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Chapter Five
Maddox leaned in the doorway to my bedroom, wearing a white shirt and black pants. His blazer was tossed over his shoulder. “Morning.” His tone lifted at the end. “Are you ready for the day?”
Pulling the covers up to my chest, I jolted up. “What the hell are you doing, Maddox?”
“Viktor’s about to start his training. I figured you’d want to help.”
I glanced at the alarm and shook my head. “It’s seven in the freaking morning!”
He rolled his eyes. “You’ll be fine. Edmund wants you there too. You should come. Remember how nervous you were when you first practiced?”
I groaned under my breath. “I won’t be able to go back to sleep now.”
“Good, well get up. Shower. Try to do something nice with your hair for once.”
I let out a long breath. “Get out.”
“See you downstairs,” he called as he left.
I closed my eyes for a few moments, enjoying the comfort of pillows against my head and fluffy covers shaping around my body. I guessed I should be there. It was scary, especially when we didn’t grow up with magic, him especially. He had to be in his early twenties, and I’d at least had my teenage years to come to terms with it, although I was barely out of those.
Opening my eyes, I blew out a tense breath, then tore myself from the bed and plopped my feet against the thick carpet. I pulled on my V-neck black button-down dress, which stopped at my knees—one of the outfits I seldom wore—and attempted to detangle the waves in my hair.
After showering, I applied a clear gloss to my lips and added a caffeine balm I’d bought from the local potion shop, to brighten the lack of sleep from under my eyes.
I stretched my arms out, then ventured to the atrium where we spent most of our time practicing. The walls were reinforced to withstand the wayward curses that occasionally escaped the dark objects. Viktor leaned over the table, his muscles bulging under his navy-blue shirt. His sleeves were rolled up, as always. He must have gone shopping yesterday. I didn’t imagine he had much. When I arrived, I was given an allowance of skal, I think forty a month, so I figured he was given the same courtesy. Alma was tasked with ensuring the covens took care of their students and apprentices with boarding, food, and allowance, unlike in Salvius where parents were made to take care of their children. Here, after a child became a student in a coven, that was it. Their responsibility was turned over to Alma and the grand-person of each coven. I looked forward to the day when I’d no longer need an allowance from the council, which had replaced our kings and queens almost seventy years ago, and get paid to be a keeper.
“Open it carefully,” Edmund told Viktor, who wore two new rings, as he turned the sides of a puzzle box. I assumed Maddox or Edmund made them for him, to protect his hands from the physical damage these curses and spells could do. As he carefully but gently clicked the box into place, I recalled the first time I’d been tasked to open the box and move the curse inside.
It had taken me only a few weeks, which was great when compared to many others—except Maddox, who’d apparently done it in three days.
Hurrying to the center table where they all stood around, I looked at the polished box. It had a grooved lining where it needed opening. Next to it was the smaller, metal box he would need to transfer the curse to. The curse inside was a weak one, which was why this lesson was used for beginners. He’d need to extract the curse from the puzzle box before trying to move it over. Viktor glanced my way, and I felt heat flush through me. Maddox watched us from the other side of the table.
The atrium had none of the comforts the rest of the mansion had. It was specifically a training space, with only the large, stone table, reinforced walls and floor, which had a slight bounce to it when I walked, and some chairs stacked next to large, long shelves, filled with a variety of lower-class dark objects and spell books.
“Turn it an inch to the right,” Edmund said as Viktor refocused on the task at hand.
He clicked it, and it opened.
I held my breath, then grabbed his wrist to stop him from touching the inside. “No.” I gasped.
In the center of the five pieces of wood was a swirling darkness, glittering with green. It whispered, begging us to come closer.
“If you touch it, it will be able to go inside you.” I shuddered, remembering when I’d made the exact same mistake and ended up spending the day vomiting after Edmund pulled the curse from my body.
“Right. Thanks.” He recoiled his hand, and I let go of his wrist.
Dragging my finger against my lip, feeling the touch beneath my fingertips, I slowed my breaths.
Edmund handed him a wand, one we only used to transfer curses or spells. “Using this, I want you to wrap the curse around it and put it in there.” He pointed at the small metal box. “You will need to control it before it can control you. You have dark magic running through your veins, so you’re naturally attuned to these curses, and you won’t give in to their lures easily. You can do this.”
Viktor furrowed his brows, and a line of concentration creased his forehead. Gripping the eight-inch, knotted wooden wand, he closed his eyes, placing it against the side of the box. That was where I would have gone too. Most would go into the center, but the side was best. There were small holes in the side the curse could be pulled through, therefore weakening it. Even Edmund was impressed with his placement, nodding with his arms folded over his chest.
Viktor pulled the wand outward, his hand trembling for a short second, and the darkness danced through the holes, entwining itself like a mist around the wand. Now for the hard part. There was no way he or anyone would do it the first time, but so far, he’d done better than anyone else I’d met, including Maddox.
The curse snaked down the wand and to his hand. Edmund braced himself to pull the curse back, but Viktor pushed back, closing his eyes as he moved the wand toward the metal box. My heart raced as the scene unfolded, moving in slow motion. I blinked twice, unable to believe what I was seeing. My mouth fell open when the wand hit the top of the box, and the curse, at Viktor’s will, curled inside and allowed itself to be locked away. He closed the box, and I let out a shaky exhale. Edmund’s eyebrows shot up his forehead, and Maddox let out a loud “well damn.”
Viktor placed the wand onto the table, then turned toward me, of all people. “Thanks for the help. I’d have been possessed if it wasn’t for you.”
