AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why not?” His expression was a mixture of confusion and defeat.
Raising my hands, I showed him the black vines around my wrists. “My magic is bound. I…we”—I glanced at Emilie—“are under Reyna’s control. My magic is useless. I am useless.”
I felt Emilie bristle behind me, but she didn’t interrupt.
Cyrus studied the marks with a sick sort of fascination. And then disgust. And then determination. “I should’ve listened to you. You were right all along about her. I’m sorry, Ladon. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Already forgiven.” Guilt washed over me as I considered how I’d wronged him far worse than he had wronged me.
He sighed. “Let’s head to the healers’ tent first. We’ll see what they can do about those restraints.”
I nodded. “Lead the way.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Emilie
“Can you remove them?” Cyrus asked the healing mage, who was examining my vine tattoos. Beside me, Ladon waited to be seen by the mage as well. We had a private room in the tent, but on the other side of the thin flap of fabric, I could hear the cries of wounded soldiers. Fighting had ceased for the night and the healers were working non-stop to treat the injured and comfort the dying.
“I haven’t seen magic like this before,” she said, holding my wrist up and prodding the marks with her fingers. “How did you say you received them?”
“I don’t know. We were knocked out and woke up with them.”
“Hmm. Not good,” she murmured.
I exchanged a worried look with Ladon. If we couldn’t remove them, would we ever truly be free?
“And what are your symptoms? Aside from the loss of magic?”
Ladon went on to explain the excruciating headaches and impulse to obey Reyna’s command. Across the room, I watched as the harpy browsed through medical supplies and ingredients.
I was glad we were able to rescue her, or rather, she rescued us. She was far too pure to be kept under the mountain. She picked up a glass jar with a blue substance that I couldn’t name, inspecting it before pulling out a second.
The healer was too preoccupied in conversation with Cyrus and Ladon to notice the harpy scavenging through her belongings. I watched with curiosity as she gathered more ingredients.
Then she grabbed a small ceramic bowl and began to crush some type of plant. She worked diligently, completely uninterested in the conversation happening in the room. In fact, when the healer finally realized, she shouted, but the harpy ignored her entirely.
“What do you think you’re doing? You can’t just go dabbling in those stocks. That’s not for you. Get out of there.” She moved to swat at the harpy, but I stood from the examination cot.
“Don’t.” I held out an arm to stop the healer. “Let her work.”
We were all watching as she completed the finishing touches and presented a salve. She dipped her fingers into the mixture and stared pointedly at my vines.
I nodded, permission to touch me.
As she spread the salve over my wrists, I felt a tingling sensation. Then, as the ointment began to sink into my skin, I felt like I was on fire. I dropped to my knees, clutching my burning wrists to my chest. The pain took my breath away, and the room spun. I was faintly aware of the healer, Ladon, and Cyrus, all surrounding me. Shouting at the harpy. Demanding the healer make it stop. Begging me to let them know what was wrong.
Slowly, the pain began to subside. Unfurling myself, I looked down at my wrists, expecting to see inflamed skin. It felt as if my flesh had been seared off. But when I looked, the black ink had disappeared. I found my skin to be perfectly intact.
No. Not quite.
Where those black vines had once been was now marked with light scars. Unnoticeable from a distance, but I could see the difference in my skin tone.
I laughed softly. And then sobbed.
“Emilie, are you—”
“What did—”
