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“It’s that fucking tattoo,” Rhys growls low and angry as his eyes focus on my chest, like he can see straight through to my back. I nod in agreement.
“I’ve never felt any magic in it, but maybe I’ve had it for too long and I don’t know any different.”
Rhys grits his teeth and closes his eyes. He takes in a deep breath before he opens them again. “You said I can do curses, hexes, things like that. Can I break them too? If there’s some kind of magic on this symbol, can I get rid of it?”
I swallow thickly and take another drink of water. Just the thought of enduring that pain again has me sweating. “Maybe?”
“That’s not a very confident answer.” Ruby frowns at me, her fingers tangled nervously in her suspenders. I don’t think she even realizes she’s leaning against Ezra’s arm.
“I’m sorry, Zara.” He looks so guilty.
“It’s not your fault. If I didn’t know, how could you know? The tattoo must have magic that keeps it from being removed. The Duke wouldn’t want his property to get away from him.”
Rhys stands up straight and moves behind me. “Can I touch it?”
I lick my lips, taking another drink before holding the glass out to Ruby, who takes it from me. I don’t want to drop the thing if I get another shock. Although I doubt it’s the touch that caused the reaction. Not that the spot has been touched a lot, but I think it’s the fact that Ezra was trying to alter it.
“Go ahead,” I say once I’m braced and ready for a possible reaction. All I feel is the warm, rough pads of Rhys’s fingers skimming softly over the mark.
“Any pain?”
“No.” In fact, a shiver goes down my spine and goosebumps break out over my skin. Ruby makes a disgusted noise and rolls her eyes.
“Can you tell if there’s magic in it? I assumed there wasn’t, but I’ve never touched it myself.” I look over my shoulder at Rhys and there’s a frown of concentration on his face.
“I don’t know if I’m qualified to tell, but I’ll try.”
“Just try to block everything else out and focus on the mark. Focus on what you want to know. See if you feel a hum of power or anything like that.”
Ruby and Ezra are shockingly quiet. I think I may have broken them, but I’m sure they’ll be back to normal before long.
Rhys’s palm flattens between my shoulder blades, covering the Duke’s mark. His hand is so warm and the heat soaks into me like a balm. My eyes droop, and a sleepy, comforting feeling, like being snuggled up in a thick blanket on a cold day, washes over me.
“I can feel it.” Rhys’s voice is rough, edged with need as his magic dances around the fringes of mine.
“Do you think this is a good idea?” Ruby hisses, but Ezra shushes her.
Rhys lowers his head so that he can speak into my ear. “You tell me if this hurts at all.”
“Okay.”
It hurts. I don’t say anything though, because now that I know there’s magic on this stamp of ownership I want, no need, for it to be removed from my body. It starts as a pinprick, like someone is sliding hot needles into the skin between my shoulder blades. A drop of water drips onto my shoulder and I stare at it in confusion before I connect that it fell from Rhys’s face. He’s sweating profusely. His hair is damp and sweat beads on his face before trickling down and falling to the floor, falling on me.
I lose track of how long he’s been working on me, but it’s been a while. Ruby’s uncharacteristically quiet and Ezra’s following her lead. The pain is slowly morphing from slow stabs to thumping pulses. Every time I breathe, it’s a shard of glass ripping from beneath my skin and bursting out my back. I keep holding my breath, but I’m going to pass out if I don’t stop.
“Fucking, finally,” Ruby whispers as she looks out the window, momentarily distracting me. Footsteps coming up the stairs at a quick clip have me arching to look over my shoulder, but I can’t see who it is from this angle.
“How can we help?”
Lena’s here?
She crosses the room and stands next to Ruby, Archer at her side. They’re both frowning at me and Rhys. Their appearance must startle him because magic pours into my back and I scream again, the world dimming around the edges.
