Page 39 of Healing Elixirs & Wicked Crows

The echo's form began to waver, its power broken by our refusal to be divided.As it dissolved back into shadow, its final words drifted like a curse."You will regret this choice.”

But as Elias pulled me close, his arms strong and real around me, I knew the echo was wrong.

We backtracked, putting distance between us and that clearing.When we found shelter in a small cave, something fundamental had shifted between us.

"Thank you," he said softly."For pulling me back."

"Thank you for being worth pulling back," I replied.We stood there for a moment, just breathing, just being alive together.I reached up without thinking and traced the line of his jaw where a cut was already healing."I thought I'd lost you," I whispered.“I thought—" My voice broke, and he caught my hand, pressing it flat against his cheek.

"I'm here," he said simply."I'm not going anywhere."

He stopped, turning to face me fully."Rosemary, I need you to know something."

The intensity in his voice made my heart skip."What?"

"When I saw that vision, when I almost walked toward it..."He ran a hand through his hair."It wasn't the freedom from the curse that tempted me most."

"What was it then?"

"It was the thought of being someone you could love without reservation.Someone who didn't come with secrets and darkness."His gray eyes met mine."I almost gave up my soul for the chance to be worthy of you."

My chest tightened at the pain in his voice."Elias, you don't understand.”

"I know I have no right to feel this way about you.I know there are things you don't know about me that would change everything."He stepped closer."I realized I'd rather be cursed and flawed and completely wrong for you than perfect and empty without you."

The honesty in his confession left me breathless.This was more than gratitude, this was growing feelings, messy and complicated and terrifying.

I drifted off to sleep, the darkness shrouding me like a blanket.

The World Spun

ELIAS

My skin prickled with an unnatural itch as I stumbled out of the cave, bile rising in my throat.The night stretched before me, thick with shadows, the silver moon peeking through tattered clouds like a watchful, indifferent eye.The air stank of damp earth and something metallic.

Then it began.

A sickening crack tore through my body as my bones twisted, grinding against themselves like splintering wood.My spine arched unnaturally, vertebrae snapping into a new, abhorrent shape.I clawed at my tunic, ripping it from my body as my fingers spasmed and blackened, the nails peeling away to make room for the jagged tips of talons.

The skin on my arms split like overripe fruit, wet and glistening, as slick feathers burst through the gaping wounds.My stomach lurched at the grotesque sensation.My teeth retracted violently, the sharp sting of roots severing from my gums making me gag on the taste of iron.

I clenched my eyes shut, but it did nothing to block out the horror.Every shift was a rebirth, a violent destruction of what I was to become something else, something wild.It never got easier.It never hurt less.

And as my mouth elongated into a cruel, curved beak, a ragged, guttural cry tore from my throat, half-human, half-bird, a sound of pain, of surrender, of something not quite alive.

With my transformation complete, my clawed feet stood in the heap of my pants, wings settling at my sides.My bead-like eyes scanned the meadow, capturing every movement in the gentle night breeze.I spread my wings wide and flapped, lifting unsteadily to the nearest branch.In my crow form, I felt almost weightless, surveying the night with clarity despite the darkness.

Time was running out.The full moon approached, and with it, the deadline for both Rosemary's quest and my own cursed fate.If I couldn't earn her love before then, if I couldn't complete what my mother demanded, both our destinies would be sealed in darkness.

The forest buzzed with life, chirping bugs, rustling leaves, tiny feet pattering.My neck swiveled, feathers bristling as I watched a sandy brown rabbit dart into a bush.Something shifted in the soil below my perch, and my beak snapped, eyes seeking the cause.

A caw escaped me before I could stop it, and I shook my head, annoyed at how the crow inside me was taking control more frequently.The curse was strengthening, the transformations lasting longer each time.Soon, I might not be able to change back at all.

My feathers bristled at the scent in the air, and I almost wanted to fly around our perimeter again.There was something about this night, something that felt not right.I couldn't place it.

Rosemary's soft breaths rose and fell within the cave, her rhythmic breathing urging me to stay near.My talons shifted on the branch I perched upon, my vigilant gaze scanning the meadow for any lurking danger.As I glanced through the vines concealing her, guilt tugged at me for hiding such a monumental secret.How could I explain to her that the companion she relied on was doomed to transform into a useless bird every handful of nights?

Suddenly, movement at the forest edge caught my attention.Shapes moving with too much purpose, too much intelligence.My feathers stood on end as I recognized the deliberate positioning, the coordinated approach.These weren't random predators seeking an easy meal.