Elara's POV
Fire.
That was all there was. Fire and agony and the sound of her own screaming that did not seem to come from her own throat.
The silver blade burned into her skin like it was carving through butter. Cassius dragged it downward across her shoulder and Elara convulsed so hard the guards struggled to hold her down. Her back arched off the ground. Her body did not belong to her anymore.
"Stop, please stop!" She thrashed against their hands but they held firm. The pain was not like anything she had ever experienced. Not like a wound. Not like a burn. This was something worse. This was her magic screaming in agony as something dark flooded through her veins.
The curse. The Wolf's Bane. It was eating her alive.
Her skin turned black where the silver touched it. Not burnt. Black. Like poison spreading through her body. The veins darkened and pulsed with a sickly light. She could feel her magic tearing itself apart, shredding like cloth being ripped in half.
Something inside her fought back. Something wild and vicious that did not belong.
A wolf.
It was trapped inside her body and it was trying to claw its way out.
"No, no, no," Elara gasped between screams. She could feel it thrashing inside her skin like it was caged. Her bones felt like they were shifting. Her jaw ached. Her nails were turning sharp. Something was breaking inside her and she could not stop it.
Cassius stepped back to let another Council member take a turn. The second blade was even hotter. It carved a different pattern across her ribs and the agony made her vision go white.
Her magic died.
Not slowly. All at once. It just stopped answering her. The fire that had lived in her since childhood simply vanished. The mage inside her felt hollow and destroyed. All she had ever been was built on that magic and now it was gone.
In its place, the wolf grew stronger.
Her body convulsed violently and she heard the guards grunt with effort to keep her pinned. She could feel her muscles changing. Her skin felt like it was crawling. Sweat poured down her face but she was cold, so cold, and then burning hot all over again.
"How much longer?" one of the guards asked, strain in his voice.
"Until all the blades are used," Cassius said calmly. Like this was normal. Like he was not destroying the person he claimed to have loved. "The curse requires all of us. All of our magic woven into hers so she cannot escape it."
They took turns. Each Council member stepped forward with a blade and carved their signature into her flesh. A ritual of betrayal. Each cut was a promise that she would die slowly and in agony.
By the time they finished, Elara could barely scream anymore. Her voice was raw. Her body was covered in black veins that pulsed with a sickly purple light. She could barely breathe. Could barely think. The wolf inside her was so close to the surface she could taste fur and blood.
"She will transform within days," one of the Council members observed, looking at her like she was already a corpse.
"Probably tonight," Cassius corrected. He crouched beside her, his face a mask of cold satisfaction. "The curse will fight her magic until something has to give. When it does, the transformation will be violent. She will be lucky if she survives it."
Elara tried to glare at him but her eyes would not focus. Her body was shutting down. Everything hurt. Everything was wrong.
"Take her to the portal chamber," Cassius ordered, straightening up. "Exile her now. If she survives the transformation, at least it will happen far from our borders."
Strong hands grabbed her again. They dragged her limp body through the corridors. She could not fight anymore. Could not even move on her own. Her legs scraped across stone but she could not feel it. Could not feel anything except the poison spreading through her veins.
The portal chamber was lit by magic that made her eyes burn. A massive ring of stone stood in the center, pulsing with light that did not belong to this world. One way travel. To somewhere far away. Somewhere brutal.
Somewhere she could not survive.
"Where are you sending her?" one guard asked nervously.
"Blackwood Pack territory," Cassius said. "The most brutal werewolf clan in the northern regions. If the curse does not kill her, they will. Either way, her problem becomes theirs now."
Elara tried to speak. Tried to beg. Nothing came out but a broken whimper.
They carried her to the edge of the portal. The pull of it made her stomach twist. She could feel the magic reaching for her, hungry and wrong. On the other side was winter. Mountains. Death.
"Any final words?" one of the guards asked almost gently.
Elara shook her head. There was nothing left to say. No one would listen anyway.
Cassius stepped back and the guards let her go.
She fell forward into the light and for a moment there was nothing. No sound. No feeling. Just falling through void and magic and the absolute certainty that she would never see daylight again.
Then she hit something hard.
Snow. Packed and frozen and brutally cold. The impact knocked what little air remained from her lungs. Elara gasped and choked, her body finally responding to impact even though everything in her wanted to shut down.
She was in a forest. Massive pine trees surrounded her, their branches heavy with snow. Night had fallen completely. The sky above was black and endless. She was alone in the wilderness with a curse eating her alive and winter closing in.
For a long moment she could not move. Could barely breathe. The cold bit at her skin but she barely felt it under the pain of the curse. Her entire body was covered in black veins now. Veins that pulsed and spread and grew every time her heart beat.
The wolf inside her screamed.
Elara felt it push toward the surface. Felt her body beginning to change again. Not slowly this time. Violently. Her bones started to bend and crack and reform. The pain was so intense she passed out for a second then came screaming back to consciousness.
She had to move. Had to do something. Her legs were shaking but she forced herself to crawl away from where the portal had opened. The snow was so cold it burned her skin. Her magic was still dead, still useless, still gone.
Behind her she heard the portal close with a sound like the end of the world.
She was truly alone now.
Elara crawled through the snow, not knowing where she was going. Just away. Always away. The wolf inside her was getting stronger and she could feel herself losing the battle to keep it contained. Her skin felt like it was stretching. Her jaw ached from changing shape. Her nails dug into the snow, now sharp and curved like claws.
Something flared in front of her.
Magic. Powerful magic. Border wards flaring to life like fire in the darkness. She had pushed through them without realizing. She was not just in the wilderness. She was in pack territory. Werewolf territory.
The curse pulsed inside her and she heard the wolf scream in response.
Then she heard it.
A howl.
It echoed through the forest like the end of everything. Not one howl. Many. Dozens of them answering each other. Wolves. Pack wolves. Coming closer.
Elara's eyes went wide with terror. This was how she would die. Not from the curse. Not from the cold. But torn apart by the very creatures that had murdered her family.
The howls grew louder.
And through the trees, she saw the glow of golden eyes in the darkness.