Page 64 of WitchCurse

CHAPTER21

Kiran

Darkness swelled in the distance and I froze midstep, the sensation familiar, yet I’d not experienced it in ages. Korissa glanced back at me, her gaze following mine into the trees. “That’s where Al’s magic attacked Seb and Dad,” she said. “The forest died and hasn’t come back. The trees are black, cracked and stripped of life like some disease ate them away. Dad is talking about clearing that area of the forest once the weather warms, seeing if he can get things to regrow, but the damage is bad, maybe even growing, and…” she shuddered, “the entire area gives me the creeps. Even to get close. I feel like my skin is crawling.”

I understood because I could see what she could not, a swirling swath of shadow parasites feeding on the earth. “That is where theirforest godvanished?” I asked recalling the story as I set the books down. “Stay here, I will be right back.”

“Kiran…”

“I vow, princess, nothing shall harm me hither.” I approached the wall of shadows marveling at the sheer volume of them, a convergence of darkness, writhing and feeding. The princess had not been wrong about the area expanding as they devoured the very essence of life. These bits of pulsing black matter were wild magic, not of Underhill, but this world, destructive, unfettered, and feral. If left unchecked they would destroy the entire forest, though it might take decades. Eventually the land would die and take time to renew as the shadows left to find more food.

Had the shadows eluded the fox and his mate? The massive death on the edge of their territory seemed a good indication that something was wrong. What if the magic was untouchable for them, much as structured magic had been for Nick and me until Toby had been bound to us?

I reached the first mass, grabbing it in firm hands, the feeling of it familiar, not cold or slimy as it looked, but more a strange, hot, watery mix of magic, like Underhill’s wild insanity dipped into a giant blob of unstructured magic. The shadow had gorged on the landscape for a long time, filling it with a churning sense of life even while it caused death to everything it touched. These creatures had been much smaller in my youth, more like squirrels of this world, small bouncing things with only a touch of the swirling energy. Had these grown large due to centuries of feeding, or the area on which they feasted, which the alpha said had been blessed by their forest god for a time. Was the modern world filled with these creatures? I’d never hunger again if that were true.

I changed into my kitsune form instantly and swallowed the first chunky blob. Consistency strange, sort of fluffy as I separated out the magic, stuffing away the insanity inside that barrier deep within, and devouring the rest. Cheeky little buggers, none of them ran, instead continuing to feed unbothered by my presence.

I glanced back at the princess to ensure her safety, and erected a barrier around her, the ripple of power startling a gasp from her as it appeared in front of her face, then I dove into the mess, swallowing them all down, and rather than hoarding the power, unstructured magic of this world, I shed most of it back to the ground and the trees where it belonged. The dying trees shattered, turning to ash, not unlike a faded fae, and life began to spark in the soil, new seeds finding root.

This is what the earthen spirit had taught me in my youth, a way to feed the forest, and myself in this mortal realm. The trees would regrow, though it would take time, and my will sunk into the soil even as my gut filled, and power thrummed through me. I added that tiny bit of madness to the well in which the demon within grew, and that would always be a problem, as the darkness had to exist somewhere. Not a consequence of my birth, rather a reality of the fae blood in my veins, darkness existed in all life, no matter the pedigree. But my barriers were strong, holding fast as I hunted the last of the beasts.

When they were all gone, I could have laid down to rest, pulsing hot with the weight of magic I hadn’t felt since long before the fae had begun to drain power from me, but I returned to the princess’s side. She sat inside her bubble, books around her, one open in her lap as she drew in its pages, gaze focused and glittering on me, unafraid of the kitsune form.

I released the barrier from around her and shifted back to my mortal form, body filled with life and energy, but also pain. I winced; the numbness had benefits over the centuries as I had forgotten what true pain felt like. The knotted ties, still invisible to me, tugged and pulled, hurting more than I expected them to.

“That was amazing,” she said. “You glow with fire, and the forest is fixed, but I can see the ties, dragging energy from you. It’s stunted, like this type of energy is hard for them to use but they still take it.” She jumped to her feet and held up a book, showing a drawing of my kitsune form, and small symbols in a handful of places. Her art not as detailed as Nick’s, but clear enough to divine location and the symbols of the ties. “I’ve been reading legends of kitsunes, and I couldn’t tell how many tails you have. Sebastian has four now, Dad only two. Lots of legends of the nine-tailed fox, but everything is over-embellished. How many do you have?”

“I would like to read these legends of which you speak. How many tails did you see?”

“A lot? More than five, but faded, part of the curses maybe? They move fast, making it hard to count.” She reached up to flip the end of my braid until it lay over my shoulder. Golden red bits twisted through the silken white, and I gaped at it, lifting it myself to look. I’d not had the color since my youth…here in the mortal realm. I peered back to where the shadows had been, the area now wide open to the sky and barren of everything but black dirt. It pulsed with life, a faint spread of magic not as deeply rooted as the forest itself, but with time would heal that way.

I had thought devouring the fae had been the only way to survive, even in this realm, but maybe I’d been wrong, and what I truly needed were these shadows? Would the darkness within eventually grow too strong and break free? Or was there another way to cycle through even that madness? I burned with need to ask Nick questions. Did he know of their existence? We’d never talked of them because they hadn’t existed in Underhill. Had he felt the shifting in magic, or how easy it had been to cast it wide, back into the ground and let the elemental spirits take it back? Could we spin the darkness that way, releasing it in small batches rather than keeping it caged? Would Nick know, or had he been otherwise engaged with the wolf.

I focused on the princess as I had a promise to keep. “If I may take the drawings to my scions later, let us go work on building your wolf, shall we?”

She nodded, unclipping the drawn pages from her book. I gathered her supplies and we made our way to a small alcove with a firepit and the strong scent of her magic. She’d been here often. I lit the fire with a thought, adding protection to the flame, a simple sanctuary barrier that would burn without chance of going wild, and began to teach the princess how to coax her guardian to life.

* * *

Nick

The entire story churned in my head as we made our way back to the camper. I tried to reason through a thousand books I’d stored in the memory of the bond between Kiran and me, but the small bits about kitsunes were vague. And the story didn’t explain the darkness he hid. What was that? Fae magic he was unable to use? But as a god, shouldn’t he have the ability to use everything like Ari did?

A rush of magic flooded the bond. I separated it with ease, slamming most of it into the center sanctuary of the camper rather than into building the space. We needed to better learn how to optimize what we got, rather than continuing to build. Until we could get those last curses removed, Kiran would always be weak.

I caught an image of the end of a fight with some of theHunt. Kiran taking them out with ease now that he was halfway healed. At least we’d done something good to help him. The pain had been intense, and too much for one person, even one who might be a demi-god, though I hadn’t known that at the time. I’d taken as much as I could hold, no matter how badly it hurt. Some of those curses had been buried deep. And Toby ripping them away felt like he’d been carving out organs.

The magic soothed some of the pain, eventually speeding healing, but the memory echoed with a sharpness that could cut. Not all that unlike Toby’s own, I suspected, remembering catching a glimpse of some of his rebuiltshoregrowing with crystal-like shards of glass.

Kiran wasn’t alone. The heat and calming touch of the omega nearby. Sebastian helped him fight theHunt?Toby paused behind me and snarled. I stopped and looked around but saw nothing. “What?” I asked.

“Kiran kissed Sebastian,” Toby said. He stood ramrod straight, hands clenched tight at his sides. His eyes glowed with wolf energy, like the beast wanted to run into the distance and separate them, but when I slid down the edge of our bond, finding the memory, it was nothing. An exchange of power to ease Sebastian’s struggle, and a jab at Liam. Kiran had always been contrary in nature when it came to other’s demanding obedience. Liam was always careful in how he skirted around directly commanding Kiran to do anything. Part kindness, but a lot of intelligent caution. Power recognized power.

When I tried to mentally soothe the wolf, Toby recoiled, locking me out of his head as if he’d slammed a door in my face. Okay, then. I turned back toward the camper, irritated by the aggression all around. Was it too much to ask to be wanted bysomeone?

I crossed about twenty yards when Toby barreled into me from behind, wrapping his arms around me and squeezing me harder than a man his size should have been able to. The wolf on the surface? Demanding obedience again? He was going to learn the hard way that submission was a gift and could not be taken by force.

He nestled his face into the back of my shoulder, breathing hard.