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I shake my head again, trying to clear the soft buzzing that makes my thoughts blurry, sluggish, and nearly impossible to hold on to. They break off in fragments before they have a chance to fully form.
It’s broken….
I forget everything before she finishes a sentence. What she’s saying… what she’s telling me… it’s important.
Something… is broken?
I furrow my brow, frustrated that I can’t hold on to any thought, that I can’t focus.
What is…
Something is wrong. Very wrong.
And it terrifies me.
“He gave her the ability to curse him for as long as she didn’t harm you. She broke her word when she tried to kill you, and thus relinquished any hold she had over him.”
Her voice is half obscured by a droning buzz, a ringing clogging my ears, making it hard to understand what she is saying.
My knees give out, and I slide down it to the floor, chest rising and falling with the strain of continuing to function.
I drag my gaze over to Alaric, still ensnared by a spell. But images flash. Images of him standing against an ashen sky. “He left me to die… He betrayed me.”
I slump, toppling onto my side.
Varin?
I am sorry, Clara… I thought we had more time.Varin’s voice inside my mind is almost too soft to make out.
A warm palm alights on my forehead. I blink up into a pale face with delicate features and the Voice kneeling beside me. Her eyes are different. Changed. No longer pink and red, but pink and gold.
WhenI possessed you, I must have broken off more of my power than I realized. It would have been too much and forced you into the Otherworld.
I am too weak to worry whether or not her intentions she is friend or foe. Too stunned by the things Varin is saying. They diminished their power—part of themselves—to keep me alive.
Thank you… because of you, I was able to see the night sky one last time,they say.
“The demon is dying,” the Voice says. “And their death will be yours if you do not get it out.”
How could she possibly know about Varin? It seems like such a silly, unimportant question when it won’t matter in a few minutes. We are out of time.
“No single body is meant to bear such a burden,” she continues.
I barely notice as she shifts me, her leg pillowed under my head. The way she strokes my head offers a small comfort.
“You freed me from a bargain I made long ago, when I was young and gave my trust too freely. So, now I will repay you.”
Throat too dry to speak, all I manage is a weak groan.
“First, I must rid you of this demon.” She glares as though she can see through my flesh and bone to that unseen place where Varin has settled over the last few weeks.
We didn’t plan this far yet. We thought we had more time. I don’t know how this works. I am not sure what options are open to me. Though it doesn’t matter because we made a deal.
Varin followed through with their end, letting me use their power to save Alaric. And now, Elizabeth can’t hurt him or anyone else again, which is more than I had asked for.
Now, it’s my turn to follow through. Things were not always easy between Varin and me. They are temperamental and stubborn. Then again, so am I. Even without a bargain, I would make the same choice. We have come so far together, in such a short amount of time in the grand scheme of things. I care about them too much to let them die now after everything we went through—after everything they sacrificed without my knowing.
My throat is as dry as sand, and I am fading fast. But I need to say something before it’s too late. A simple shake of my head could cause a fatal misunderstanding.
