The Deadly Curse

20 | The Revival and The Burial

//the revival and the burial// 

The world went black for a long, painful second. The numbness vanished, and a swarm of wasps attacked my honeycomb heart. The emotions I'd been avoiding trampled in like a flood. An earthquake set free my caged thoughts, weakening my knees. And I was swept into the tsunami.

Rune's magic had driven his mother to insanity. And that same magic was now driving him to the same extremes. I'm sorry I ever let you love me . . . He knew the destruction of his homeland and the imprisonment of his mother had been the fault of his magic. He probably lived in guilt and self-hatred his whole life. And now he had been doomed to the insanity of his magic.

And it was all my fault. I had effectively ruined his life. Because of what I wanted.

He didn't need to apologize for letting me love him. I needed to apologize for letting him love me.

"Belline?" A voice made it through the blackness. It launched me back into vision, in the King's study. King Hadeth squatted before me, touching my arm. His eyebrows were furrowed, worry swimming in his golden eyes. "Are you alright?"

The flood leaked out of my eyes. To the King, I sobbed, "It's my fault. I did this to him. I – I made him mad."

"Oh, sweet Belline." King Hadeth embraced me, cradling my head to his chest. It reminded me of my own dad. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to cry in my father's arms and let him lie to me that it'll be okay, that life has a way of working itself out. I wanted to go home.

"No one blames you for this. If anything, it was an oversight on our part. We did not think this would happen, and why worry you needlessly? I still love you, and I know my son does, too. The person my son blames and hates the most is himself." King Hadeth pushed my hair from my face and gave me a gentle smile. "We mean it when we say you are the greatest gift we've ever received."

But his words meant nothing. Not when Rune was descending into madness at the behest of an onslaught of uncontrollable magic. Not when it was truly my fault, no matter what anyone said.

"I wish I had never come back here," I confessed, too hurt to hold the words at bay.

Any bright emotion on the King's face fell. His shining eyes dulled. He frowned. He squeezed my hand before he rose to his feet again. "Belline," he said, quiet and careful and unwavering. "My son's magic is his responsibility. Its effects are my responsibility. Please, make sure to take care of yourself above all else."

Aware our meeting had adjourned, I stood on shaky legs. Nausea tickled the back of my throat. Tears stung my eyes. And my heart lay in ruin at my feet.

At the door, a single thought took hold. I turned back and asked, "King Hadeth, what is Rune's magic?"

The King mustered a smile that was sad and broken and diplomatic. "Poison. My son can produce poison."

With that, I shut the door behind me and stared out into the hallway. Everything King Hadeth had shared swirled around my mind. It tangled into an incomprehensible mess, sounding like TV static. To the sound of TV snow, I wandered back to my room, locking myself inside.

On my bed, I tried to comb through the disasters in my mind. But the only thing I felt was destruction. My mind, my emotions, had crumbled into ruin. And it ate at every organ, until I was a pile of rubble.

I never should have come back to Eternity.