“Like what?” Eris asked.
“That lake over there.” Nolan pointed. “Move it.”
Chapter 24
Knox
Knox opened his eyes and looked at the setting sun. Soon he would be able to move again, then he had to get Eris out of there, far away from Nolan before he did something to her as well. Not that he had given up on breaking his curse. He just wasn’t going to break the curse Nolan’s way. Together with Eris, he hoped, they could find another solution.
As if Nolan had heard his thoughts, he appeared by the bedside. “Have a good sleep, Princeling?” he purred. “I was worried you might get some kind of heroic ideas once you were animated again, thus I’m here to have a little chat with you.”
Knox would like nothing more than to punch the smug look off Nolan’s face, but that would have to wait for a few more minutes, as he was only partially unfrozen.
“It wouldn’t serve either of us very well for you to do something regrettable, like telling her what price she’ll ultimately have to pay. What if she runs away? I told you that bending free will is quite a hard thing to do. Shall we continue where we left off last time?”
Nolan bent down until he was six inches from his face. “If I could take the amulet, I would. But it doesn’t work that way. It’s tied to your life force, your magic. Since that’s the case…”
Nolan unbuttoned the top buttons of Knox’s shirt, revealing the amulet. Hunger rippled across his face. Knox wasn’t sure what Nolan intended to do with the amulet, but he regretted ever crossing paths with Nolan, more so than he could say. Perhaps he deserved this for all the lives he had cursed, but Eris did not.
“This might feel a bit uncomfortable. Then again, I can’t be too sure, since I’ve never done this to a living corpse before.” Nolan extended his finger, touching the skin just above the amulet. Not that Knox could feel it, but he could see Nolan’s finger resting on his chest beyond the tip of his nose.
Nolan closed his eyes and his lips began to move. Knox couldn’t make out what words he was mouthing, but a warmth began to grow in the spot where Nolan’s finger rested. It grew hotter and hotter until Knox felt like he was on fire. If his mouth hadn’t been frozen shut, he would have cried out from the pain of it. Tears leaked down his cheeks.
Nolan’s eyes opened and his mouth stopped moving, and the burning ceased. “There. That should do the trick.” He smiled, looking satisfied, as he sat on the edge of Knox’s bed.
The sun outside had completely disappeared. The light coming in through his windows was the familiar glow of faint silver moonlight. Knox felt the waves of pain wash over him as he slowly began to turn back into the living. When the process was complete, he slowly sat up.
“Now that you’re up, should we try it out?” Nolan asked.
Knox’s muscles were still quivering, but he tried to appear calm. “What did you do to me?”
“Just a little insurance for the both of us.” He winked. “Now, I want you to focus on Eris.”
He had to tell Eris to run away from there, he thought, before a sharp pain ripped through his body. He grabbed his side. What had Nolan done?
Nolan laughed. “Excellent.”
“What did you do?” Knox demanded.
“I told you free will is difficult to bend, not impossible.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Knox said. “I’ll still tell her what you’re plann…” Again, the sharp pain shot through his body. This time he cried out. He thought he’d known pain after changing from human to corpse for years, but this pain was nothing like he had felt before. It was like his entire body was being ripped in two while being on fire.
“Oh, but I don’t think you will. I’ve already told her the secret to saving her sister, or should I say sisters. Besides, think of all those people waiting to go back to the land of the living. How much longer are you going to keep them down there? Remember, when your time is up, so is theirs.”
“What are you talking about? Sisters?” Knox’s stomach dropped. There was another sister? What kind of sick joke was that?
“You’ve already claimed both of Eris’ sisters, though she only remembers one. Really, this is a better trade. One for the price of two. With the added bonus that you’ll get to live out a normal human lifespan. Eris seems the righteous type, so I’m sure she’ll end up somewhere nice. There is no reason to go feeling all guilty, Princeling. Everyone wins.”
Knox shook his head in disbelief, then he remembered the other part of what Nolan had said. “What do you mean ‘when my time is up, so is theirs’?”
“Oh, that. Every person you’ve sent to the in-between is tied to your curse. Should you fail to break it, it will claim their lives as well as yours. Eris is the youngest of three daughters born to the scholar and seamstress. You have sent the other two to my mother, and now the youngest one is here to break the curse as prophesied. When she gives up her life for yours, all the people you’ve sent to the Underworld will be released to live out their lives, no longer stuck in between life and death. Honestly, you’re doing her a favor. But you wanted to get all sentimental about it, so I had to add a little incentive to keep you quiet.”
Knox’s stomach dropped. He had thought for his entire lifetime that, either way, all those people would be free as soon as the curse was over, whether it claimed his life or he finally managed to break it. But if what Nolan had said was true, that meant many people’s lives were counting on him to break the curse. Could he ask her to die for him? To die for them? If one life was a fair price to pay for so many, why couldn’t he be the one to forfeit his life? All of it was because of him, not Eris.
“Who is the other sister?” Knox asked. He’d known Soraya was Eris’ sister, but who was the other?
“Ah, dear Rose. Not that she remembers that sister, but she does indeed have two elder sisters.” Nolan grinned. “And no, I wouldn’t lie about something so trivial.”
“How many?” he croaked. “How many people have I sent to your mother?”
Nolan looked at him with interest. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to tell you. A few hundred, but before you go trying the whole ‘tortured soul’ thing, let’s lay the blame with your parents, okay? They took something they didn’t understand, so really this is all their fault. Although they wouldn’t have been able to get it without my help, so I’ll take half of the blame, to be courteous.”
Anger surged through Knox, awakening his magic. He willed it to rise to the surface, and it obliged, turning the room dark with gray clouds. “What did you just say?”
Nolan stood up, laughing. “As the son of the Underworld and bound by its rules, I can’t steal it from my mother directly nor can I take it from you. I pointed them in the right direction and let them borrow it for twenty years to save their dying son. Now it is my turn to have it. I’m even throwing in your life for free. I’m too generous for my own good sometimes.”
Knox let his magic go. He willed it to wrap itself around Nolan’s throat, and it lifted him off the ground and slammed him into the wall.
Nolan laughed again. “It’s cute when you lose your temper, Princeling, but if you want to hurt me, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. Dark magic was born out of the Underworld.” He curled his finger in a slow spiral. Knox felt his magic uncurl from around Nolan’s neck and Nolan floated back to the ground, unharmed. “You could never hurt me, so let’s not try this again, hmm? There is a limit to my patience.” He winked at Knox before disappearing with a pop.