Chapter Twenty Four

Dimitrius’s Pov

In my life, I thought I knew fear.

It had been a constant companion in my early years, but staring at Julian’s crumpled form, the flush already making way across her brow, I gained a new definition of the word fear.

Terror closed my throat, a fist gripping tight around my lungs and heart as I lunged my love’s side, searching desperately for the rhythmic rise and fall of life.

Throughout our relationship, the thought of her falling never came. She hardly left my side and I would not allow something to harm her. That was what I had thought, until now.

Cradling her to my chest, red cascading over her cheeks from the spell thrown over her, the truth hit. I could not lose her. This woman had curled into my life, my heart and my bed–all places no other had successfully planted themselves–if she were to pass, life would be hollow, devoid of color…

It would rend me asunder to lose her now.

The desperation that had led her to convincing me to feed all those weeks ago gripped me tight, refusing to let go as I shook her. “Julian, you must open your eyes! I do not know how to fix this with you!”

Not without knowing just what had been done. We had made impressive strides in my education into the magical world, but this was beyond me. I knew not what spell had been cast, or its counter.

Hopelessness seeped like ice through my veins as Julian went slack, only the rise of her chest keeping the panic at bay. Then, from the corner of my gaze, I saw her.

The mage.

Still in the form of a child, she smirked confidently, the blood in my veins boiling at the sight. She had hurt Julian–my Julian–and had the audacity to smile as if she were safe?

A long sleeping wrath awoke in my chest, the beast sucking in air through dusty lungs as I bore down on the mage who had the sense to look uneasy now. Glaring with every ounce of the hate I possessed, I snarled.

“What did you do to her?”

The mage swallowed, face paling to paper white as she cleared her throat. “I cast Taint.” She glanced at Julian before grimacing. “Well, half of it.”

I did not like the sound of that.

Dread writhed in my chest like a snake, thrashing and knocking into everything around it. Clasping Julian tighter to me, I advanced on the mage who immediately began backing away, hands thrown up in fright.

“You can’t kill me, you’ll need the information I have!” She bleated, the wide eyes of a child not inspiring pity how she most likely hoped.

She hurt Julian, there was no form she could take that would protect her from my wrath.

Fisting a hand into her clothes, I hefted her up to my face and hissed. “Killing you is not in the plan, but you will be coming with me. Pick a god to pray to, for if she does not wake from this I will spend every minute of my waking life tearing you apart piece by piece until I am ready to join her past the veil.”

The mage swallowed again, but before she could open her mouth to plea for a mercy I would not give, one of the children behind me inched forward. Her eyes stayed locked to the ground, shame and fear swirling around her like a physical miasma as she hastily glanced in my direction.

“I’m sorry, they told us if we warned you they’d hurt us.”

Tears trailed down her cheeks even as she braced for what she must think was a beating. Usually, I would comfort her–assure her that I not anyone else would lay a finger on her–but now was not such a time.

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The person my existence was now melded with fought for every breath against my chest, I could focus on nothing else. Instead of responding to the apology, I gestured to the exit roughly.

“We must leave, now. Once we are safely within my home’s walls, your parents will be called to retrieve you.”

Not bothering to hear her response, I hauled the disguised mage out the door, not loosening my hold on her or Julian. The second we left the house, my staff rushed toward us, Scott pausing to take in the odd sight we made.

I breezed past him, ignoring the confused and wary glance he threw the mage clasped in my fist. Marching to the nearest car, I opened the trunk, slammed a firm fist into the mage’s head, and dropped her into it.

Slamming the lid shut, I faced the eyes of my staff, all watching with confusion. I should not waste time, not when the amount I had to work with was unknown, but this much had to be explained.

“That is a mage spelled to look like a child, this entire setup was a trap as the other children will tell you. Cancel our flight, I must go home and tend to Julian.”

With any luck there would be something in the many books we had amassed that would prove useful.

Moving to the backseat of the car I threw the mage into, I gestured for Scott to drive as I settled Julian across the seat, her head in my lap. Scott said nothing and asked no questions, hitting the gas. Now on the way home, I turned my focus to the body partially in my lap.

None of the spells we discussed had these effects, but one of her books had to have the answer. We could not have come this far only for this to be what separated us.

Shifting a hand through her hair, noting the sticky sweat near her scalp, I bent to whisper, hoping she could hear. “Be strong, my darling. I will fix this, but you must give me time.”

It could have been my imagination, but she seemed to relax. Though whether she understood or was merely comforted by the sound of my voice, I was uncertain.

It mattered none, if it put her at ease to hear me speak, then speak I shall.

“When you recover you will have to tell me what this spell is. It seems dreadful. If my guess is accurate, this was cast by an Exitium mage. If I am honest, your dislike of them is beginning to rub off…”

***

The hours passed in agonizing slowness as we inched our way back home. Hardly fifteen minutes after we left, Julian began to writhe as if in the throes of agony. The only thing stopping her from struggling free was the secure grip I held around her.

Quiet whimpers and moans of pain twisted my heart, wrenching a burning knife through it as I curled her closer, spoke just a tad louder in hopes of reaching wherever she was. By the time we pulled into the drive of my home, I was coming undone at the seams.

Vaulting out of the car before it completely stopped, I barked over my shoulder. “See to it that the mage is taken directly to the basement. If anyone removes that gem from her chest I will exact the same punishment on them as the mage herself will get.”

Scott bowed smartly, moving to do as told without further ado.

Blurring down the halls at breakneck speeds, I skid to a stop outside of Julian’s room. All books on magic were kept in here when not in use, for the sake of ease. Shouldering the door open, I moved to the bed and gently set her down.

When I moved to pull away, a hand twisted in my shirt, stopping me. One hazy lavender eye opened, blurry with sickness as she tried futilely to tug me to the bed.

“Don’ go…”

Her voice was hardly a whisper, strained and tired in a way I had never heard before as raw pleading dragged the knife deeper in my heart. Bending to kiss her head, I soothed.

“I shall be right here, trust that you will not be alone while you are weakened.”

With the flush of fever still high on her cheeks, I doubt she could understand. Putting aside the clawing fear trying to choke me, I untangled her fingers and moved for the bookshelf. Little else was in her room despite the many times I told her she could decorate.

A pang of affection quickly followed by fear lanced through me, before I focused on the present.

Glancing over the titles, I took any that sounded potentially useful before returning to her side. Julian cracked an eye open, the vermillion flush staining her cheeks having crawled to her throat in the time it had taken us to arrive.

Running a hand through her hair again, the motion pulling a soft sigh from her, I put the books on the nightstand and moved for the door, ignoring her quiet noise of protest. Opening it, I caught one of the passing staff members.

“Deliver a thermometer, wet washcloth, ice pack, bottles of water, and some light soup.” Not waiting for confirmation, I closed the door and against the headboard next to Julian, my back flush with it. A flash of relief curled through her as she tried to inch further against my leg.

Stroking a hand against her cheek, I soothed. “I promised I will be going nowhere and I meant it. Now then, can you tell me what spell was cast on you or how to break it?”

Her brow creased in confusion, the fever too heavy of a blanket for her to shrug off and I bit back a sigh.

“Never mind, I suppose that would have been too easy.”

She hummed quietly before trying to drag her head upward onto my thigh. It fell after a minute, exhaustion clear in each failed attempt as the pitiful sight tugged on my heart. This was not like Julian, my strong and ferocious Julian. But I would fix this.

Gently maneuvering her head onto my thigh, her quiet sigh of pleasure wiping away some of the knotting tension in my chest, I reached for the stack of books to my right.

Time was short, but with any luck I would find a way to break–or at least hold level–her curse. I doubted it would break as any regular fever would, but I had nothing to lose and everything to gain from trying.