“I need you to accept this wand, Marek.”

Marek felt his eyes widen as Claire held up a Dominion Wand. It was long and thin and perfectly smooth, like all Dominion Wands were. Perhaps thinner than his older wand, but it was too close to tell. Like all Dominion Wands, it was perfectly white, and even though he had kept and used one for years, it still took his breath away. Perfection.

Marek raised his hand to take it and then lowered it. “Why?” he asked. “Why offer me this gift?”

“Because you are the only one that can free us from this curse,” Claire said. She moved to Marek and placed the wand in his limp hand. Marek’s fingers curled around it. “I need you to use this wand to do good, Marek. We’ve been under this curse for over fifty years, and it’ll be many more until a Mage of your caliber comes here again.”

“What would you have me do?” Marek asked. His eyes still hadn’t left her face. He didn’t want to. She was beautiful and built for sin, and even if he were to be damned, he wanted a taste. No, Marek thought. I need her.

Claire smiled and stepped closer until their bodies were almost touching. “You have been through so much, Marek,” Claire said. She ran a slim finger down the side of his face and then cupped his chin with her hand. “You are formidable.”

“I only did what had to be done,” Marek mumbled. He felt like he was falling. His chest was heavy, and his legs felt weak. “I did what I had to.”

“And that is why you are so deserving of this wand,” Claire whispered. Marek blinked. When had she come so close? She was pressed up against him. He put an arm around her and drew her closer to him.

“Yes,” Claire purred. “Take what is yours, Marek. It is your right.”

“I plan to,” Marek said. His ears were pounding. He felt dizzy. All he could see were her lips. He went to kiss her, but she drew back with a snarl. Marek shook his head and blinked his eyes. Some of the heaviness was gone, but enough was still there that he wanted nothing more than to take her there and then. She smiled, and Marek smiled back uneasily.

“Free us, Marek,” Claire breathed. She turned away as Ako burst into the room, breathing heavily like she had been running for some time. Marek went to try and ask a question, but no sound came out of his lips.

“Get. Off. Him,” Ako panted, before she lunged forward. Marek could only watch, baffled, as the beautiful woman he had been holding vanished.

No, Marek mentally growled. He raised his wand at Ako. I’ll kill her for taking Claire from me. He had never felt so angry before. All it would take is a sweep of his wand, and she would be without a head. It would be so easy. So simple. Like a weed torn out from the roots. It needed to be done. Should be done.

A bead of sweat rolled down Marek’s head. It went into his eye, but he stared at Ako unblinkingly.

Do it, a voice whispered. It sounded like Claire’s, but it was full of hatred instead of the softness that had made him fall in love with her. Kill her.

Ako looked away, distracted as Kulok soldiers appeared in the doorway. Their swords and pikes were raised as if they were expecting a fight. They crowded the doorway and tried to shove through all at once, a sight so unexpectedly humorous that Marek snapped out of whatever trance he had been in.

Marek lowered his wand, ashamed. The anger left as quickly as it had come, and he felt oddly defenseless as Ako turned back to him.

“Marek,” Ako began tentatively, like Marek was a wild animal that was about to lash out at her. “What happened? Who was that woman?”

“Her name is Claire,” Marek said. He held up his wand, and everything stopped. Ako and the soldiers all stopped to look at it in awe. “She gave me this wand. It should be more than enough to claim the Dominion Wood staff and get us out of here.”

“You have your three days,” Ako said. At Marek’s questioning look, she swallowed and spoke again. “I spoke to Yarran, and he won’t attack us for another three days. He says that if we leave before then he will let us go, unimpeded.”

Marek felt something hot and heavy rise in his gut. “No,” Marek said angrily, and when Ako recoiled, Marek forced himself to speak more calmly. “No,” Marek repeated, keeping his voice soft. “I don’t believe it, Ako. This is a man who chased us across the Huzha Desert and forced us to hide in a place that he didn’t want us to go in? He is either a fool or he does an excellent job at pretending to be one.”

At this, Ako laughed. Marek raised an eyebrow at this, but she waved him down, still laughing. “I called him a fool as well,” she said, sobering. “He didn’t like it.”

“Men like him have egos,” Marek said. He looked at the men in the doorway. “Men, you can go back upstairs. Thank you for coming so swiftly.”

One of the men who looked little more than a boy pushed through the group. He looked Marek up and down and thrust out his chin. Khavod, Marek thought as the youth took a deep breath. He was the one that Wyatt spoke to.

“What happened here, sir?” Khavod asked. His voice was high-pitched and almost whiny. “Why did Ako ask us to come here?”

Marek stamped down a wave of irritation at Khavod’s question. It was difficult keeping his expression even, strangely so. Some of that must’ve leaked through because Khavod all but cowered back, terrified and holding his hands in front of his face.

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“It’s fine, Khavod,” Marek said soothingly. “You and anyone else can ask me questions.” He looked around and locked eyes with Khavod, Ako, and the rest of the Kulok. “You were asked to be down here because it is dangerous to stay in this room.”

“The staff,” Khavod said, his eyes flicking to the staff. They stayed there as he stared at it. “You want the staff.”

“I don’t trust Yarran,” Marek said. He waited for an outburst or for someone to say that they had to leave now while they could. Instead, the room remained dead silent. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as they waited for Marek to continue speaking.

“This staff,” Marek continued, thrusting a thumb back at the staff, “is our salvation. I don’t know who or what exactly is here with us in this castle, but with this wand, I can power through the protections and get us out of here. If Yarran attacks us while I hold the staff, he will regret it.”

“What about your wand?”

Marek shook his head and held up his wand. “It wouldn’t be enough,” Marek said. “Before, I fought him on the open battlefield. In the forest, I will need more power. I will be reacting on instinct, which uses more of the wand’s Essence. We might be able to do it, but I refuse to leave our lives to chance. I have a chance to claim the first Dominion Wood staff that Diev has seen in centuries, and I mean to take it.”

“As you wish, Marek,” Khavod said. “Do you need us for anything else?”

“No,” Ako said over her shoulder. She was still looking at Marek with a glint in her eye. “Thank you all for your swift actions. Return to the Main Hall and wait for Wyatt and Anton if they already have not returned.”

The Kulok trooped out after that, leaving Marek and Ako alone in the room once more.

“I do not want to leave you alone in this room again,” Ako said. “What if that woman comes back?”

Marek winced as his head flared again, as if the mere mention of Claire was enough to cause him to lose his sanity. “I don’t know,” Marek said. “She gave me the wand, which is priceless, but she also tried to seduce me.”

“Tried?” Ako asked, her voice thick with sarcasm. There were tears in her eyes, and all Marek wanted to do was wipe them away. “She did not try, Marek. She seduced you, and you let her. What if she’s listening right now, Marek? What if, the moment that I walk away, she returns and tries to do…” Ako waved a hand, tears running down her face. “I don’t know, Marek! Whatever she did to you before! You looked like you wanted to kill me!”

“I did,” Marek said, his voice soft. “I wanted to you kill you, I heard a voice in my head, Ako, and the voice told me to kill you. I would’ve tried if not for the fact that the soldiers tried to fit through the doorway. They made me laugh.”

Ako chuckled, but it was a weak and wet thing. “I don’t know if I can trust you to work here alone, Marek. Even if I were here, what is stopping Claire from coming and ordering you to do whatever she desires?”

“I know what she wants now,” Marek said. He knew his voice sounded hollow, but he didn’t know what else to say. “I can resist, Ako. I will for you and everyone else. I must. I don’t trust Yarran as far as I can throw him, and you don’t trust him either. He hasn’t given us any reason to trust him.”

“He has not attacked us yet,” Ako pointed out.

“Because he’s terrified of this place,” Marek said. “I understand you don’t want me alone in here, Ako. You can stay as I work, but don’t distract me, please. Claire won’t matter if I blow both of us up.”

Ako didn’t reply, looking past him and at the staff. Marek watched her. She looked scared. Her shoulders were shaking, and her eyes were filled with unshed tears. For the first time in a long time, Ako looked like someone who needed protecting, not the other way around.

“Ako.”

Ako’s eyes shot to Marek’s. He took her hands in his own. They were cold. “I won’t fall,” Marek said. “I won’t. Please, I need you to believe me. I need you to help me like you always have.”

“What can I do, Marek?” Ako asked. “What can I do against the dead and magic?”

“Be there for me,” Marek said. “Be strong. Be yourself. I can survive without Wyatt and the others. Without you, I will be lost.”

Ako’s eyes were shining. “OK,” she said tenderly. She took her hands out of Marek’s. “You should get to work then.”

Marek laughed. “I should,” he said. He turned to the staff and raised his wand. In the corner of his eye, Ako sat down in the corner.

“Here we go,” Marek said and began his work.