Page 163 of Cursed Evermore

The worst part was, when he looked at me, his gaze was empty, his eyes soulless and vacant with the sort of void stare you'd give someone you'd never met.

While I'd been eager to see him, desperate for even the smallest acknowledgment, he looked straight through me as if I didn't exist.

Like I was a stranger.

Like those special moments between us had never happened at all.

Chapter 31

Elariya

“Of Deception and Silver Strands”

“It's incredibly vital that weallremain focused once the spell begins,” Wolfe explained, his eyes stern and sharp as he looked at each of us.

At least he looked at me this time with a little more recognition, but that vacant expression still remained on his stoic face.

Arielle, Garrick, Wolfe, and I stood together in the center of the hall around a large circular silver-plated scroll that gleamed in the sunlight. It was called dragon scale parchment, forged from a young drake's first shedding.

The Fae used alchemy to press the scales into parchment, then infused each scale with binding glyphs to hold incantations. Once my blood and Wolfe's dropped onto the parchment, the binding glyphs would construct a map that would lead us to the ring. And my father. Arielle had given me the rundown yesterday of how the spell would work.

There was so much to wrap my head around. It would have been easier if my mind were clearer and I weren't so anxious. And maybe if I were as cold as Wolfe.

He didn't even say good morning or hello when Arielle and I entered. Garrick came in straight after us, and Wolfe immediately got down to business with instructions for the spell.

“Leave all your worries and problems outside that door.” He gestured to the wooden door we'd walked through and looked back at us. Atme. Of course, I was the only one here with worries and problems that could create the imbalance he'd spoken of earlier. “Once the spell begins, we must see it through regardless of what happens. Or what slips through the shadows.”

My nerves scattered, and the hair on my skin raised as if something sinister were slithering beneath. “What do you mean by that? What could slip through the shadows?”

Wolfe regarded me, looking me up and down with scrutiny. I couldn't tell whether he thought my question was foolish or if he was assessing me for something else.

He cocked his head and clenched his jaw, a habit I'd noticed when he was trying to figure something out. “Demons, spirits, banished beings.Thingstrying to escape the dead planes.”

So, basically nightmares.Great.I'd never heard of banished beings.

I was already terrified the spell would devour my soul and leave me like the mindless undead. Now I was being told beings could slip through. I held off asking what to expect if we were unfortunate enough to encounter such beings.

Wolfe looked away and focused on Garrick and Arielle. “You two must hold the connection. But if it breaks or any of us gets injured, I'll need Garrick to tend to our injuries and seal any voids the instant they form.”

Garrick nodded, looking more serious than I'd seen him. Arielle gave Wolfe a curt nod.

“Don't worry about us. We'll be able to keep the barriers from being breached.” As Arielle spoke, the ends of her hair lifted into the air and the blue of her eyes clouded over with mist. Then she flashed me a look, as if to say: that was what I had to look forward to when I mastered my powers. I could only hope.

“Let us begin.” Wolfe placed his hand to his heart and bowed respectfully in the same fashion he had on the ship with Sirril. “La níyneria, a mun dair.”

“La níyneria,” Arielle and Garrick both answered with vigor.

I remembered the meaning of the words in my common tongue—'by soul and blood, we are bound.'The vow a Nightblade Royal made to his sworn servants or those he loved. The words felt like they carried more sentiment today.

Garrick and Arielle moved to opposite ends of our circle. I watched them, captivated as they summoned their powers.

Garrick clapped his hands once and chanted words I couldn't make out. Then he spread his arms wide, emitting a bright silver prism of light from his palms that flowed around us. Arielle lifted her arms, too, and suddenly, walls of the same silver light rose up, joining Garrick's ring of magic.

My pulse galloped when I tried to look beyond and was met with nothing but more silver. It was as if we'd transported somewhere else.

My emotions assailed me. I didn't know what to think or feel. I was a person coming from a place where there was no magic at all tothis. It was sensory overload, and I was stuck between wanting to flee and embracing it.

Wolfe faced me again and reached for a wicked-looking athame.