Page 65 of Castle of the Cursed
“You don’t tell me what to do,” I say, squaring my shoulders and pulling away from him.
Thunder rumbles, low and lingering, the storm forming in the back of his throat. “Try me,” he warns.
“What’s that mean?” The impulse to throttle him grows as strong as the one to kiss him, and I move toward him again. My whole being feels like it’s at war: my head resists the pull of my attraction, while my body begs me to let go of the reins.
“I will not let you risk your life like this.”
“You mean you won’t let my blood go to waste?”
I don’t know why I say it, but he looks at me like I’ve injured him. “We had an agreement,” he reminds me. “We are supposed to be partners in this investigation. It is selfish of you to risk your life and squander my chances of getting home.”
The last word is a kill shot. I don’t know why it defeats me, but I wish I was still as numb as the day I got here, so I wouldn’t have to feel this chasm opening in my chest.
Sebastián would rather return to a home he can’t remember than stay with me.
I want to find a way to empathize, to believe that in his shoes I would feel the same way—but it’s only now I realize it’s too late for such generosity. Sebastián is the only person I have left in the world. He’s all I have.
Besides, no one has ever been mine before. Not like Sebastián is right now.
“I’m going,” I say, my voice low and even. “If you do anything to stop me, you might as well kill me because our partnership will be over.”
I slide to the left on the counter, and he doesn’t move. So I jump down and head to my room to change. When I step back out, he’s waiting for me in the crimson corridor.
“Estela, please. I cannot protect you out there. Do you understand there is a dangerous spellcaster targeting us, and nighttime is when magic is best conducted, especially on a full moon?”
I ignore him as I stride down the stairs.
“Don’t go. Please,” he says, following me. “Stay here, where I can protect you—”
“You can’t protect me,” I say without looking back. “You’re a ghost.”
I walk to the forest, even though I’m early. I couldn’t risk staying any longer in the castle in case Sebastián tried to stop me.
I keep my head bent low against the chill as I approach the woods. At least the full moon lifts some of the darkness.
Sebastián was right about the black smoke—it’s tied to me somehow. It appeared on the subway, in the castle, and earlier I felt something pass from me to Felipe when he kissed me. If I’m its carrier, then it could be a spell like Sebastián says.
But does that mean it protected me on the subway, or was it the culprit—?
The sight of the black smoke cuts off my next thought, breath, heartbeat. I stare in frozen fright as a smoky tendril reaches ahead of me, like it’s leading me into the woods.
The smoke originated from my direction, further cementing it’s bound to me in some way. Am I now just going to follow it into the forest in the middle of the night to meet its caster? Sebastián was right—this is a horrible idea.
And yet, isn’t he desperate to break the spell keeping him here? If he were in my shoes, he wouldn’t cower—he would march into the woods and seize what he wants. So I try to channel some of the Iron Prince’s entitlement as I plunge into the foliage.
The trees are tight-packed, and I’m nearly tripping every other step on a raised root or loose rock. Only a few minutes in, I’m completely disoriented. I don’t like lacking an escape route, and right now I am severely out of my comfort zone. I’m no good at counting steps or gauging my direction out here.
I severely regret not searching for a flashlight before leaving. I meant to find one, but I left in too much of a hurry. Sebastián is definitely a distraction, and he’s hurting my investigation.
The forest is too dark to see much, but somehow the black smoke remains visible, a silvery aura making it stand out.
Something flickers in the distance ahead, and I inhale the smoky notes of a bonfire. An odd humming fills the air, and after a moment, I spy a clearing.
Red flames lick the sky.
I creep closer, and the humming grows louder. I bite back my urge to scream as I see a hooded figure facing the fire—
A hand clamps over my mouth.
