Page 41 of WitchCurse

CHAPTER15

Toby

We had a plan, though so far, I was the only one that was certain we could implement it. No one else saw the magic in lines like I did. Nick closed himself off, burying his feelings rather than letting either of us touch them, which meant what I saw was my own. He was still brooding, though it didn’t come across that way to anyone but me. I fucked up. I understood that, but I needed his help, his enthusiasm, and his intelligence to make this work.

Liam and I sat down to discuss magic. He didn’t see it as lines or ties like I did, more a sensation, or emotions. Sebastian saw things in terms of symbols, alchemic, and that made more middle ground sense to me.

“So, the symbols, or curses, they look like they have ties?” Sebastian clarified.

When I looked at Kiran through our bond, he appeared cocooned in a million colored strands, bound a thousand ways. “Yes.”

“If we can cut the ties, would that remove the curse?” Liam asked. We discussed ways in how to do it, but came back to Liam’s experience with Sebastian. He’d had to dig out the thorns, and even then, they had returned. Would Kiran’s? There were so many, I didn’t know where to begin. I needed to get Nick’s take on all this and he was keeping me out.

I waited until the bulk of the wards were removed from the living space, and we were getting ready to move the camper before trying again to slide along our bond. It was a little like a knock at the door. He hesitated, his shoulders tensing. He’d been pulling things off of shelves and securing doors to keep everything from flying around when we moved.

He glanced my way. I raised a brow in his direction, then flicked my eyes toward Kiran who sat in a chair, curled up under a blanket, partially dozing. He shouldn’t be this tired, not after the feast he’d had in Zephyr’s court, and then Sebastian and Liam feeding him magic. But I could see the tugging of all those strands draining energy from him.

I want to show you something,I said carefully, dancing on the edge of his mind, hoping he heard.

What?He asked, not opening himself to me, but sliding through the bond to my side. And that was fine, I thought I could probably show him without being in his head. I shifted my gaze, letting my eyessee, the lines of everything suddenly illuminating with color, and strings woven like an intricate tapestry. This was life, or at least the energy of all things. Prior to becoming a wolf, none of this had been clear, more sensation than actual lines, but after becoming a wolf my eyes opened to a lot more, and now with the bond in place, it was like the magic was defined not only by lines, but by color. Could Nick see this the way I could? Or would it be like describing an image to a man born blind?

Nick slid inside my head, sitting with me on my internal beach for a minute, calming the storm that had risen from our separation, and sinking down beside me. He turned to stare at Kiran, his physical form moving to mimic his internal world self. Could hesee?

I do.Nick muttered, followed by a colorful curse.Didn’t know it was that bad. Like he’s wrapped up in spider webs? Are those the curses? What do we do?

Liam and Sebastian thought we should start by cutting one tie, to see if it would reform, but I needed a closer look. How was it connected? Through the symbol carved into his skin? Bound to his soul? Or something more? I didn’t want the chance of it returning, and thought if we could remove where it was bound, that would be the best option.

Nick had known him longer, I needed Nick’s eyes to see deeper.

Kiran startled awake at the noise from outside. He looked around a moment, then got up to walk across the camper, opening doors. I watched him, seeing the ties move, as they flexed with him, but in this sight, he was a mummy wrapped in strands of magic.

I felt Nick sit down in front of me. He reached out to touch my face, and I felt his side of the bond open, barrier dropping, his pain subtle as he tried to keep his still floundering emotions out of our touch. I gripped his shirt to center myself, letting the bond open until we couldseeKiran from the inside out.

I’m not sure we can just cut the strands, I explained, feeling as if each were knotted into Kiran. Was that possible?

Might have to cut it out of him?Nick frowned as he studied the strands, mentally rather than physically. We would need to pin him down to truly see.

That will hurt.

It takes a lot to really hurt a sidhe, and as much as they try to deny it, he is sidhe. The godkiller sword could do damage, but most else he will heal.

I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of causing him pain, but if we could permanently remove some of this nastiness, I would try.

Jealousy rippled through the bond, making me glance away from Nick and our shared study of the lines to find Kiran retreating into the chaotic sanctuary Nick had erected. I sighed. His affection for Nick ran deep, but was I anything more than in the way?

“He needs to heal before he can think much of either of us,” Nick said quietly. “He has a lot of trust issues.”

Something else we shared. The wolf hated the idea of giving Kiran space to choose. Technically he had already chosen us, the bond a testament to that, but much like him, I wasn’t willing to force my will on him. The wolf and I would battle over that if necessary; it was a hill I would die on. Having my memories back in place reminded me of why, though I suspected I’d had the same values long before the attack that had ripped apart everything I knew.

“It’s fine,” I said, not a true lie. “I’m working on patience. Let’s see if we can remove one or two of these. I might have to cut it out at the source.”

“Like a surgeon removing a tumor. I understand,” Nick said. “Kiran is too weak to protest much, but he will protest. He fears what he will become more than he fears anything done to him.”

I didn’t like the idea of him protesting, but loved the idea of him beneath me, or pinning him between myself and Nick, making him rediscover what it meant to be alive. My wolf perked up, giving me a slew of naughty images easily pulled from the remaining water and slammed as rocks on the shore. Things I’d done before, adventures in pleasure.

Time, I told the wolf. We had to break some curses and tame a fae prince first.

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