“How do you think I feel being trapped in this room all day long? One week and you need to take a walk,” she said with a frown of her own. “Take me with you.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t trust you.”
“But you trust me enough to leave me alone while you leave to wherever you need to go? Just say you have to take a, you know, restroom break if you need to. You don’t have to come up with an excuse,” she rattled off. “If you take too long, I’ll know that you had to?—”
“For fuck’s sake—just stay in the room,” he snapped, yanking the door open. He gave her a pointed scowl over his shoulder. “Don’t you dare try to leave.”
When Nikator finally exited, Biyu waited a few seconds to confirm he had really left, and then dropped the brush on the table she was scribbling away at. She rushed over to her mattress and stuffed her hand underneath it, her fingers searching forthe scroll. When she finally fished it out, she quickly unfurled it while glancing at the door. When she finally reached the area of the scroll on how to cast the spell, she tried to read it as fast as she could.
Make sure the person you wish to cast the spell with is in front of you.
That wasn’ta problem at all. She had expected that she would have to do the spell in front of him, anyway. She had to learn how to do it fast enough that he wouldn’t stop her.
Visualize the bond between you (the caster) and the person you’ve chosen. Chant the spell that is written here while imbuing it with your energy—make sure the balance between your dark and light energy, the yin and yang, is as absolute as you can make. For a simpler version, you may hold onto this scroll, imagine bonding with your partner, and cast your magic onto them. This scroll has been enchanted for the spell to work in this manner. Both ways are equally as effective.
Biyu bobbedher head along as she re-read the paragraph. Why did it say bond? She didn’t really get that part, but maybe it was because she would be the only one who would remember the memories she was going to take away from him? It had to mean that. They were technically sharing a bond, then—her taking his memories, and him with his memories being, well, taken.
All she had to do was hold the scroll and cast her magic onto him. That was easy—something even she could manage. She didn’t have to memorize a complicated spell, or constantly think about being invisible like in the invisibility spell.
She just had to find the right moment to strike?—
“What is that?” Nikator’s sharp voice cut in through her thoughts.
Biyu jumped, her wide eyes jerking over to where he was standing at the threshold of her room, his hand on the handle and his eyes trained on the scroll in her hand.
“I—I—” She couldn’t think of an excuse, her hands turning slack as his eyes narrowed at the scroll. He wasn’t supposed to find out like this. She hadn’t mentally prepared to lie or cast a spell right now. She hadn’t even heard him enter. Why was he here? Why?
She backed away, her body trembling as he stalked toward her. His tone dropped, a snarl escaping his lips. “What is that, princess?”
He made to snatch it out of her hands, but she lurched backward, hiding the scroll behind her back. She bunched the unfolded parchment in her hands and tried to make it small as she stumbled backward. Nikator grabbed her wrist at the same time, his expression carved with fury.
“What are you hiding? I knew you were up to something?—”
Biyu didn’t think. She couldn’t, so she did the only thing she could do:
She thrust her magic at him, envisioning a bond between them like the scroll had suggested, and prayed that he would forget whatever she had been doing. Time slowed. The ring scorched her finger enough for her to cry out, just as a blast of magic erupted from her chest and slammed straight into his. He released his hold on her, eyes widening, right before they both were flung in opposite directions.
Biyu yelped as she crashed against her tea table, the edge of it banging into her back painfully while Nikator fell against her large beveled mirror. Glass shattered, splintering everywhere with large shards slicing down his arms and legs. He hissed a string of foreign words while Biyu shuddered on the floor, heat spasming over her chest, coiling in her belly and over her heart.
“What have you done?” Nikator snarled.
Biyu stared at him, horror seeping into every fiber of her being. Thick blood coated his arms and speckled her polished floors. His eyes spelled danger, but it was the fact that he knew exactly who she was that … that made her realize the spell hadfailed.
Terror seized her and she whimpered when he shot her a deadly glare. Her back hit the edge of the table again, but she barely felt the ache. Her legs trembled and she couldn’t stand—could barely breathe.
He was going to kill her.
She had hurt him, badly, and she had used magic against him. Magic that she wasn’t even supposed to have. If he didn’t kill her, the emperor certainly would.
She had failed, horribly, and now she was going to die for it. Why couldn’t she have been patient and waited for Nikator to lose interest in guarding her? Why did she have to be impatient and arrogant enough to think that she could pull off tricking him? She had grown accustomed to him and had lost the edge of fear that had kept her in line, and this was the result.
“What was that?” he asked again, brushing away the glittering, broken pieces of the mirror off his lap. He slowly unwound from his position and grasped a giant shard that was sticking out of his shoulder, and yanked it out effortlessly—without even flinching. He dropped it on the floor, blood dripping down his fingers.
She was shaking so badly now that her teeth chattered and she couldn’t form any words. All she could see, hear, and feel was Nikator’s fury. Her breathing came in a rapid, shallow succession. This couldn’t be happening. How had she failed the spell? She had done exactly what the spell had told her to do, so why had it failed?
