The air pulses as if electrified. I waver on my feet, gripping the table as magic presses over me. It surges from Cora’s hands and surrounds my skin, choking my every breath. The surrounding artifacts twitch on their stands, as if coming to life.
Cora’s voice grows louder and louder, until it’s all I can hear. My brain feels heavy and foggy, the magic seeping into me, overflowing through my pores. There’s no pain, but the pressure is all-encompassing, making it impossible to move.
She pauses, and the magic pulses around us. For the briefest of moments, my head clears enough to look at Sebastian. He stands at Cora’s side, his hand lifted as if reaching for me.
I’m okay,I want to tell him. I don’t. My mind may be clear, but the magic has done something strange to my voice. I’m not sure I remember how to speak, whether I could if I tried.
“Now, Grace,” Cora says.
Her voice is stale, detached. Beneath it, however, her breath is ragged, as if she’s clawing each inhalation from the bottom of her lungs.
“Now!” she repeats, louder.
I clench my jaw until it hurts. I’m hoping it’s enough to distract the pain of slicing through my own skin. It’s not.
In one swift motion, I slice my wrist, and blood pours from my veins. I stare in shock as dark red pools from my skin and into the glass bowl. Pain erupts across my palm. I drop the dagger, letting the blood-stained metal clatter across the floor. My attention remains on the bowl, watching as it fills unnaturally fast.
As soon as Cora resumes chanting, the pressure of magicis back, like it never left. Only now, it brings with it a scalding heat. I scream, knees buckling as pain scours through me, devouring me from the inside out. I don’t know how I remain upright, if it’s magic or my own stubborn will.
I look at Cora. There’s nothing human about the way she looks now. Her eyes have rolled back, until there’s only hazy white. The foreign words stream from her lips, voice lowering as if powered by something demonic.
Almost done, I tell myself.Keep going. You’re almost there.
I don’t know if it’s the truth.
I’m desperate enough to believe the lie.
In the back of my mind, I wonder if this is a vampire’s death. Is this how they felt after the witches’ curse? Did they feel like they were being boiled alive? Like someone was shredding their insides and reducing them to ash?
I try to find Sebastian, but there is only this violent light, devouring me whole.
Until I’m dizzy.
Sick.
Dying.
I finally find him. Staring at me. Blank. Emotionless. Uncaring. His mouth moves, but I’m too gone to hear it. Or, maybe, the only voice I can hear now is Cora’s.
She’s staring at me too. Her eyes are black, hands still lifted.
“It’s working!” she screams. “We’ve got it!”
My knees buckle again, just as my hands burst with inexplicable heat. I loll my head to the side, searching for them, as if they’re not attached to me. They are, but they don’t look right. They’re coated in something red or orange or?—
Fire, I realize. I’m onfire.
It’s my last thought before everything goes dark.
23
I WARNED YOU, MASTER
SEBASTIAN
Ishouldn’t be here. There’s too much to figure out, and yet, I can’t tear myself away from this room. Grace is still unconscious. She lies on my bed, wrist bandaged but still bleeding. It’s under control now, at least. She’s not going to bleed out. She won’t die.
Too close.
