Page 53 of A Soul’s Curse (Fallen Souls #1)

I tripped over my feet and fell to the floor before Caspian could slit open my throat.

“Theo!” Ellie yelled, and I reached over to grab the nearest chain. My magic bled into the metal, burning my own skin as it melted it down. She still had three more locking her in place when I had to roll away to avoid Caspian’s next attack.

Leon chuckled from off in the corner, enjoying the show without lifting a finger. “It was a nice plan, Theo, but one that would never have worked out for you. You’re right, though. I wanted your power, but I didn’t necessarily want you . You’ve always been a pest.”

I laid there on the floor, magic pouring out of my fingertips, wrapping itself around Caspian like a mystical cloak as I thought about stopping him. He froze for only a second, the magic paralyzing his limbs, something I had never done before, but it didn’t affect him as much as I had hoped.

The knife was a blur of blue magic as Caspian swung it at my chest. I held up both flattened palms, magic humming through the hand sign.

With a forceful push forward, Caspian was thrust backward, tripping over a low table and stumbling over a chair.

I scrambled to my feet, burning through another of Ellie’s chains while I had the chance.

Her hands were free, but her feet were still shackled.

Caspian tackled me, both of us rolling over each other on the floor.

I quickly made two fists, giving them a quick pump.

Strength flooded my veins as my hands gripped around Caspian’s, barely holding back the tip of the knife brushing against my sternum.

I searched to destroy the rune on his wrist, the magic binding him to the Syndicate.

It was already gone.

“Caspian,” I wheezed, the weight of him crushing my chest. “What the fuck are you doing?”

He was acting on his own, but he was also holding back, I realized. He missed his attacks on purpose, and he could have easily pierced that knife through my chest if he wanted to.

Caspian’s magic latched onto me, and a sweltering heat exploded down my arm. My own binding mark felt like it was being peeled from my skin, tearing muscle from bone, shredding through layers of magic as it separated itself from tangling with my soul.

“I’m sorry, Theo. But I need you to do something for me.”

I screamed through gritted teeth as the pain ripped through every nerve ending.

Caspian pumped his magic into me, and it twisted, curled, and reshaped itself under my skin.

The pure white magic of the Syndicate’s rune then flashed, replacing the color with a bright orange that settled under my flesh.

“ Kill me. ” Caspian’s voice was a strained whisper as he pushed the knife against my weakening strength, the tip grazing the shirt on my chest. “My magic would never let me hand it over to someone else, and it won’t let me take my own life, so it has to be you .

Please, Theo. Kill me. Or I will kill you. ”

Had this been his plan all along? To use me to end his life as a phantom?

Caspian’s magic pulsed like a second heartbeat, slow and deliberate, humming beneath my ribs with the faintest whisper of power. The tether was a thread that wound tight through my core, no longer anchoring me to the Syndicate, but to Caspian himself.

“Caspian, what have you done?”

Across the room the air snapped and shimmered, a jagged tear splitting open like a wound in the world itself.

Unstable magic crackled at the edges, spitting sparks and distorting the space around it.

Through the chaos, a monster stumbled out, a demon whose face flushed with fury and desperation.

His eyes locked on me, their red glow wild and electric, and in that moment, the room shifted. Danger had arrived, but so had hope.

“I knew you couldn’t be trusted you son of a bitch!”

Ren saw Caspian on top of me, and in the blink of an eye rammed into him.

The weight on my chest lifted and I sucked in a deep breath.

I heard the clink of a knife skittering across the floor.

I looked up to see Leon about to pick it up when another familiar face appeared in the doorway.

The glittery magic of a certain pixie floated down from above her.

Rose petals flourished in a gust of wind, their radiant edges sharp blades that cut through Leon’s clothes and skin. “I would leave that right where it is if I were you. I killed your entire crew of security guards on my way down here, and I’m just getting started.”

The unhinged fairy had her freckled face smeared in blood.

Stella’s eyes, usually curious and calculating, were now sharp with anger, burning with a determination to tear through anything that stood in her way.

She stepped into the room, fists clenched, every inch of her body radiating the kind of tension that could only mean one thing—get out of her fucking way or face her wrath.

Ivy slipped into the room behind her with Talis, her creepy shadow assassin, and darted right for Ellie.

“Fuck this.” Leon whirled toward Stella, magic curling around his fingertips. He clapped his hands together and Stella’s petals just … disappeared. He smirked. “The knife might help me focus my power, but I can still disrupt the flow of magic, displace it, or even slow time itself without it.”

The petals reappeared behind Ivy, who was removing the last of Ellie’s chains with the help of Talis. Ivy screamed as Stella’s magic split open her skin, the tiny blades slicing through clothes and flesh.

“You did not just make me do that.” I feared for Leon when Stella’s magical flowers wove together to create a puppet, a six foot tall creature with jagged horns and deadly claws.

The scent of crushed petals filled the air, blending with the tension as I watched the puppet lunge forward.

Markus gestured something with his hands, a flash of yellow settling over him as he ran to cower in the corner.

I turned my attention to Ren and Caspian, a battle of strength versus wits. Ren got a good hit in, the phantom’s right eye swelling, but when Ren tried to choke his neck, the sizzle of magic that came from Caspian’s skin caused him to flinch.

The feeling of terror and uncertainty gripped me like a vice, cold and suffocating.

My heart pounded in my chest, each beat a frantic reminder of how helpless I felt.

My mind raced, trying to figure out what to do next.

Did I help Ren stop Caspian? Should I join Stella to take down Leon?

Free Ellie then get Ivy to summon Jacob to get everyone the fuck out of here?

The choice was made for me when Leon evaded the puppet, allowing him to grab the knife and rush toward me, swinging the weapon at my chest.

“Theo!” Caspian’s voice echoed in my mind as his ethereal form collided into me, seizing control of my magic. Leon’s aim was true, the knife striking right above my heart.

The blade didn’t draw blood. Instead, as it had done with Ellie, it drew on my magic.

It felt like death itself, a hollow, crushing sensation that stole the very air from my lungs.

My chest tightened, the pressure building, as if my heart was being squeezed by an unseen hand.

Each second felt longer than the last, the icy magic pulsating through my veins, freezing me from the inside out.

“Caspian,” I rasped to the man now possessing my body, manipulating my magic, his magic.

My voice was gravelly, barely more than a breath.

I could feel my magic fading away, slipping through my fingers like sand and being drawn into the knife.

My limbs grew heavier, my thoughts harder to keep steady.

“Please, Theo.” The voice inside my head was calm and sincere.

“You have to kill me. I was never meant to live this long, and I’m tired.

My magic has tethered me to this world, but now I’ve tied it to you.

I’m sorry I never told you my plan, but when my magic took a liking to you, I couldn’t pass the opportunity.

Theo, you have the power to give me the one thing I desire: to rest in peace. ”

From somewhere nearby, Leon cackled. I heard Stella grunt, and a body slamming against the wall.

“Theo?” Ren’s blurry face came into focus above me. “Theo, I’m so sorry! I should have never left. I should have been here sooner!” He was about to remove the knife when Markus’s warning stopped him.

“Don’t!” he cried out, his head popping up from behind a chair in the corner of the room. “Removing it might fracture his magic like it had done to your friend’s, especially since there’s another magic possessing him. He has to accept it, to let go of his magic.”

“N-No.” I winced as a sharp pain lanced through my chest, my fingertips starting to go numb. I refused to kill Caspian.

“Theo,” came Caspian’s voice again. “You can’t let the Syndicate have my magic, and think of all the destruction they’ll cause if they take yours. Please. You have to do this. Accept my death, kill me, and the knife feeding off my magic, our magic, will die along with me.”

“ I can’t. ” I wasn’t sure if I could still speak.

“You can. And you will. Theo, I meant what I said earlier. You are a beacon of hope to those who are lost in the darkness. You are strong and capable of doing so many things. You saved me. You saved Ren and the others. And there will be countless more to come. Don’t be an arrogant asshole by dying here because you refuse to grant my wish to kill me. I want this. It’s okay.”

“Theo?” A warm finger brushed something wet from my cheek.

A tear. “Theo, I read your note, and I … I feel the same way. You might be a dandelion weed, always showing up in places you’re not supposed to, but you’ve rooted yourself into my life and now I can’t imagine living it without you. Let me help. Do you trust me?”

I nodded, the world spinning around me as I did.