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I was actually pretty amazed we’d managed to collect so much in such a short amount of time. At the capital, I felt like it would have taken us at least a week, and would have drawn far more attention.
We were lucky Blath wasn’t anything like the capital.
After another hour or so, I sat up and looked with satisfaction at the last rune I’d put into place. As I stood, my body groaning the entire time, I examined the parts Luci had worked on.
“I think we’re ready,” I said, although my stomach was flipping from both anticipation and anxiety. Not exactly the most pleasant cocktail, but it did help the sting on my side ease into the back of my mind.
It turned out that with two accomplished healers to deal with my wound, I was nearly at full strength. I got the feeling the older woman would have preferred if I were well and truly healed, but we didn’t have the time.
The island of Blath had gone through what was most definitely an international incident. I knew there were negotiations, meetings, and consequences happening beyond the walls of Luci’s healing clinic, but I just didn’t care. None of that particularly mattered if I couldn’t get a handle on my curse. While it mollified me that Luci could still sense Yvonne’s intervention, there was only so long that would last, and I was loath to think of what would happen once my curse was truly unfettered.
So, I was going to stop it before it got the chance, point blank, even if it was too soon.
“Here, Kai, let Luci and me set up the candles while you come stand in the center of the circle. Darla, do you have your circle-breaking supplies ready?” The psychic held up a heavy-duty sponge while also pointing to the bucket at her feet, along with a mop, a broom, a machete, and an axe. If I gave the signal, she would do whatever she needed to break the circle, even if that meant chopping up the floorboards.
“Is there anything I should take to help boost your power?”
At first, I’d been fairly reticent about the idea of Kai being within the spell circle with me, as that most definitely put him in the line of fire, but in the end, I needed him. Much like my experience with saving Mad Dog’s life, there was no substitute for the insane boost I got from Kai letting me tap into the energy flowing through him. If I were going to take on my curse face to face, I wanted every single advantage possible.
“Actually, I took the liberty of making some enervation, rejuvenation, and fortification potions,” Luci said, hurrying out the door. “Oh, and some coffee.”
“Is coffee all right?” Kai asked, the seriousness in his expression disjointedly adorable. I loved how incredibly concerned he was about the details. Some might think that was a stupid question, but to me, it was just a sign of his respect for how particular and meticulous spell crafting could be.
“Caffeine won’t hurt anything, although you’d break her heart if you tell her that it doesn’t actually work on us shifters.” At least not in normal quantities. Our bodies just processed it too fast for it to really affect any part of our speedy metabolism.
The woman returned shortly right as I was finishing up the candles, and Kai chugged the brews back-to-back-to-back. At least he took longer on the coffee, which was a good idea, considering we didn’t want him in the bathroom in the middle of the spell. That wouldn’t work out well for any of us.
“Do you have the blood vials?” I asked once I was absolutely sure every single candle was in the proper place, with the correct ingredients within their own sub-circles.
Luci handed over the three vials we’d each donated earlier in the day. “Aye, warmed to the proper temperature and tapped straight from the source.”
I recognized she was trying to inject some humor into the situation, but I just wasn’t feeling it all that much. I still gave her a nod anyway, then took a deep breath.
“Let’s start this, then,” I said, walking to the center of the circle to join Kai. The two of us exchanged a long look, both of us knowing this was a moment that could affect everything in our lives. The heavy weight of what could happen if we failed, or if we succeeded, was not lost on either of us, that was for certain.
“I love you,” he said as I put my back to him and leaned against his strong, warm frame.
“I love you, too,” I answered before looking to Luci. “Are you sure you want to be here for this?”
“Oh, darlin’, I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Don’t worry, I’ll stay out of your little circle. I can behave myself.”
“Thank you, Luci.” I did still feel presumptuous, taking up her space as I had the last few days, but at least the woman always seemed delighted at my antics. That certainly helped.
That was it: the last of my precautions on both my mental and physical checklist. All I had to do now was begin the incantation that would initiate the curse.
So much was riding on a spell I’d had less than a week to learn with an open wound in my side. Sometimes the silver poisoning was worse than other, but it left a general fog in the back of my head I always had to fight through. What if that managed to throw me off my game? What if I’d made some idiotic mistake that both Luci and I missed?
What if, what if, what if…
I had a choice, and I knew it. I could let the fear conquer me, let anxiety rule, and back out of trying anything before I accidentally made everything so much worse, or ignore that thick, inky terror within, and be brave enough to deny this awful fate.
I’d spent the grand majority of my life doing the former, so no more. It was time to go on the offensive more than I ever dared to before.
“Here goes nothing,” I said out loud, making sure everyone got their final warning that we were really about to proverbially jump off a cliff together.
Then I spoke the first line of the spell.
Syllables built on syllables, stacking together so that the layers interlaced with each other, locking together to make a wellspring of pulsating energy.
