"So are you going to tell me exactly what has happened over the past few days? Or am I going to have to guess?" Lyza suddenly asks, looking quite irritated.

I fold my hands in my lap with a sheepish smile. "Right, okay. So when Kaine left to come here, I went to visit my cousin. She helped me reverse the fertility spell and put Peter's soul in a vial."

"Where is the vial?"

"Kaine has it."

"What else?"

My eyebrows shoot up in surprise. I thought she would be upset but she looks happy—no . . . relieved. "Uh well my cousin has been exiled for several years now. But before that she cursed me."

Lyza frowns. "She cursed you?" She repeats carefully.

I nod. "Well we really only call it a curse because it's a particularly harmful and debilitating spell. It diminished my power significantly but unfortunately I exiled the one person that knew how to remove it," I sigh.

"Yeah karma's a bitch that way," she remarks.

"I made a deal with her when she reversed the fertility spell that if she told me how to remove the curse then I'd allow her back into the territory."

"And?"

"She agreed. I took the cure after I told Kaine about my past," I sigh.

"How long until your power is fully restored?"

I shrug. "A few days? A few weeks? I'm not really sure."

She nods thoughtfully. "I'm curious to see exactly what you can do at full strength."

"Honestly so am I," I say with a small chuckle.

My head snaps to the door at the sound of a knock. "Come in."

A young man pokes his head in, a confused look on his face. "Sorry to bother you my queen but there is a giant bird attacking people downstairs," he mutters.

Lyza throws me a questioning glance, her eyebrow raised. "Giant bird huh?"

An awkward grin crosses my lips. "He's a little asshole sometimes," I murmur. "I'll tell him to calm down, can you lead him here?" I ask.

The man nods before closing the door again.

Rexall what the hell are you doing?

I'm being attacked! He screeches.

I roll my eyes. You idiot just calm down and follow the man with the blonde hair, he'll take you to my room.

A few minutes later the door opens again. The man watches with a nervous gaze as my dæmon stalks inside, his talons clicking against the floor.

He hops up onto my bed and presses his beak against the bandages wrapped around my wrists. "You should really start using other types of magic," Rexall remarks.

I purse my lips. "I will once the stupid curse wears off completely," I mumble, shoving him off the bed.

He flaps his wings in annoyance as he lands on the floor. "That was rude."

I roll my eyes. "Don't be a baby. Now if you don't stop freaking out every time you can't find me I am never going to give you your armor back," I warn.

"You have to give it back eventually! You can't just keep it forever!"

"I'm not going to give it back until I don't have to worry about you hurting innocent people."

His feathers start to stand up and he extends his wings slightly.

"Don't you dare," I snap, throwing him a warning glare.

He bows his head for a few moments before shaking out his feathers. "I promise not to hurt anyone without your authority," he mumbles.

"It's in my closet."

"What!" He shrieks. "I thought you hid it away in some vault or something!"

I shake my head. "Nope. I put it in my closet because I know you can't open a door," I sneer.

He gapes at me. "Well I don't have to open the door, I can just break it," He retorts, strutting towards the window.

"If I come back home and find my closet door in pieces I will destroy your armor," I say.

"Fine," he hisses. He throws me a glare before disappearing out the window that Lyza slides open.

She glanced at me with an amused smile. "I only heard half of that conversation," she chuckles.

"He's just being a baby because I won't let him have his armor back," I sigh.

"Armor?"

"Yeah it's a special metal that goes over his talons, he can cause a lot more damage with them so I've kept them hidden. He used to kill people when he was upset," I explain.

"Wow I'm kinda starting to miss when my life wasn't so crazy," she murmurs with a sigh.

"Do you miss them?" I ask gently.

She nods, her lips curling into a hesitant smile for just a moment. She lets out a heavy breath as she stands. "Do you want me to tell Kaine you're here?"

I bite the inside of my cheek. "Yes, thank you," I say quickly before I can change my mind.

She leaves without another word and suddenly I'm alone. It is instantly colder in the room and I shiver as an icy breeze wafts in through the open window.

A few snow flakes fly in with it making me shake my head. It should be spring right now. Winter should have ended a couple of months ago but the snow seems almost endless.

"Want me to close that?"

My head snaps toward the door. "Uh," I murmur, my mind suddenly blank.

He walks across the room to close the window before sitting down on the chair beside my bed.

I clench my jaw. He looks terrible.

There are dark shadows under his dull, golden eyes and he hasn't shaved or washed his hair. His clothes are wrinkled like he slept in them and his shoulders are hunched over like he's still exhausted.

"Are you alright?" he asks gently.

"Yeah, your brother set the forest on fire so I used blood magic to fix it," I reply with a tiny shrug.

He manages the smallest of smiles as he nods to himself. I watch him stare at his lap for what feels like hours. Then he looks up with a harsh sigh. "I've been thinking about everything you told me. I'm still not entirely sure how to deal with it but I know I need you. I told you I'd love you no matter what and that's still true."

It feels like a massive weight has been lifted from my chest and I can finally breathe again. "Really?"

He nods. "I'm not saying I'm okay with what you did but I can accept that it's in the past and the past is something that can't be changed so it's stupid to dwell on it. Plus, I missed you," he mumbles.

"I missed you too," I say.

He smiles. "I would kiss you right now but I haven't showered in three days so I don't think you'd want me to," he chuckles.

"Fair enough." I shrug.

He rummages for something in his pocket for a moment before pulling out the glowing vial. "I can't keep this any longer. It's driving me insane," he murmurs, holding it out for me.

I take it, turning it over in my hand. "What do you want me to do with it?" I ask.

"Destroy it."

My eyes widen. "What?" I ask in disbelief.

"It's too much. I know it's just pure energy now but all I see is the asshole that killed my sister," he growls.

"Oh. Okay," I mutter.

I flatten my hand and focus on the vial. Everything turns a pale shade of blue as it starts to move upward into the air. I close my fist and the vial bursts into thousands of tiny shards. The glowing soul floats like a cloud for a few moments before fading into nothing.

I lower my hand and my head immediately starts to pound. I rub my throbbing temples with a groan.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Kaine asks.

"Yeah. I'm just drained," I sigh. "Did your mother tell you what happened?"

"She said you're going to get more powerful."

I nod. "I don't know how long it will take but I won't have to rely on blood magic as much anymore," I explain.

"How much longer are you going to be stuck in here?"

"I don't know. The healers here are weird."

He chuckles. "Yeah I guess they are. Well I can either stay here or I can see if they'll let you stay with me if you want?"

I grin. "I'd much rather stay with you."

*******

"Better?"

I look up from my book to see Kaine standing in the doorway. My eyes widen at his sudden change in appearance.

"Much better," I murmur, my gaze wandering down from his flawless face to his bare chest. I bite my lip as a million thoughts start running through my mind.

"Don't be getting any ideas, you need to rest," he growls.

I scowl. "You're no fun," I mumble.

He climbs into the bed beside me with a small chuckle. He kisses me softly but I snake my arms around his neck and pull him closer.

I kiss him harder and tug on his hair. He groans, his fangs scraping against my lip.

I smirk but then he suddenly moves away and pulls my arms from his neck. "Syrra I said no."

I glance down with a small smirk. "Something tells me you didn't really mean that."

He isn't amused though. "I meant it," he says firmly.

I nod, my shoulders slumping a little. "Okay," I murmur.

"Thank you." He presses his lips against my forehead before laying down. I lay down as well and he curls his arm around my waist, pulling me closer so that my back is against his chest.

Exhaustion instantly sweeps over me and I'm suddenly grateful that he said no. My eyes flutter shut and I sink into a fitful sleep.

*******

"I can't beat her! I can't do any attack spells!"

"Neither can she!" He hissed.

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"You don't have to beat her with magic."

I frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Challenge her to a fight for the throne, the same way the dragons do," he said.

"I can't beat her in a fight!" I shrieked. "She's way bigger and has decades more experience than I do!"

"Then use your head! You're smarter and more cunning than she is. You can find a way to beat her."

I took a deep breath. "Right okay," I muttered. I plucked the book out of the air and let it fall open in front of me.

"Which one is that?" He asked.

I glanced up at my dæmon. He was peering curiously at the open text.

"The one my father told me to only use when circumstances were dire—I think this would suffice," I muttered.

"Are these curses?"

I nodded. "Powerful ones."

"Hey you should do that one to me!"

I raised my eyebrow when he started hopping excitedly. "Why?"

"Oh come on! I want to live forever!"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay one, you're already going to live for at least as long as I do which will probably be a few hundred years. And two, this isn't a curse for eternal life it's a curse for eternal youth."

"What's the difference?"

"This makes you stay young forever."

"That sounds even better!"

I sighed in annoyance. "No it makes you stay really young. You'd be a baby forever."

He let his wings fall to the floor. "Oh. Never mind then."

"Yeah that's what I thought," I sighed, turning back to the book. I started to flip to the next page but then I froze. "I could do this to Jada."

"What?"

"This curse. If I use it on Jada then there is no way she would be able to beat me in a fight," I explained.

"What do you need?" Rexall asked.

My gaze flitted over the fancy scrawl. "I have most of this already, and I can get the blade from my parents' store room," I murmured absentmindedly. "Shit," I groaned.

"What?"

"I need a few drops of her blood," I sighed.

"I can get it."

I stared at him. "You're kidding right?"

"If you only need a few drops I can just scratch her and get the blood that way," he offered.

I grit my teeth in frustration. "I don't want you to get hurt but I don't know how else to get it," I mumbled. "Is your armor sharp?"

He lifted his foot and clicked his talons together. The metal covering them was like a razor, sharp enough to slice through bone. "That was a stupid question," he snarked.

"Don't kill her okay? She doesn't deserve that," I warned.

He nodded and disappeared into the shadows of the room.

I was instantly surrounded by silence. I took a deep breath and blinked, making everything turn violet. "Here we go," I whispered.

***

"What did you do?" She growled, shoving through the crowd around me.

"I did what I had to!" I spat, raising my sword. "I am the rightful clan leader!"

"Your father gave his title to me," she seethed. "It never belonged to you!"

"Then I challenge you for it," I sneered.

She laughed. "So that's why you did this to me? So you could beat me in a warrior's challenge?"

I kept my mouth shut, biting my tongue hard when she laughed.

"I have to admit that was clever, but you should have used a stronger curse if you wanted to take my place as clan leader."

She stalked forward towards the sword I left in the center of the clearing. She tried to lift it and stumbled. My lips curled into a smirk when she still couldn't lift it with two hands.

"How unfortunate," I jeered.

She stared at me, her mouth agape. "I don't understand," she mumbled.

"A child of 12 years cannot lift a broadsword, and if I remember correctly you refused to learn with any other weapon, didn't you?"

Her eyes quickly filled with fear as I moved towards her. She stumbled backwards, letting the sword fall to the ground.

"Give up the title Jada, please don't make me kill you," I warned.

She just shook her head and continued walking backwards. But then she stopped. She gasped and her eyes turned completely violet. I felt my heart stop in my chest when I suddenly couldn't move.

Everything around me was still moving but I was trapped. A searing pain tore through my skull and ran down my spine, lighting every single one of my nerves on fire until my throat was burning with a scream I couldn't let out.

Tears ran down my face when it felt like a knife was suddenly shoved into my chest. My breathing was erratic and all I could see was black nothingness.

In a flash it was all gone: the pain, the fire, the knife . . . It was replaced by an icy sensation that slithered through my veins like a snake.

I was alone in the clearing. My cousin was nowhere to be seen and I knew why. I knew exactly what she did to me but I wasn't going to let it stop me.

"Jada of the Kathos bloodline is henceforth exiled!" I shouted angrily, my eyes flaring. "If she sets foot on my territory ever again, she is to be killed on sight."

*******

Hey guys sorry it's been a while since my last update! This chapter hasn't been edited yet so I hope there weren't too many mistakes :)

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