“That is some dangerous magic, Princess.”
“Stop talking.” She glared at the witches.
“Luce.”
“We’re not doing this.” She turned her glare on me.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Stellan’s brows pinched together.
“She’s practicing dark magic—forbidden magic. Using power I’ve never witnessed,” the witch murmured.
“Don’t make me kill you after your life was just spared. Shut your fucking mouth.”
“It’s called Ichor magic,” I told Stellan.
I stood until I was toe to toe with Luce. “She uses it frequently, but I’ve never seen it like this.”
We stared at one another, neither of us wanting to be the first to look away. I closed my fingers around her wrist. She tried to step out of my hold, but not before I brought her hand between us.
“It’s spreading. Isn’t it.”
I caressed my thumb over the black lines, snaking up her wrist. They resembled the ones that had consumed the male’s body. I’d noticed the mark back in the Lunar Court but hadn’t thought much of it. But now—the mark has spread. It weaved its way halfway up her forearm. The black veins pulsed as I dragged my fingers over them.
“What is this?”
She pulled her hand from my grasp. “I don’t know,” she whispered, her eyes traveling to the mark. “All I know is each time I practice Ichor magic it grows.”
“So stop fucking practicing.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can,” I growled.
“You saw what I did—that skill in battle—we need my magic, Nico, and you know it.”
“But at what cost?” I took another step toward her. “Atwhat cost, Luciana?” She took a deep inhale, her chest rising.
“I don’t mean to interrupt your lover’s quarrel, but—can one of you help me get these guards back to camp before they wake up?”
I leveled Luce with one more gaze.
“We’re not lovers,” we said in unison.
63
LENNOX
“What’s wrong?” I jumped at the sound of Luka’s voice.
I felt like I was on edge all the fucking time, and I hated it. A twig cracked, and I jumped out of my skin.
He had left me to sleep this morning while he went and checked on the camp, insisting I get as much sleep as I could.
But once he woke, I couldn’t fall back asleep. I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking about every possible thing that could go wrong before I couldn’t take it anymore.
I was about to go out and join Luka when I felt a warming sensation against my chest.
I found the looking mirror and called Luce immediately.
