Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
Maven’s voice barely cuts through the encroaching madness, and when I look at her through the smoke and snow, the ringing in my ears softens ever so slightly. For a moment, I’m desperate to make out what she’s shouting at me to do. She’s motioning toward Everett, then toward Baelfire, and then?—
An elemental hireling tackles her and bursts into flames.
My keeper’s agonized scream pierces through everything in my head, shattering through my curse. My world is nothing but sharp, cold hysteria as I race toward her, throwing out spells to kill the elemental and extinguish the raging fire. Somewhere in the background, I can hear Baelfire roaring as a dragon again, and I know the fight is raging on, even if Crypt and Everett are still down. I have no idea whether we’re winning or losing right now.
But I don’t care. Because when my magic douses the fire, and I drop to my knees beside Maven, she’s burnt almost beyond recognition.
She’s not breathing.
She’s…going to die.
And if she dies this way, I’m going to lose her for good.
Without thinking, I begin chanting a healing incantation, drawing from the blood on my shoulder where the Undead bit me earlier. Red light glows around me, but nothing happens to Maven’s motionless, smoking body.
Let her go, a voice in my head whispers.
You’re useless to her anyway, my father’s voice whispers.
She’s dying, and your blood magic can’t heal her. Useless boy.
My hands tremble, and I can’t breathe as I crouch over her, my tears splashing and sizzling against her charred skin. For once, the voices are right. If my magic can’t save her…then what is the point of it? Was I always meant to fail my keeper this way?
No. I refuse to lose her. If my blood magic can’t help Maven, then it needs to change.
I need to change.
My heart thunders as my entire world narrows in on this moment. In the Garnet Wizard’s library, there were many books forbidden to the rest of the world. But under his tutelage, no magical knowledge was off-limits to me. He was proud of my unparalleled gift for remembering countless spells, charms, hexes, incantations…
And amid those ancient tomes, I found spell books written in the language of the Nether, outlining the path to wielding death magic—the initiation, the sacrifice, the price.
I memorized those spells, too.
Which is why, when the blood magic fades around my fingertips, I squeeze my eyes shut and begin uttering the forbidden words. They taste acrid on my tongue, and a cold, greedy, malicious energy sweeps through me. It clings onto my existing magic, twisting it and reshaping everything I’ve ever learned. Everything I’ve ever been.
It feels as if I’m being consumed alive.
But this time, when I chant the words of a healing ritual, dark magic surges through the air and wraps around Maven. It seeps into her body, and her skin begins to heal. Her chest rises and falls with new breath.
She’ll survive. Thank the fucking gods.
But the moment I finish uttering the powerful words, I collapse beside her. The world blurs around me as the voices in my head whisper nothing but truths for once.
You’ve lost it.
Only a fraction of those who attempt to take up dark magic survive the transition.
Was she really worth losing yourself, you useless boy?
“Yes,” I whisper, closing my eyes and letting the madness have me.
If I survive this, I’ll be a necromancer.
If I die, I die saving my blood blossom.
Either way, I regret nothing.
MAVEN
It’s a shame I didn’t kill Hearst. If I had, I would have already known the incomparable surge of power that comes from killing off a member of the Immortal Quintet.
That heady buzz is humming in my veins, so rich and promising in its destructive capabilities that it almost lulls me to sleep. I’m groggy, and for some reason, I feel like I should be in a shit ton of pain.
But I’m not.
Why am I not?
My skin is tingling, not in a pleasant way, but it’s not bad either. Weird. This is the same sensation I used to experience whenever Amadeus would have his necromancers patch me up instead of simply letting me expire and come back. Did I somehow manage to heal myself after Somnus hurt me?
No, wait. Somnus didn’t hurt me.
It was fire.
Oh, fuck. Am I truly dead this time? Did I fail Lillian and the humans in the Nether?
But no. Even if I’m struggling to open my eyes, the air is still thick with smoke and the titillating scent of battle. Someone shouts nearby, and I hear a dragon growling—
my dragon. Is he okay? Are any of them hurt?
Warm hands brush against my face, and someone lets out a breath of relief. Soft lips brush against my forehead.
“Thank the gods. I can sense you’re awake, love. Open those beautiful eyes for me.”
I do, and then I squint. “You’re covered in blood.”
“Most of us are. But not to worry, you look good as new,” Crypt smiles, but it’s weak. He looks exhausted.
Despite how tired he sounds, I realize he’s scooped me up off the ground, and we’re leaving the maze. My eyes flutter as I try to keep up with our surroundings. Why the fuck am I so out of it? How did I survive that fire? It hurt like hell, and then everything went black. I thought I was finally slipping away for good, but now…
I focus on Crypt again. “What do you mean, good as new?”
“Silas was finally useful. I’ll have to thank him, for once.”
Crypt…thanking Silas? It’s like I woke up in an alternate universe. What happened?
I stare at the beautiful swirling markings on Crypt’s neck. “I killed your father.”
“I know, darling. I left his corpse in Limbo for the wisps.”
Oh. Then I frown, noticing how silent it’s become. We’re out of the maze now, and the incubus’s boots crunch across the dead grass and snow of the training fields outside of Everbound Forest. Something gleams in the sky overhead, and I hear Baelfire’s roar distantly.
“Is First Placement over?”
He hums. “Let’s assume so. Many other legacies are still trying to get out, but I suspect the Immortal Quintet is long gone, along with all the wards. That’s how we got out so quickly—I was able to fly up and finally see the way out. I know too well how the Immortal Quintet works. If Engela left the fight and told the other two about you winning against Somnus, they’ll be trying to get as far away from you as possible.”
Damn. Hunting down moving targets will be a pain in the ass.
But the more important thing to worry about is…
“Are any of you hurt?”
Crypt’s violet gaze flicks to mine and back up as he steps into Everbound Castle. It’s still eerily silent, as if we’ve left one storm and are in silence before another approaches.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.