rose's Story - Kaylin Lee Page 0,40

Otherwise I’ll have no one to use for my amusement but you lot, and you don’t want that, do you?”

There was an awkward shuffling noise, like the other mages weren’t sure whether to chuckle or argue.

“What kind of curse did you have in mind?” The mage closest to me spoke up, his voice obsequiously polite.

“Something pretty and colorful, to go with our silver, sleeping girl here …”

“Perhaps the flower garden enslavement curses?”

“Ah! Perfect. Roses. A rose garden.” Elektra tapped my feet. “Fitting, to surround our Briar Rose with a garden full of friends and family, a garden to suffer with her into eternity.”

“They are nearly to the crater.” A mage held up a small mirror. “You’re certain we are not to fight?”

“We are all under the same curse, are we not?” A large, crystal vial appeared in Elektra’s hands. “Tell me yourself if this is the Master’s true way.”

The mage nodded slowly. “You are right, sister. Our dominion will be more complete if we have a few more witnesses.”

They fanned out, muttering strange words and flinging liquid from their vials onto the ballroom floor, quickly leaving my line of sight. I felt the stinging of the curses with my absorbent sense as their magic leeched into the air.

“Retire to your rooms when you’ve finished our garden,” Elektra said from the far end of the ballroom. “There’s no need to exert ourselves in this fight, and they will enter the trap more confidently if we are not present.”

With a rustle of robes and whisper-light footfalls, the mages left the room.

I waited, unmoving yet inwardly hysterical, my final comfort taken from me.

This—to not only suffer, but to cause the suffering of everyone I loved—this would be my true end.

Chapter 19

An eternity passed before I felt a quiet rumble in my bed. The rumble turned into a bone-jarring blast, and then the ballroom wall opposite my bed disintegrated into a cloud of smoke and rubble.

Smoke cleared. Shadowy figures filed into the ballroom, crossbows pointed. I strained to open my eyes fully as two shadows sprinted toward me, but I could not manage more than a small crack.

“Bri!” Mom’s face appeared above me, her brow furrowed. Her fingers brushed the burns on my face and neck. “Baby, oh my girl, my girl, what have they done to you?”

I only managed to blink helplessly at her, desperate to warn her but unable to do anything more than flutter my lids.

“Free her! Hurry!” Dad appeared beside Mom, his gaze wild. “We need a medic over here!” he called over his shoulder in a hoarse whisper.

“A medic won’t be enough.” Mom tugged at something, making the curse shriek inside me. “We’ll have to get her straight to Alba.”

“It’s all tangled—”

“Just cut it.”

“The knife broke.” That was Cole’s voice, coming from somewhere at my feet. “The dress is magic. It won’t be separated from the bed.”

“Get her out of it, then!”

“I’m trying.” Mom’s hands shook as she pushed my hair away from my neck and chest. “It’s hard to tell, there are so many burns and scars … but I think …”

“What? What is it?” Dad’s face joined Mom’s just above me.

“It’s attached to her skin.” Mom’s voice was hollow. “It’s coming out of her.”

There was a chilling, slithering noise from somewhere next to my bed.

“What was that?” Cole whispered.

“Roses,” said Deacon, somewhere to my right, his voice tense. “And vines. They’re growing all over the room. Just started. Marco, watch it—”

Marco screamed, a tortured, wordless cry, and then his scream was cut short.

“Zel! Look—”

Mom’s face disappeared, whipped away from my line of sight by something I couldn’t see. She shrieked, then fell silent.

A man hollered in pain. It sounded like Dad, but I couldn’t see him anymore, and his voice, too, was cut short.

“Commander’s down!” Was that Eugene? “Should we retreat? I can’t separate him from the vines!”

A cacophony of screams and pained groans filled the ballroom. Shadows whipped overhead as magical vines writhed throughout the room.

“Let me try something.” A new shadow appeared over me, moving too fast for me to see his features.

Something warm and soft brushed my lips.

The curse, which had been silent and satisfied ever since its fulfillment, suddenly began to hiss and growl. No, it snarled. no, no, no—

There was another touch on my lips, this time firmer, more insistent. Desperate, even. “Bri …”

The curse shrieked, shooting pain through my body, and then it disappeared.

I jerked awake with a loud gasp that seared my burned lungs. I sat up instinctively, though the