✓ | Curse Breaker ⋆ Julian Blackthorn [1]

xxxi. ZOYA'S CURSE

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CHAPTER THIRTY ONE: ZOYA'S CURSE

❛everything was getting better

and now

it's not.❜

⋆ ✧ ⋆

Nothing about the cave seemed to be the same, save for the pungent scent of damp air that somehow managed to creep beneath Zoya's skin. The humidity touched her temples in effortless brushes, letting loose the translucent droplets of cold sweat. The tops of her fingers brewed with sheer excitement, the cold steadiness sneaking its way into the girl's flesh and blood and calling for a thrilling battle. This was what Zoya was born to do; with a weapon in hand and Emma by her side, she was meant to look danger in the eye and wish it a peaceful death.

"People came through here earlier," Emma uttered quietly, her chin gesturing toward the rocky path they strode across. "A lot of people."

Zoya was glad to have her skin decorated in runes, for they amplified her sight and allowed her to notice the disturbed pebbles even in the pitch-black darkness. None of the Shadowhunters even considered activating more than one of the witchlight stones, knowing that the bright illumination would attract unwanted gazes and announce their presence.

"Followers?" Julian questioned in an equally hushed manner, soundlessly trailing behind the parabatai girls with Mark by his side.

"We can't be sure," Zoya replied curtly, overlooking the dim passage. Along the steep walls, stretching were the marks clawed by human nails, sending unpleasant shivers down Zoya's spine.

The main chamber, too, was unrecognizable. The bronze layer that covered the walls a few days ago was swallowed in an all-consuming darkness, making the room appear much vaster than it was. The tricky portholes that led Emma and Zoya into the bottom of the freezing ocean weren't there either, but the words of the familiar poem blazed in everyone's eyes like lone stars in the dark sky.

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love—

I and my Annabel Lee—

With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven

Coveted her and me.