None of them has the order of service from their cousin’s funeral sitting on their desk at home. None of them haswondered if the choice she made was the right one, the unselfish one.
Every day, that option weighs a little heavier on my mind…
But it won’t be necessary. One more layer after this. Just one.
Yanking myself out of Dakari’s grip is impossible. He must’ve joined Lambert’s insane workouts or something. So I meet his gaze, suck in a breath, and summon every ounce of civility.
“Fine. Let’s do this. Now, would you kindly let me go?”
Dakari releases me like he’s making a point, then jabs his finger in the direction of the table where all four of their grimoires are spread out.
Pierce and Benny are watching us with guarded expressions, but they step forward as I peel my shirt over my head with no care for the way the latter’s eyebrows rise. Yeah, the glowing red mark covering my chest is pretty bad.
At least it’s not pulsing. That’s the final warning sign that it’s about to trigger, but even then, I won’t know exactly how long I have left. My grandfather’s runeform pulsed for two days, but my father’s apparently only did so for two minutes.
“If you feck with this,” I mutter as I pass Dakari. “She’s what I’ll miss most.”
A muscle in his jaw ticks.
To my retreating back, he says, “I never gave enough of a shit about you to bother making your life more miserable than it already is.”
Fair enough. I can believe that at least.
“This is really remarkable,” Benny says, peering at me like a science experiment. “I’ve never seen such a good example of degeneration, and to do it not once, but four times…”
“Yeah, well. Get rid of it, and I’ll give you a copy as a souvenir,” I grouse.
“Gladly,” he shoves back his sleeves. “Never did approve ofgenerational ensorcellments. Should’ve been banned long ago.”
“You were a parriarch. You could’ve made that happen.” I drop into the seat beside the table.
“I was parriarch for a smattering of years, and my time was rather consumed by other affairs.” Benny picks up his grimoire. “Now, is everyone ready?”
“Aye.” Jasper double-checks the paper on the table with a thoroughness I can appreciate.
Pierce and Dakari simply move into position. Four hands settle on my chest. Four different incantations strum into the air.
The sting of magic burrowing under my skin, igniting against my ribs like rocket fuel, is somehow worse than last time. Feck. No part of me wants to pass out around these men, but my thoughts are scrambled and stodgy. I bite the inside of my cheek, and my tongue is quickly coated in the coppery taste of my own blood.
The taste is still therewhen I claw myself out of the blackness. My fingers are tingling so badly that I have to flex my hands several times for the sensation to dissipate. I don’t know how long it’s been. Long enough for Pierce’s grandfather to disappear, and the others to stare at me like I’m an alien.
Feck. That doesn’t bode well.
The table to my right is taken up by a massive sheet of paper that’s currently folding itself away, stealing the lines of ink from view… My head is foggy, so maybe that’s why I don’t put two and two together.
“It worked,” Jasper mutters.
Relief crushes me. The second layer is the generationalaspect. Even if we get this far with the rest of my family, we can free so many children from being caught in this nightmare. It can be eradicated within a generation.
But it won’t save me. Save her.
I look down…and freeze.
“No way.”
The third layer is the trigger. The final part. One runeform. Onesimplefecking runeform.
My hands ball into fists. While this might be one glyph, the frantic lines of it are anything but simple.
