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I poured it all into myself, yet it was different from when I healed. I needed to go through every fiber of my being, coating myself in my own enchantment so I could scrub every bit of myself the curse touched.
It seemed to be working.
I could feel the little creeping tendrils of it winding through me, not quite like the vines in Mad Dog, but not unlike them, either. They bound me, stained me with their influence, vibrating with a power not my own.
Then it exploded in my grasp.
I was flung out of my circle, a truly cacophonous bang turning my brain inside out. I slammed into something, then collapsed to the floor, unable to see or hear.
I had no idea how much time passed, but there was a banging on the door, then Darla and Mad Dog rushed in.
“Ayla, holy fuck. Ayla, are you all right?”
I blinked blearily and tried to say something, but my mouth wouldn’t work. In fact, it felt like my whole body wouldn’t, just locked in place while something else took over it.
Was this my curse? Had I somehow, in my efforts to beat it, given it more power?
No.
No, no, no,no.
In a last-ditch effort, I grabbed all of my magic as hard as I could and shoved it into the deepest part of me, sealing it away along with everything else involved. I wanted to see just how malicious my curse could possibly be when it wasn’t piggybacking off my own power.
“You picked a damn bad time for this,” Mad Dog grumbled while hauling me up into a sitting position, and while I was cold and clammy, I felt much more like myself.
“Sorry,” I murmured. “I’m fine. Just a bit of a migraine forming.”
“Migraine? Can’t you automatically heal?”
I shook my head, which in retrospect was a terrible idea. I nearly lost my lunch right then and there. Ugh. “Locked my magic away for a couple of hours. Gotta sleep to get it back.”
“Wait, you can do that?” Darla asked, joining in on getting me to my feet.
“Apparently, I panicked. My curse has, uh, I guess you can say it’s leveled up.”
“To be honest, when I heard about an assassin, I figured as much. Come on, let’s get you into bed.”
The two of them helped me flop onto the mattress, and though I wanted to stay awake and wanted to tell them all I’d found out, my eyes fluttered closed instead.
All I wanted was to see my mate again without accidentally killing him.
Was that too much to ask?
I awoke to a gentle hand on my face, the honeyed touch pulling me up into the warm gaze of my mate.
“Kai?” I said, sitting up with a grin on my face.
“Hey there, gorgeous,” he said, pulling me into a gentle kiss. “I hear you’ve been up to some trouble. What’s the deal? Jealous of all the attention I was getting?”
“You know it,” I said, studying his face. He looked a little drawn, and a touch paler than I’d have liked, but otherwise healthy. Not bad for being on the other side of an attack from a blade-wielding assassin. “How are you, though?”
“Nothing I won’t survive. You?”
“Much the same.”
I didn’t know what to do. Did he know the curse essentially sent my assassin, and that it physically manifested and literally possessed someone, in the worse interpretation of Yvonne’s warning? I hadn’t told anyone yet, but I wasn’t sure how long I was out or how much the guards I’d pinned in place heard.
I could just ask, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to admit things were so much worse. What if Kai just decided to give up? I was finally in a position where I wasn’t fighting our bond anymore, wasn’t martyring myself. Wouldn’t it be just my luck if everything reached past Kai’s tipping point?
