Chapter 31 · The Blood Clause

"Don't." Valen's sword stopped an inch from my wrist. I hadn't even heard him draw it.

I looked from the blade to the knife in my hand. Beyond the cell door, my aunt pressed her ruined face between the bars, half her mouth missing, the other half curled into a smile.

"Three days," I said. "My mother has three days."

"Your mother's already dying." Valen's voice stayed flat. "You just don't know why."

Behind him, Sera stood beside the second cell, shaking so hard her teeth clicked. She'd stopped talking minutes ago. Now she kept staring at the darkness inside the cell, as if it might stare back.

"He's lying, sweetheart," my aunt said. Her voice was soft and thin. "I'm still me. Just sick. You wouldn't leave your own blood down here, would you?"

Valen stepped between me and the door. "That curse has been eating you for twenty years."

"It hasn't eaten my mind."

"Not yet."

I tightened my grip on the knife. "She knows my mother's name. She knows what happened to my father."

"Curses know things." His eyes stayed on mine. "They take memories first. Then they use them to sound like someone you love.