“She left shortly after the healer arrived.”
Nico’s voice was soft as he spoke. “When Luce was doing the spell, she passed out—the magic took too much. When she passed out, that’s when the spell failed. When she woke, she tried again right away—but the magic she was using—it was like nothing I had ever seen before. It consumed her. It was unnatural.”
I shivered. “She wouldn’t stop—” He took a deep breath. “Caterina tried to stop her—she pushed Luce aside, but the magic didn’t stop—it went into Caterina instead.”
Fuck. I should have stopped her. I shouldn’t have allowed her to continue to use ichor magic when we didn’t know what would happen if she used to much. I should have made her stop when she showed me that mark on her arm.
“Will she wake up?” Kara croaked out.
The healers lips formed a thin line. “It’s hard to tell. She appears fine—when I try to heal her—my magic finds nothing to heal.” My stomach sank. “The only ailment I can find is the mark on her arm.”
The healer lifted Caterina’s arm, the dark mark pulsed as it slithered up her arm—the mark identical to the one Luce bore, like rotted roots of a tree embedding themselves in her skin. “We warn against using Ichor magic for a reason…” The healer shook her head. “I’ll leave you with her. I’ll be right next door and will continue to check on her.”
“Thank you.” I turned my attention back to Nico as the healer began collecting her things. “What was Luce’s reaction?”
“She hasn’t said much of anything.”
“We need to find her.” I had a strong sense of how she was feeling. She needed us now more than anything.
“Wait.” Declan’s voice was firm. “You need to tell us what happened with Adreona, some of the soldiers said you ran into her and Keziq.”
“We did, and I will tell you everything, but Luce needs to hear it too.”
“I’m here.” Luce appeared at the door. Her hands were stained red, her black clothes speckled with the same substance. Her hair was wild, her face pale—her eyes sunken.
“Luce.” I reached for her.
She stepped out of my reach. “I’m fine.” She crossed her arms over her chest and steeled her shoulders. “Tell us what happened with Adreona and Keziq.”
Later, we’d talk about this later. Even if she didn’t want to, I’d make her.
“Keziq did the spell?—”
“How?” Luce whipped her gaze to Luka. “If she did the spell how is Luka still alive? Are you sure that’s what she was doing?”
I pushed down my irritation. “Yes, she was able to complete it. I watched her kill a vampire.”
“How do you know the spell was successful? Luka is still standing. She might have only killed him.”
“I saw his fangs recede before he bled from his eye sockets. I assumed the spell worked before he fell dead at her feet.”
“But we don’t know that the spell was successful,” Nico argued.
“So, how can we find out? We can’t just ask Keziq to do the spell again so we can see if it’s true. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
“That’s why we came back here. We need to summon Astria,” Kara added.
“She’s the only one who can give us answers,” I added, swinging my gaze to Luce.
She held out her hands and shook her head. “I’m all out of magic—so you’ll have to do it on your own.”
“Kara and I can—I did it myself once, the two of us should be no problem.”
“Then let’s go.” I needed to have words with my least favorite Goddess.
73
LUKA
