Page 84 of Seduced By Darkness

There’s a cold pit in my heart as we arrive in the Hallow chamber in Ceres. The sudden cessation of magic makes me stagger and I go to one knee. There’s a ringing in my ears. A blind spot in one eye. The voice inside my head is quiet, but something inside my chest feels broken.

It feels like a crack appeared there, somewhere in the prison I’ve formed around the Darkness.

Are you there?I whisper.

There’s no answer.

It’s gone. For the moment.

Vi stirs in my arms as if the transfer woke her.

Our eyes meet, her pupils dark enough to blot out the blue of her eyes.

“I promise you this,” I whisper in a voice that’s not entirely mine. “We will never let you go. We will never allow anyone to hurt you. You are ours. Forever and always.”

“My prince?” There’s a tentative hand on my sleeve.

Mariana.

I blink and color drenches the world. “Here. What do you need?”

“Are you all right?” she asks. “You sounded different for a moment.”

Forever and always. It’s a strange echo in my head.

Enough to make me search again.

Hello?

Silence.

It’s gone. Definitely gone. Buried down so deep I can barely feel it. I take a deep breath. “Take me to the healers. We need to break this curse.”

I will have Vi back.

No matter what I must do.

And if the curse doesn’t break?

Then I will win her heart all over again.

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