by Summa, S. E.
“Ahem, so Khatereh and I believe together we may have found a way to access what Maximilian denied you in your reanimation. Whatever remains of your spirit should still lie beyond the veil,” Marceau said.
Lynette’s hands flew to her torso. She pushed against her sternum and her stomach as if pressing against a void deep within. Above all else, Marceau knew she longed to feel whole, to be free of Max.
He continued, “For longer than I’ve been alive, you’ve been his unwilling companion. My earliest memories are of you and Maximilian. You were not always kind, but you did often take up for me when it counted.”
Marceau hoped she desired her own release badly enough to unbind the curse. Everything… his future, and Seraphina’s life… hinged on how desperate Lynette was to have her soul rejoined. If she agreed, could they even pull the rest of it off? That was the real question.
One step at a time. Breathe. Convince her.
Lynette asked, “And you would want what exactly? Why would you risk piercing the veil to help me regain my soul? As you said, I’ve been his companion a long time. You know Death’s punishment for this betrayal would be severe, if you even survived it, Marceau.”
This was it.
Marceau had refused to tell her over the phone. He’d demanded she sneak away and come here in person for this moment. He made sure his expression was calm, confident. “I want you to release the hex you wove all those years ago, to unravel it completely. Leave no traces bound to Finn or Seraphina, or anyone else.” Marceau figured it was safer not to say how the curse had affected him until she had agreed. He didn’t want her to discover an upper hand.
“Seraphina?” Lynette spat out the name as if it were poison. “She’s dead. Long gone and forgotten. He’s clearly moved on by now”—she gestured to Finn and Khat—“so why bring her name into this?”
“Only partially true, Lynette. She is dead…” Finn stopped and an unfiltered hate overtook his expression.
Lynette’s smile beamed.
Marceau chimed in quickly, “But she died only yesterday. We want you to release her curse.”
“Yesterday? She’s an old, shriveled woman then? She died a lonely old hag?” Lynette giggled.
Khat’s hand shot out lightning quick to squeeze Finn’s knee and keep him in his seat. “Let’s just have Marceau do all the talking right now, Finn,” Khat whispered between clenched teeth when Finn started to respond. Her leg was bobbing so quickly, Marceau’s eyes could not even track of her movement.
Marceau started again. “Seraphina has not aged. She is as you would remember her. Your hex affected her life in ways you didn’t intend. To quickly catch you up to speed, she was dead for fifty years and beyond the veil. Finn brought her back to this realm through his bargain with Max. Now, once more your hex has taken her life. We are in love and it was touching me that activated her curse again yesterday.”
“So, why barter for me to release the stupid curse then? To reanimate her like me you need Maximilian and his nasty little pet.”
Marceau argued, “No, actually we need the remaining piece of your soul to help guide her back. Her magic is… unusual. She’ll be able to pierce the veil and cross over.”
“And how would I possibly find her?”
Marceau waved his arm at Finn and said, “You’re both bound to the hex. You were a powerful curseweaver. Surely you see how it is being drawn to you. Just look.”
It was true. The tendrils of Finn’s hex flared with bright silver pulses of light. His threads reached for her as if desperate for her contact. Marceau took off his jacket, revealing his own arms. The hex in his skin flashed with bright blue power from her closeness, reaching out to her.
Lynette stared at Finn and then studied Marceau, but showed no reaction at all. Something was off.
Marceau frowned. “We believe Seraphina’s curse will draw her to you, even within the veil.”
“It cannot be done. You have endangered both of our lives by drawing me here.” Lynette tried to get back on her feet though her short attire didn’t help her efforts. “I will tell Death you forced me to come. I’ll claim you coerced, or cursed me. I was confused.”
Khat finally snapped. Her leg stopped shaking and she stomped down her foot. “Shut up and agree to break the curse. You had your revenge, not that Seraphina ever deserved your scorn to begin with. She was dead. For fifty damned years. She’s never known love because of you. Finn became a Sin Eater for goodness sakes. You’ve done enough damage over your petty jealousy. Grow the hell up and let it go.”
Lynette stopped and sat back down. “There is something you all do not understand.”
“Enlighten us,” Marceau responded, “please, Lynette. I know how Max has toyed with you, has hurt you, all these years. Please don’t become like him. You have a choice here. You can choose to right a wrong. And you will only gain from your kindness. How can you walk away from your own chance at freedom just to punish another? Such cruelty is expected from Death, but not from you.”
Lynette turned to him, “Marceau, I know what you must think of me, of my past. I was so young and had so much power. I thought I could control… I didn’t really understand…”
Marceau didn’t want to feel sympathy for Lynette. She had caused Seraphina and Finn unmeasurable pain. But he knew she had also suffered from Max’s games and affections. He saw firsthand how naive she was when she wove the hex, just a young, love-scorned woman. “There’s no need to explain, Lynette. I experienced a full corporeal Curse Regression. I watched as you wove the hex. It was clear you didn’t know the price you’d pay both by dying and then your servitude to Max all these years.” He paused and blinked at her. “I believe had you understood the full consequences, you would have chosen not to hurt the woman I love.”
Lynette raised a brow in an unconvincing way. Maybe she wouldn’t have left Seraphina alone, after all, just hurt her differently. She said, “A Curse Regression? You went back, physically as you have theorized was possible?”
“Yes, I realize it’s rather hard to believe.”
“Not hard at all, actually. I always wondered if truly it was you who tried to keep me from finishing the curse. If the hex hadn’t grown so powerful, you would have stopped it. I thought I’d hallucinated you, all those years I was alone with Maximilian until he brought home a raven haired little boy with those same deep, blue eyes…”
“How can you possibly remember?” Marceau stopped. It was like a time loop of some sort. This would take significant thought. How had his presence in the past affected the present? The ramifications could be…
“… the same shade of blue as my own.”
That got his attention. He said, “During that night, you said your name was Mirela L’Argent Dufrene. You’re an L’Argent and all these years it never occurred to you to tell me? What exactly is our connection?”
“I was forbidden from discussing it with you. It didn’t serve Death’s little games for you to know, but since we seem to be throwing out all the rules, why not?” She raised her chin. “I believe you’re descended from my older sister, Liv. All of our family disappeared from Savannah not long after my death, but Liv was with child when I died. You favor her. She had your same dark hair and… something in your expressions, in the shape of your mouth. She would be your grandmother? Or great-grandmother, I suppose?”
Great Aunt Lynette? would certainly take some getting used to.
Lynette said, “The L’Argents have always been curseweavers. Liv and I were taught to weave small hexes even when we first learned to speak and walk. Which brings us to our next problem.”
“And what is that?” Marceau thought there were more than enough problems already.
“I lost my ability to weave even simple hexes the night I died. I have no power. I’ve never tried to unravel one, but I have tried hundreds of times to weave and have failed each time. So, how would I unravel the hex?”
Marceau asked, “Do you see them still? Can you see the hex radiati
ng toward you? Finn is lit up like a Christmas tree.”
Lynette turned her head back to stare at Finn. Marceau held his breath, willing her to see something, anything. “I see nothing, but a paler version of the boy who broke my heart.”
She didn’t see the hex on Marceau either then, and there was no reason to reveal that part yet. If her power were gone, their plan would never work.
Unless.
“Wait, okay you said you lost your power upon your death, correct?”
She nodded.
Marceau rubbed his chin, soft stubble grating against his fingers. Then he put it together and said, “I have a theory. If we can reunite your spirit, make your soul complete once more, you may regain your ability to work with curses.”
Lynette’s left hand jumped from her lap. She looked down and began wringing her hands in an attempt to hide her body’s unusual response to excitement.
“But we won’t know unless we successfully bring the missing part of you and Seraphina through the veil,” Marceau added.
Lynette’s eyes danced at the idea, but she spoke carefully, “It’s just a theory, Marceau. You would all risk your lives and draw open the veil? For a theory?”
Khat scooted to the edge of her seat. “To bring Seraphina back? Yes, in a heartbeat. What do you really have to lose here anyway? You’re already dead. You’ve lost your power. Plus, you’ve already come up with a way to blame all of this on Marceau to cover your own ass.”
Lynette glared at Khat.
“Just try, Lynette. Try your best to help us.” Khat stood. “Do that and I promise you I’ll get the veil open. I will release you, or burn through every ounce of my power trying. Deal, bitch?”
Marceau’s mouth matched Finn’s, gaping wide open.
Lynette’s head tilted to the side as she sized up Khat. A slow smile spread across her face. “There’s more to you than meets the eye, isn’t there little djinn? Under other circumstances, we might have even been friends… or scratched each other’s eyes out.” Lynette shrugged. “Deal, bitch.”
Khat’s face twisted into an evil smile of her own.
“Okay, so when do we do this?” Finn asked.
Marceau answered, “Tonight. Now. We have no time to waste. Death is already planning to come. If he realizes Lynette is here? He could arrive at any moment.”
Khat said, “I’ll go set up Sera’s room. Finn, I need you to get me a large bowl of salt. Some of the incense she likes to burn would be great too since the spell in the book used incense and maybe a familiar scent will help draw her back. Besides, when she opened the veil, the air smelled gross.”
Marceau asked Lynette, “Is there anything you’ll require to break the curse?”
Lynette shook her head and sat back. “Oh, this will never work. I hadn’t even thought about it. I’d have to have the objects I had that night. A cameo and…”
Finn stood and tossed his keys on the coffee table in front of her. They scraped across the wood as they skidded toward her. He turned and headed downstairs.
Marceau pulled the velvet bag from his pocket and poured the long chain and the cameo into his palm. He laid it gently on the table beside the tarnished keychain. “Anything else?”
Lynette stared at the objects… lost in memory.
“Lynette, do you need anything else?”
She jumped, “No, assuming the djinn can really free my soul. And supposing I can then access my curseweaving power after all these years. If so, releasing the curse should be relatively easy. Especially with the two of them together and touching the objects I used to hex them.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Marceau held out his hand to help her up.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Marceau stood in the doorway of Seraphina’s room. Someone had pulled Seraphina’s large four poster bed away from the wall and into the center of the room, and with her lying on it too. Marceau’s eyebrows arched, and he looked at the tiny girl beside him.
“Oh, Khat’s wicked strong,” Finn teased and then dropped his smile. He looked down at Seraphina.
“We’ll get her back, Finn. All of this coming together the way it has? It has to mean something, right?” Marceau meant it, too.
Finn nodded.
Khat was all business. Khat and Lynette sat at the head of the bed above Seraphina’s pillow, one on each side. Lynette’s hands were folded in her lap. She appeared younger, and more fragile without her smug expression. Perhaps sitting next to Seraphina’s lifeless body had an effect on Lynette, after all.
Khat laid her hands in a large wooden bowl of salt and rubbed them together. “Okay, light the incense, please. I’ll let you know when I access her power. Lynette, that’s when I’ll need you to put both of your hands on Sera too. I’ll need to feel your energy to help locate you on the other side of the veil. Between the energy on the cameo and from your hands, I’ll find you. But do not remove your hands until I say.”
Finn and Marceau approached opposite sides of the bed and lit the incense burners. Thin trails of cloying smoke rose and wound their way upward to the ceiling.
If Khat was able to find Lynette’s spirit, they were relying on the magnetism of the curse and their ability to call on her to guide Seraphina’s spirit back to her body.
“Here goes.” Khat raised her hands over Seraphina.
“Wait,” Finn said in a shaky voice, “I-I love you, Khat. I wanted you to know that before you do this. I’ve loved you for a long time.”
“And I’ve known a long time, but really? Now, you finally have the guts to say it? About time.” Khat’s smile beamed. “I love you, too.”
Lynette rolled her eyes. Marceau stifled a laugh. Khat really was something.
“Now, let’s do this. It’s time to bring her back.” Khat laid her hands on either side of Seraphina’s temples and closed her eyes in concentration.
The room went still. Marceau was afraid to even breathe too loud for fear of disrupting Khat. Her brows were pulled together and every so often she tilted her head as if listening to something.
“Got it.” Khat cried out. Marceau and Finn both jumped. “Get in there, Lynette.”
Lynette leaned forward. She hesitated before touching Seraphina, but then placed one hand on her shoulder and the other on her arm.
Khat sat frozen for several minutes biting her lip. She reached forward and touched the cameo Marceau had placed around Seraphina’s neck. They figured Lynette’s spirit should have a tie to the cameo since she died with it in her hand.
A cold, stale breeze blew through the bedroom, dispersing the smoke from the incense and blowing the curtains. The veil had arrived.
Lynette tilted her head and stared at something by the foot of the bed. “The veil is right there. I wouldn’t believe it if I couldn’t see it for myself. She really called it forth.”
Marceau saw nothing, but he’d always suspected Lynette witnessed things usually unseen through her white eye.
Khat said, “I call upon what remains of Mirela L’Argent Dufrene beyond the veil. I call you forward. Your soul should not have been fractured, and your body awaits your return. I offer you safe passage back into the realm of the living.”
Khat’s voice had an unearthly, echoing quality as if her words rang out not only here, but within the veil itself.
“Mirela Dufrene, I call you forward,” she demanded louder. “Follow my voice and show yourself.”
The breeze turned colder and lifted Marceau’s dark hair from his forehead. He looked up and saw Finn’s hair was swirling in the wind too.
The instant the spirit approached the veil, every hair on the back of Marceau’s neck stood. The breeze turned ice cold and he recognized the scent of Mirela’s perfume from the night of the curse. Lavender and sage.
When the aroma grew stronger, a faint light hovered at the end of the bed. Lynette gasped and started to lean into the light.
“Move your hands off Sera, and I will trap it there forever,” Khat hissed between cl
enched teeth.
Lynette froze and glared at Khat, who smiled in a deadly calm with her hands cupping Seraphina’s face.
“Seraphina Pearce,” Khat’s voice broke. She tried again, “Seraphina, please follow the pull to Mirela’s spirit. Let it lead you back to us.”
“Lyn…”
Finn snapped, “Shut it, Lynette. Seraphina doesn’t know you by name. You can be bitchy about what she calls you… after she’s back.”
Lynette closed her mouth and stared at the light growing near the end of the bed.
“Seraphina, please come forward. We’re all here. Finn, Marceau, and me, Khatereh. We need you back.”
Several long minutes passed, and Marceau thought the suspense might break his sanity. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and whispered, “Anything?”
Khat shook her head. “I feel no trace of her at all. It’s as though she cannot hear me. Or maybe she cannot find us?”
“Or maybe someone is stopping her,” Finn added. “What if the Mistress of Death is holding Seraphina? Punishing her for not letting the Mistress out?”
Marceau hadn’t even thought of that. What if the Mistress was hurting Seraphina? “No. I refuse to believe she is beyond our reach, not after so many factors coming together like this.” If only he could go inside the veil to find her, Marceau looked down at his hands. If only he could reach in and pull her out himself.
Wait. What if he could?
Marceau’s head snapped up. “Lynette’s remaining spirit may not be strong enough to attract her, but the curse knows her well, doesn’t it? Our hexes have reached for her every time she was near in this realm. So why not within the veil too?”
Finn asked, “That makes sense, but what do we do then?”
“Hold your hands over her.” Marceau stepped forward and held his arms a few feet above Seraphina’s body. Finn mirrored him. They watched, gazes intense, searching for any sign of the hex raising from their skin.