When It Reigns (Cursed Reigns, #1)

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Slumping against the toilet bowl, I flushed it and let my thoughts spiral down the drain with the black water. I stayed in the bathroom as a precaution, remaining close to the toilet as I continued to gag throughout the night. I only got up once the sunlight streamed in through the window, bringing life back to the daylilies.

My legs tingled as I stood, walking on shaking limbs to the closet. I withdrew a towel and placed it on the sink, stripping out of the clothes that reeked. I bathed in the tub, scrubbing the dried sweat and vomit from my skin as I cleansed myself of the reminders of what I was turning into. It was hard to ignore the papery white hue to my skin tone, as well as the veins sending black blood through my body.

Knuckles rasped against the door, and I covered my breasts with my arms as I submerged my shoulders under the water.

"I'm taking a bath!" I shouted, sinking deeper in the basin. Was private solitude seriously too much to ask for around here?

"We have a visitor who would like to meet you," Shade responded. "Wash up and join us."

I was not in the mood to converse with anyone. Begrudgingly, I finished up in the water and dried myself off. I tied my hair in a knot on the top of my head and pulled out a few strands to dangle around my face as I drowned myself in one of Shade's oversized shirts he'd folded in the closet.

Stepping into the bedroom, I came to an abrupt stop as I met the vibrant forest green eyes outlined in black charcoal of the beautiful woman a few years older than myself. She was perched on the chest at the foot of Shade's bed and dark hair cascadedin waves to her waist. Her her warm smile filled her dimpled cheeks with apinkish blush.

It was quite clear she was not Cursed.

So, what was a Draconian doing in Shade's room?

Shade sat on the tabletop with a foot on the chair in front of him and gestured at the only one not succumbing to the Curse in the room.

"Glastos, this is my sister, Elora. Elora, this is my...wife, Aeryn."

I thought I'd overcome the queasiness, but my head filled with air and my heart felt like it tumbled to the base of my stomach. I fell back against the doorframe as another shockwave threatened to knock me over.

"Nice to meet – "

"I know you," I whispered, rubbing the scarred Insignia on my palm. "You're supposed to be dead."

"Am I?" Elora asked, adjusting her posture to sit up straighter, familiar eyes widening in curiosity.

"You're Zoran's sister. You were killed in the demon ambush with my mother, Empress Caerwyn."

"Ah, you know our little brother," she said, looking at Shade with an affectionate smile.

I couldn't make sense of her presence. If she was alive, then was my mother...?

"Zoran is her Champion," Shade informed his sister, "He put on quite the fight when Glastos was forced to marry me."

"He told me all about you and the...the..." I stammered.

"The antidote," Shade finished for me. "I already knew. Elora hasn't been able to keep working on it since she faked her death and fled to the Ravos Kingdom."

I shook my head. "I don't understand. How come Shade is the only one out of the three of you with the Curse?"

Elora spoke up next, saying, "Zoran and I were born to Morgana, a full-blooded Draconian who mated with Kristos – the unfaithful Phoenixian bastard – so we weren't damned with the Curse, but Shade's mother, Radarys, is Cursed. As such, he was born here fated with venomous blood and an essence construed of darkness."