Page 15 of Heart of the Cursed
Selene closed her eyes as the weight of the world pressed down on her. No matter what, she couldn’t lose sight of what she was trying to accomplish. The lives of so many Humans hung in the balance. One tiny move wrong, and all could be lost forever.
No, she couldn’t lose sight, and she couldn’t give up, no matter the cost to her. After all, her life meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. If she was meant to die to save the Human race, then so be it. Everything died eventually. She would just be checking out a little sooner than the rest.
“Ha, that’s a joke in itself.”
If she was fully Human, like her mother had been, she would have died years ago. If old age hadn’t dug its claws into her, something else certainly would have.
But she wasn’t fully Human. Instead, she lived on, looking as young as her mother had been the day she died. That was nearly eighty-five years ago.
Her eyes snapped open. “Shit, has it really been that long?”
It was a drop in the ocean for the creatures that hunted Humans, but for Humans themselves? Eighty-five years was a lifetime for some Humans before the war. Since the war, it was closer to two lifetimes. So, yeah, she had definitely out lived them.
Selene knew it was possible for Humans to live into their hundreds. She’d read about them in history and other books, but not now. Not with the hell that was constantly surrounding them.
They were lucky to reach half of that nowadays, with all the creatures out hunting them. Most didn’t even make it to thirty. And those that did, only survived for a few more years.
Yet again, she was left feeling as if the weight of the world was pressing down on her. Even if she wanted to carry on her search, she couldn’t tonight. Between blasting the male with all of her magic and running for hours on end, she was completely drained. There was not a drop of energy left in her body.
As difficult as it was, the best thing she could do at that moment in time, was rest. Rest and regain her energy and magic. If her magic had fully recharged by the morning, she would try the spell. If it failed again, she would have to go back to plan A. Search every inch of the realm looking for it.
Selene really hoped she didn’t have to go back to plan A. It was a lot of work, and even after years of searching, she had barely scratched the surface.
No, the spell is going to work.
There was no other option. Time was running out; she could feel it in her bones. She needed to find the spell, and she needed to find it now.
“Well, in the morning,” she told herself sternly. “Sleep now, deal with the rest tomorrow.”
She rolled onto her side and placed a hand under her head like a pillow. Closing her eyes, she cleared her mind and let sleep pull her under.
