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PANDORA

T he curse sank deeper into my veins, numbing parts of me I never knew could ache with such abysmal hollowness. Being cursed was far more insidious than being infected by dark magic. It felt as if every fragment of my soul was fracturing, my magical essence just beyond my grasp.

Was this how Nebula felt?

Sybil cursed him with dark magic—forcefully bonding his soul to his skull. Did he feel as empty as I did right now?

If so, it was a far crueler reality than I’d ever thought he was suffering in.

This feeling…I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

Except Sybil Shaw.

“You really went and jumped headfirst into a curse, huh?” Drecken Grimsworn's voice cut through the haze, laced with an almost disappointed humor.

I cracked open my eyes to meet his blue ones that swam into focus above me. There was the faintest smirk flickering on his lips, but it looked sad. He didn’t look as amused as he usually did.

Why was he here?

My mouth was dry, and each breath felt like sandpaper was being dragged over my lungs. The room spun, tilting around me as I blinked at Grimsworn sitting beside me.

Bright, vivid green hair came into focus—short and spiked in every direction. Flecks of energy sparked from his fingers, little flashes of teal and pink popping like tiny fireworks, matching the ebb and flow of his words as he spoke. “Didn’t your father teach you not to open letters from dark magic demons?”

Yes, actually.

He did tell me that.

I tried to answer him, but my throat closed up. All that came out was a pitiful rasp.

Grimsworn frowned, leaning closer. I could feel the pulse of his magic. It was a hum beneath the air between us—a warm, almost soothing contrast to the cold, empty ache spreading inside me.

“Back off,” Dex growled at Grimsworn. His hands trembled as he took a step forward into my line of vision. He looked like he wanted to pull me into his arms, away from the eccentric warlock representative of the Supernatural Council, and never let go.

I wanted that, too.

“Pandora,” Grimsworn scolded, his voice thick with dismay as he leaned back up to give me space. “I can call you that, right? Did you really have to go and get cursed? Your magic’s one of the strongest I’ve ever seen—this is just…it’s such a waste.” He tsked, shaking his head, little bursts of magical energy popping like frustrated sighs.

“A waste?” Dex’s growl shook the room.

Grimsworn waved him off. “We can fix this…probably.”

“Isn’t he delightful?” Nebula huffed from beside me.

A stabbing pain shot through my neck as I turned to see him. Relief swept through me. “Thank Fates you’re here, Nebula.”

Talking hurt.

“I’m not happy, though. I should’ve stayed with you during dinner. Why did you open the letter?” he asked.

I shook my head as hot tears pricked at my eyes. I shouldn’t have opened the letter. I should’ve resisted the urge.

“It probably had an enchantment on it that made it almost impossible for you to ignore.” He sighed dramatically, but that actually did make sense. “From now on, I will stay with you. You will keep me in your bag again—like when you first entered the academy. Understand?”

I nodded.

“Here, starlight.” Hunter hovered the top of my enchanted bottle over my lips and tilted it back.

The cold water trickled down my throat and eased the pain ever so slightly.

“Thanks,” I croaked as he pulled it away, and I glanced back toward Grimsworn. “What kind of curse?” My words were barely a whisper, but he heard me.

His eyes darkened as he leaned back and crossed his arms. “It’s a dark magic curse, and a rather nasty strain of it.”

I flinched.

“It’s designed to kill you slowly,” he continued, “to eat away at your magical essence and then your life essence until there’s nothing left to devour.”

Nebula growled lowly in a way I’d never heard him do before—he was pissed.

“Can you break it or not, Grimsworn?” Dad snarled in his direction from the doorway.

It was only then that I realized we were in my old room at Dad’s manor. My mates, Nebula, Dad, Jenni, and Grimsworn were in here with me.

How long had I been asleep?

“It’s breakable, yes, but…there’s a complication .”

“What complication?” Hunter shouted at him, raking a hand through his messy dark blond locks.

The silence stretched as Grimsworn hesitated, his gaze sweeping toward each of my mates and back to me.

My heart thudded weakly. Each beat sent a ripple of pain through my ribs. “What complication?”

He leaned forward again. “You have unbonded mates, Pandora. Breaking this curse would shatter your soul without those matebonds in place to stabilize your essence. If I broke it now, it might even shatter the souls that are attached to yours.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Skel croaked, his green eyes meeting mine with worry.

The cold ache curled tighter around my chest. Each breath felt fragile, like the shallow flutter of a hummingbird’s wings.

It felt like I really was dying.

“Breathe,” Nebula instructed in a pained tone. “I know it hurts, but you have to breathe through it.”

I barely had the strength to breathe.

Grimsworn’s expression softened. “Your magic—your magical essence, rather—it’s intricate, and it’s tied to those you’ve been fated with. Surely you’ve seen this?”

I nodded, flicking my gaze to Dad briefly. As soul eaters, we could manipulate that magical essence…but Grimsworn didn’t need to know that.

“The matebonds aren’t just romantic, fairy-tale bonds; they’re tethered to the very fabric of your soul. Imagine a delicate web. Each strand literally connects your spirit to theirs. Without those connections being fully established, breaking a curse of this nature would leave fractures— holes —in your very soul. I don’t know if you’d recover, and I don’t know if those holes would be big or small. A big enough hole would destroy your soul—and thus, your life.”

“Impossible,” Reed muttered brokenly.

“He’s right,” Nebula confirmed the warlock’s words. “Dark magic decays souls. Mine must be decaying now. Dark magic can even destroy established matebonds. The only chance you have for Grimsworn to break your curse is to bond your remaining mates, Pandora.”

“Essentially…” Grimsworn thinned his lips into a line. “If I break the dark magic curse now, you and your bonded mates could perish. If we do nothing, you surely perish. If you bond your remaining unbonded mates, then have me break the curse, you actually have a fighting chance.”

I tried to grasp the concept, tried to wrap my mind around marking and bonding Bram and Dex instead of letting it happen naturally. “So…my two remaining mates need to mark me?”

“Yes,” Grimsworn confirmed.

Dex and Bram flinched and glanced down at their feet while Dad glowered at Grimsworn.

“Stop glaring at me, Death. I know what I’m talking about.” Grimsworn rolled his eyes before focusing on me again. “Once they mark you, their souls will bind to yours. It will create a web of your souls that will be strong enough to sustain the backlash of breaking this curse. But without those bonds…” he trailed off. “You have little chance of making it out of this unscathed—or alive, really.”

“You’re the strongest wizard in Kalista, and you can’t break this curse as she is?” Dad asked condescendingly with his brows drawn together.

“There’s a reason Sybil Shaw is the only supernatural to be labeled wanted twice.” He let out an amused chuckle, and Nebula huffed in reluctant agreement. “Her magic may be dark, but it’s on par with mine. Only a witch or wizard as strong as the caster would be able to break this curse. That’s me.”

The weight of his words settled over me.

I had to complete the bond with Bram and Dex if I wanted to live—if I wanted Hunter, Reed, and Skel to make it out unscathed.

It felt like my body was withering away to nothing with the barest fragments of my soul holding it together. I could feel it. The only parts of me that were fighting the curse were the parts bound to my mates. If I hadn’t been fully mated to the three I was mated to, I was sure the curse would’ve killed me the instant I read that letter.

But…

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I was supposed to bond with them in our own time—when we were ready.

Grimsworn looked up at my mates. “Each of you has a matebond with her, but it’s incomplete on her end until she bonds with all of her mates. If she’s to survive this curse, she needs to be fully marked by all of you.”

Hunter’s face fell slightly as he registered Grimsworn’s words.

Skel’s gaze turned steely.

Reed’s violet eyes were on me with nothing but reassurance.

Dex shifted uneasily, his hand flexing at his side.

And Bram…Bram looked like he was about to break from the news. He looked up and froze. Pain crept into his expression.

“Pandora…” Dex’s voice was soft, but the uncertainty in it clawed at me, each word heavy with a fear I knew he hadn’t spoken aloud yet.

“You said you weren’t ready,” Bram spoke with a cracked voice.

I swallowed, but my throat still felt like sandpaper. “I know what I said.”

The flicker of hesitation in Dex’s gray eyes went deep. He knew why I wasn’t ready. He knew probably better than anyone why I was scared to take his mark—his shadow tendril.

He took a shaky breath, looking away.

Bram’s hands balled into fists, and his lips pressed tightly together before he let out a heavy exhale. “Pandora, I haven’t…I know I haven’t earned your trust or your love yet, but this is your life we’re talking about.” His gaze dropped to the floor, shame flickering in his eyes.

The tension in the room was thick.

Hunter’s voice cut through the silence like a knife. “This isn’t about what she’s ready for or not—as much as I hate to say it like that…”

“It’s about what she needs,” Reed finished for him, his violet gaze locking on mine.

“And she needs them,” Skel stated matter-of-factly. “ Both of them.”

Dad’s jaw tightened as he nodded his agreement.

“You need them,” Nebula said.

“I’d do anything for you,” Bram murmured, finally looking back up. “With your consent, of course.”

“You know I want to mark you,” Dex croaked, glancing up. “I love you, trouble.”

My heart twisted as I looked at them.

I wanted to speak, to reassure them, but the curse’s grip was tightening again. Every single breath was a struggle. The weakness pulled me deeper into the inky darkness at the edge of my soul.

Everyone’s eyes were on me. I knew they were waiting for my answer, but this was one choice that wasn’t difficult to make.

The curse slithered through my veins like poison, consuming any part of my soul and magic that it could. The fear of never seeing them again seized my heart harder than anything I’d ever felt before.

I knew exactly what I had to do.