Millennia smirked. “It’s excellent.”
“I need you to upturn as much soil as you can. The witch could have buried it, causing the amulet’s power to seep into the roots in their gardens.”
“How deep?”
“Probably no more than a foot.”
“How is the Curse of Venera spread?” Zach asked.
“It’s not an airborne disease. Which means it’s probably located in a place people frequent often, somewhere they could have come in contact with anything that might’ve absorbed the amulet’s power,” I explained.
“I’ll check the butcher’s shop then. The apothecary after.” Zach grabbed my hand, squeezed it, and then hurried down the steps after Millennia.
I turned to Rochet. “Can you take me to the room where the witch stayed?”
Rochet led me to the far end of the east wing of the tavern. It was just like any other room, only dustier. I had a feeling no one wanted to sleep here after a witch had. Rochet hovered near the threshold as I scanned the walls and furniture, my hand grazing the quilted bedspread and the cedar wood of the armoire.
My Sense didn’t work on the amulet—cursed items were cloaked and enchanted by witches to prevent Royals from using their Sense to locate them—so instead I moved around slowly, trying to notice any strange feeling—an itch, a throb of pain, a confusing emotion.
But it was difficult for me to separate my real emotions from possible fake ones—especially when anger and jealousy at Millennia, and frustration and disappointment about Zach, kept me so distracted.
“I’ll hurry and tell everyone to start searching,” Rochet said.
“Yes, thank you.” Then a thought hit me, and I stopped her. “Wait—Rochet, have you developed any symptoms at all?”
She shook her head. “No, Your Highness. None yet.”
It was strange. If ten people had already died and the curse had already worked so far into so many people, then it was likely she’d start to show some kind of symptoms.
“Is there any place that you haven’t been?” I asked.
Rochet frowned. “In the past week? I don’t think so. I’ve visited almost every house and shop delivering Millennia’s herbal soup.”
Oh well, it’s never that easy. “I see. Thank you.”
After she left, I went back to my search. I still rather hoped we never found the amulet. I didn’t want to go near any dark enchantments. Wasn’t going after the Sable Dragon enough?
A sound from outside interrupted my search, and I rushed to the window. The earth churned as soil was overturned, as if invisible shovels and pickaxes were attacking the ground. Millennia stood in the middle of the square, her arms raised.
I went back to searching, and after another ten minutes of checking the room and shuffling around the furniture, I had to concede it wasn’t there. If I were close, I would’ve slipped into one of its enchantments.
Racing out of the room and down the stairs, I burst through the meeting hall’s doors, calling for Brom. “Anything?”
Brom looked up from a spot near the back. “Nothing.”
I spent the next half hour hurrying through the tavern, trying as hard as I could to clear my emotions and recognize any magical enchantment. At the last room, I headed outside and stopped on the steps, scanning the shops facing the main square. Where would many people go?
The bells on top of the chapel at the far end tolled out. Two hours.
That could be it…the chapel. Everyone went to the chapel to pray.
Although the witch wouldn’t have been able to just walk into the chapel, she could’ve controlled a villager so they could stow the amulet inside.
My feet pounded over the stones as I ran toward the chapel, echoing my heartbeat and the Romantica drums that still thrummed in my head.
Their chapel was small and built of wood, ornately carved. I threw open the doors and ran, breathless, down the main aisle that led to the dais. It was covered with dead plants. Withered and brown.
I stopped before two wooden statues of the Holy Sisters. Their faces, once so gorgeously carved and sanded, were black and warped as if the wood itself was dying.
A violent shudder passed through me, and I sent a prayer to my ancestors. Help these people, Myriana. And forgive me for what I’m about to do.
Then I started ripping up the dead plants. They crumbled in my hands. I turned to the pews and moved through them all, shoving aside all emotion, drawing on my Legion training to feel…nothing.
The bells tolled above me. One and a half hours left.
Swearing, I left the chapel. I’d covered every corner and felt nothing.
Zach emerged from the butcher’s shop across the square and ran into the apothecary. Millennia paused her magic and wiped her brow with her sleeve, then moved on to another patch of earth and raised her hands.
Their efforts were futile. I knew this, and yet I couldn’t help feeling terribly anxious. Briefly I wondered what Master Gelloren would think of me now—working with not one but two Romantica to break enchantments of the cursed amulet. The practice was so archaic and risky that I could almost hear Gelloren yelling at me for being illogical. I could almost feel my mother’s hand across my cheek for wasting precious time. The idea of her seeing me now, and being so appalled that she’d either faint or feed me to a nest of basilisk vipers, was almost funny.
But she wasn’t here, thank the Holy Queen. Yet…even if she were…my partner told me to trust him, and if he was going to trust me, then I had to trust him, too.
I ran to the stables.
One hour left. Nothing in the stables.
Forty-five minutes left. Nothing in the apothecary.
Thirty minutes left. Nothing in the villagers’ homes.
Twenty minutes before our deadline, I climbed the steps to the little girl’s room. She had twenty minutes left to live. I had minutes to Kiss Zach and perform the spell to try to save her and the rest of this cursed village. The scent of decay was overwhelming within the girl’s room. Tears filled my eyes, first from the stench and then from the sadness. This girl was literally rotting away while still breathing.
I prayed Zach was on his way. That he’d given up. “It could be anywhere,” I muttered. Perhaps I was trying to make myself feel better even though I knew from the beginning how fruitless the search would be.
Yes, it could be anywhere, since the curse could be easily absorbed by almost anything the amulet came in contact with. But the witch had come by only a week ago, so for the curse to affect this many people in that short amount of time, almost everyone would need access to…
“The villagers had hoped that the witch had only passed through the town, slept in a room, ate a hot meal, and took water from the well, and that’s it.”
I spun toward the window, my gaze locking on the small cobblestone structure in the middle of the square.
“The well,” I whispered, taking off at a dead run. “It’s in the well!”
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Three Enchantments
Arriving at the well, I slowed to a jog then stopped about ten paces away. I tried extending my Sense, reaching out to latch onto the Force of Darkness, but nothing came to me except…calmness. The tension in my muscles eased, my head stopped spinning with thoughts. It was so peaceful here. I felt like lounging on the ground and staring up at the passing clouds without a care in the world.
My head was foggy, as if the rest of me could just drift away on a breeze. I stared at the well ahead of me and tried to remember what I had been thinking. Had I been thirsty? What am I doing? It was too difficult to remember. Maybe I should just give up. Just lie down right here and take a nap. I walked to the edge of the well and leaned against it, slid down its side, pressing my skin against its stone surface and closing my eyes. The sun felt wonderful, and the breeze was perfect. In fact—everything was perfect.
“Ivy?”