Page 34 of Cursed Evermore

Her warning took me back to my previous worries of her stripping my powers. I decided I should ask to put myself out of my misery. “Mother, are you thinking of taking my powers?”

The hardness in her eyes suggested I was right. “I was. But your grandmother convinced me it would be a bad idea.”

The tightness in my heart loosened, but my stomach still twisted at the realization that having my powers stripped could have been a reality.

“Your grandmother still believes it should be your choice, and if we did so while you are cursed, we may be putting you in more danger. She also made a good argument that your powers kept you safe from the wraith. If such a thing were to happen again, you’d need your powers for protection.”

Thank the Gods for my grandmother’s wisdom and powers of persuasion. “Thank you. I don’t want to be without my powers.”

“That may not be up to you. Like everyone else, Thayden believes your powers have been bound, but I’m certain he’ll request that we take your powers completely once the curse is broken.”

I let out a sarcastic laugh. “So, while I’m cursed, I get to keep my powers. What a cruel joke.”

“Elariya please, don’t make this any harder.”

“I’m not trying to.”

A poignant smile floated across my mother’s lips. “I know your life hasn’t been easy, but strength will come with time, my love.”

How much time?

I wished someone could tell me. Time was the cruelest villain. A fucker high on vengeance, always circling back to steal what I couldn’t protect. It seemed that we’d be doing this wardance until the world ended, and even then, time would still have the upper hand to defeat me.

And what about everything else?

Like the wraith…

Chills clamored up my spine as the memory of its haunting presence froze my mind.

“Mother, what if the wraith finds me in Zyvaris?” I breathed out the words, unable to disguise my fear. I didn’t want to talk about the wraith, but I needed to get my worries about it off my chest. “I don’t think it was mistaken. Or that it just suddenly forgot its encounter with me. It called me a thief. What if I stole something and can’t remember?”

Mother's face transformed at my words, the color bleeding from her cheeks, leaving behind a ghostly pallor that made the scattered freckles across her nose stand out like drops of blood. “I don’t believe you stole anything.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you’ve always been supervised, and I always know where you are. I only slipped up the other night.”

“What if something like the other night occurred and you don’t know.” There were so many possibilities floating around my mind. Trying to figure out what I had and hadn’t done without my memories was an impossible quest.

“Listen to me.” She gave me a hard stare. “Whatever that thing thinks you took is something valuable. Something highly magical that I’m sure you couldn’t get in this part of the land. Or any part of the mortal lands. You haven’t been around anything like that. We would have felt the presence of such a thing. Believe me we would. So please do not worry about that.” She forced a shallow breath and tried to compose herself, but the fear lingered in the tight lines around her mouth.

“I trust what you’re saying, but right now we don’t know where the wraith went. What if the wraith comes after me whenI’m in Zyvaris? There’s no one magical there to turn to. There’s more chance that it could come after me then.”

“If that happens, you call for me,” came a subtle voice from the door.

Mother and I looked around at the same time to find Grandmother standing there.

I stood and brought my hands over my heart. Hope filled me just for seeing her.

She walked into the room and gave me a faint smile but it was gone before it fully took fruition.

“Grandmother.”

The hard expression she’d worn the last few days was still there, but, like my mother, there was a softer look in her eyes. It gave me hope. I would have hated to leave for Zyvaris while she was still not speaking to me.

“This will help you if ever you need me.” She held up a necklace—one of her favorites. It was a silver chain with an oval-shaped amethyst pendant attached to it.

“You’re giving me your necklace?”