Page 61 of Cursed Evermore

Her parents, grandparents and aunts were massacred in her home when Arielle was eight. No one knew by whom.

Arielle only survived because she’d been hidden within the shield of her mother’s powers.

Most suspected her parents had seen or heard something they shouldn’t have. Some, like my family, believed the Conclave of Shadows had something to do with it.

They were a syndicate of powerful lords who’d been pooling resources in secret for ages. My father had been a member right up until Arielle’s parents were killed.

Since my parents were close friends with hers, they took her in and decreed her part of our court. As Arielle grew up and into her powers, she became one of the few I trusted most in my life.

I bit into my bottom lip and swallowed hard.

Fuck. She’d been in the world of the dead for too long. And this side was too quiet. Not the kind of quiet that came with a tranquil silence. It was the other kind. The kind before a scream. As if something was waiting and listening for the right moment to strike.

The shield shimmered abruptly, as if in answer to my sinister thoughts.

Bastian and I straightened. The shield had been reacting occasionally, pulsing with light whenever a spirit brushed against the barrier from the other side.

That shimmer could have been the same thing again. But we didn’t know. It could also be Arielle either trying to get back to us… or crying for help.

The shimmer became brighter, each ripple a heartbeat. We waited. And waited. But it wasn’t her. Not yet.

Bastian and I exchanged nervous glances.

Then it happened again. This time, the shimmer was so bright the shield cracked and shards of glass splintered everywhere.

We were on our feet that instant.

Swirls of smoke with deadly faces leaked out. They were Whisps. Haunting spirits from the other side. The worst sorts of evil in life, condemned to die with no hope of penance. Theyalways lingered on the edge of the realm of the dead, waiting for any opportunity to free themselves. They’d possess a being and rip their soul apart to steal their bodies.

They soared toward Bastian and me with a howling shriek that would melt our brains if we weren’t who we were. The vicious malevolence they exuded left no doubt they would destroy us.

We grabbed our swords, readying ourselves for battle, but the spirits never reached us. A force of white light as bright as pure starlight pulled them back, like a vacuum.

It was Arielle.

She was on her feet, her hands raised in a spell. She said no words. All that power of beaming light came from her hands.

It was times like these that she impressed the hells out of me. And reassured me in every decision to trust her.

With a flick of her wrist, she sent the spirits back through the void from where they’d escaped. They never even managed to get out another shriek before she sealed them away. But her efforts were not without consequence.

She collapsed, drained of her energy.

We rushed to her side and Bastian scooped her up into his arms.

“Arielle!” He took her face and observed her. She was shaking and panting as if she’d been running for her life. “Gods, she’s frozen.”

Bastian pulled his jacket off and fixed it around her shoulders.

Arielle’s eyes fluttered open and she looked at both of us, her breaths short and ragged but steadying.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

“I’m okay. Just weak.” Her voice quivered.

“Go and get some rest. We can talk later,” I said with a nod to Bastian. No one was more eager than me to learn what she’d discovered, but it was clear she needed a moment of reprieve.

“No.” She gripped on to my arm, her eyes wide. “We have to talk now.”