Page 47 of Pirate Witch

That changes fast. The pressure-pain grows until it’s suffocating, but the cause isn’t immediately obvious until the chains appear across my body. Made of glowingmoonlight, they burn like they did the last time I saw them.

That was the day I was cursed.

As I watch, they slide across my skin like snakes. Rysen’s eyes meet mine for a second before the glow turns to a flash, which forces him to squint until his eyes can’t take it anymore.

Not mine. My sight is adapted to the bright flare of sun on ice. I stare, unblinking as they constrict over my skin, spreading fire until I want to cry out.

But I can’t. They’re cutting off my airflow. Surrounding my throat so tightly that I feel like I’m choking.

I struggle against the chains, but how can you fight magic with your bare hands? All I succeed in doing is thrashing so hard that one of my arms connects with my mate’s ribs.

Shit. Rysen hisses and drags Nilsa out of the way just as the chains’ level of constriction becomes unbearable.

This is going to kill me,I realise. The curse is so ingrained in my body that removing it will cost me my life.

I fix my gaze on our mate’s unseeing eyes, committing her face to memory one last time.

Just when I think the links made of moonlight are going to crush my bones, they fragment. The curse shatters like glass, spraying outwards in a rush of power. My body drops back to the mattress without the magic holding me up and I land awkwardly on one wing, panting and gasping like I’ve run a marathon.

My body aches. Even dragging air into my lungs is painful.

I feel… I don’t know what I feel. Fear, rage, pain, and an overwhelming sense of relief slam into me until my head spins.

Rysen, sensing that the worst is over and correctly predicting where my thoughts have travelled, moves Nilsa back between us. I stroke a lock of her black hair out of her eyes as I gaze down at the incredible woman before me.

Then I bury my head into her hair and sob.

She freezes for a second before her arms wrap around me and drag me into her embrace fully.

The burst of emotion dries up, and I wait for the others to say something. To mock the way the ancient fae prince fell apart over a witch.

But they don’t. I can hear them hovering in the background. There, but not intruding. Like they want to give me this moment with our mate, but they can’t bear to be parted from her any more than I can right now.

I open my mouth, and then close it. Half afraid to speak. No one rushes me, and I glance down at the dark-haired woman in my arms, hoping I can draw some kind of strength from her. Only that doesn’t work. I’m swamped anew with gratitude I’m not sure I can ever truly express.

It’s been over four centuries… and now it’s over.

Open your mouth and thank her.The critical thought stabs at my consciousness, but I can’t do it. Fae, as a rule, dislike thanking anyone for anything. Although Nilsa won’t take it as a statement of debt—and even if she did, I’m so deeply indebted to her already that it wouldn’t matter—a mere ‘thank you’ doesn’t seem sufficient. What can two little words really do to express the enormity of my gratitude?

I must saysomething.

“I thought, when my curse was broken, I’d talk your ear off. But there are no words,” I finally whisper, brokenly.

Talking still hurts. But it’s a soreness born of disuse rather than the agony of the curse.

Nilsa’s head pops up, those icy blue eyes of hers meeting mine, piercing my soul even though she can’t really see me.This woman loves me, I realise. She couldn’t have broken my curse if she didn’t.

Yet not twenty-four hours ago, I tried to kill her and her friends.

I don’t deserve her. None of us do.

Almost as if she can sense my thoughts, she ducks her head down and hugs me harder.

“Rest, both of you.” Rysen meets my eyes, and I raise a brow, silently querying his order. “Don’t pretend that curse breaking didn’t take it out of you,” he grunts.

He’s right, as much as I don’t like it. I sigh but nod my acceptance, relaxing into Nilsa’s embrace.

It’s only a few minutes later that I realise I could’ve just replied using my voice.