Page 35 of A Curse So Cruel

“See, I told you this one was a deceiver as well,” Reselle snarls to Blake. “Now you can see for yourself, child. I’ve managed to manipulate the curse so you can see her with your own eyes. The world may not be as you perceived it, but in time, I trust you will adjust to your new reality.”

“What is she talking about?” I ask Blake, reciting the words I’ve spoken before. “Where are my wings?”

Before Blake can respond, the high-pitched whistling noise sounds, and the rooftop fades away, the scene changing yet again. This time silver bars materialize around me, and my breathing becomes rapid as I find myself in a cage that’s all too familiar. A cage I’ve seen many times in my nightmares. Usually, in my dreams I’m a crow when I’m in this cage, but this time, I remain human, dwarfed by the massive bars that hold me prisoner.

No.I rush forward, my fingers wrapping around the bars as I stare into the darkness beyond my cage. I can’t be back here again. I just can’t. Cruel laughter sounds in my ears, though I can’t see where it’s coming from.

The whistling sound gets louder, and I freeze as multiple red eyes blink into existence, peering at me from the darkness.

I watch wide-eyed as a shadow creature emerges. Walking on eight furred legs, the shadow spider comes forward into the dim light that surrounds my cage like a halo. It looks like the kind of monster you’d encounter in your nightmares, which, I’m guessing, is exactly what this is.Oh, hell no.

I read a monster romance once where the main guy was a spider shifter. The story was surprisingly hot, but while I’d like to imagine this guy simply wants to pleasure me, I’m not getting that vibe at all. No, I’m getting serial killer vibes. I’m getting, ‘I’m going to encase you in a web and slowly consume your insides’ vibes. I groan.I swear this stuff only happens to me.

I’m close to screaming, when I’m distracted by something that flickers in the spider’s eyes. As the creature crawls closer, I can make out different images moving in each of its massive red eyes, playing continuously like a tv screen. I’m in each of the images, and curiosity keeps me standing there rather than backing away.

I focus on the closest eye. In the picture, it looks like I’m in some kind of cell. Not the cage I’m in now, but a cell like one you’d find in a castle dungeon.

I’m distracted, staring at myself huddled in the image, when the spider closes the last distance between us with frightening speed. I don’t react in time, and before I can jump backward, I’m in the monster’s grasp, pressed up against the bars as red hot pincers dig into my chest like daggers.

The spider’s venom shoots into my dream body, and I scream as it feels like hot lava is traveling along my veins. I try to pull away, but my movements are slow and sluggish. I’m still so weak after Knox’s magic drained me.Damn Knox. So much for regenerating my energy.The spider holds me tight, websshooting out from its abdomen as it wraps my legs, tying me to the bars.

“Oh yes, I love it when they struggle,”a voice hisses in my mind.“Mmm I can already tell this one will have more flavor than the last student.”

I can’t look away from that one eye I’m still focused on. As pain makes my muscles stiffen, all I can see is me in the cell, sobbing, and rocking with my knees pressed to my chest. But why? In the image, my mouth is moving like I’m saying something over and over, though I can’t hear any of the words. And I can’t shake this feeling that I’m not glimpsing another one of my dreams, but a memory…

My vision shakes as the agony becomes too much, and I can feel myself slipping away as the monster drains my essence.“No, you don’t want me. I’ll taste disgusting,”I mumble, finally registering what the spider had said.

The monster stills for a moment.“What was that?”

“And I’ll give you indigestion,”I rasp. I have no idea if shadow spiders can even get indigestion, but right now I’ll say anything.

There’s a pause before the monster replies with a thread of curiosity in its hissing voice,“You speak, human, as if you hear me.”

I don’t register what the spider is saying. All I can think about is how close I must be to death. My body sags, and it’s only the spider’s web that’s keeping me upright.Shadow magic.The thought occurs to me belatedly. Mustering what little energy I have, I reach for the shadow magic my academy ring can provide me.

“Answer, human,”the spider hisses at the same moment power enters my system. It starts as a slow trickle before the magic begins to build.

“I can’t die yet,”I mutter, and just as the power inside me forms a ball of energy, just as I go to direct it from my body, there’s a loud screeching in my ears. The shadow spider’s pincers release me, and I struggle to focus my blurred vision.

My eyes close, and I have to fight to open them again. When I do, Blake is standing in front of me. Her hair falls in dark waves around her face, and she gives me a rueful grin. Her mouth moves as she says something, and though I can’t hear her words I smile, because I’m so glad to see her. “I missed you,” I rasp, my heart squeezing. Her mouth continues to move, silent words tumbling out, but then her features change before my eyes. Her familiar face fades away, and I frown when I find myself looking up at a hooded man instead.

I can’t make out most of the man’s features, but penetrating black eyes bore into me from under the hood, and there’s a flash of concern before the man’s gaze hardens.

For a moment, I think I might have been wrong. Maybe the spider was some kind of shifter after all. Strong hands reach through the bars and grab my shoulders. As they do, the web falls from me, and the cage disappears as if it had never been there. Fire and ice races through me at the man’s touch, and the power that had been building inside me calms. I’m vaguely aware of strong arms lifting me, and then it’s darkness again.

~ Knox ~

I’m leaning back in my leather armchair, staring out of the window when her scream rips through my mind. Her cry penetrates the carefully crafted silence in my head, tearing through the barrier I learned to construct long ago. For my sanity, I chose to ignore the dreams of others, their desires, and most importantly, their pain. The barrier offered me a false sense of peace, but now, the little human’s scream cuts through it as if it were fragile.

I tense, trying to rebuild my mental wall. The dreamcrawlers only take the vulnerable. They prey on the students with the most delicate minds. The ones who would never survive against one of the Xalgrith on the battlefield. The ones who would be too easily manipulated.

…Or the ones that I’ve weakened…

Guilt twists through me, and I grip the glass in my hand too tightly. It shatters, shards of glass slicing into my palm. I pay no attention as whiskey and blood spills onto the carpet. Across from me, Thane peers up from his book, and there’s concern in his gaze as he leans forward in his armchair, but he doesn’t speak.

I tell myself the little human’s demise is for the best. Raith and the others are already too interested in her, even if they have acknowledged she can’t be our mate. At best, she’s a distraction, and at worst, she’s a deceiver sent to divide us. I want to justify her death. It would make our lives simpler again, that’s a certainty, but would Raith forgive me? I already let our mate die, and now he believes he’s connected to this human. Would my brother forgive me if I let her die, too?

Fuck.I already know the answer.