“What just happened?” Damien asks breathlessly.
“I—I can’t believe it actually worked.” It’s all I can seem to spit out and Damien looks even more confused by my response.
“You can’t believe what worked? What did you do?” Damien is yelling now, demanding answers.
“We sort of brought you back from the dead,” Henry attempts to answer for me.
“You what?” Damien pulls at the shackles binding him.
“I’ll explain everything to you but stop fighting the chains. I’ll uncuff you if you promise to keep calm.”
He doesn’t seem too thrilled with my underlying threat, but he agrees and reaches his wrists out. Once the cuffs fall, he begins demanding answers again, so I explain everything to him in complete detail. By the end, he’s leaned up against the wall like he needs the support to keep him upright.
“Holy shit. You actually did it!”
All three of our heads whirl around to see Slader coming around the stone wall wearing an expression of shock that matches ours only moments ago.
“How will we know if it broke the curse?” Damien asks, kicking himself away from the wall.
“Give me the arm you shook my father’s hand with.”
He does as I ask, and I roll up his sleeve so that I can see his forearm.
“This is going to hurt a bit,” I caution as I pull the dagger from my waist.
As I carve a deep line into his arm, I can tell he’s doing everything he can to not show he’s in pain. It’s something I would do myself if I wasn’t already so used to that type of torture. I take the dagger to my arm next, matching the cut down my own forearm. While his cut seeps dark red blood, mine drips black.
“Once my blood is infused with yours, it’ll glow white or red. If it’s white, it means the curse is gone. If it’s red… well, you know.”
“Do it,” Damien insists, nodding towards the gash in his arm. “I have to know.”
When our arms lock with one another, a searing pain burns where our blood connects. Both of our grips tighten as the intensity of the pain grows with each second the two of us are linked. A strong burst of power sends us both stumbling backwards and when Damien lifts his arm to show us, none of us can find the words to say.
Chapter 28
Reign
The fact that night has fallen, and I haven’t heard anything, confirms that Damien is dead. They’ve probably spent the evening burying his body with the rest of the dead and Ryder is probably hiding in the war room trying to figure out how to tell me.
A few hours ago, being left alone sounded like a good idea but now I feel like I’m drowning in my own thoughts. If he really is gone, waiting to find out won’t change that. I need answers and I need themnow.
I burst out of my bedroom with too much force and nearly knock myself out running into Ryder’s stone-hard body.
“I was just coming to find you,” I say as I try to get my bearings. “Just say it. I need to hear it from you.”
“He’s alive.”
Surely, I didn’t hear him right. He couldn’t have just said he’s alive. He just can’t be.
“Did you hear me, Reign?” he says, lifting my chin up. “I said he’s alive.”
Before I can think twice about it, I’m jumping into Ryder’s arms. “It worked!”
“It did,” he repeats as his arms tighten around me, keeping my feet from touching the ground. We stay like that for a few seconds before both of us awkwardly part as the moment passes.
“So,” Ryder attempts to fill the silence that has fallen over us. “Do you want to see him?”
“Yes,” I answer with no hesitation.
