The Opal Witch

Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Refusal

Declan

Declan tried to focus on the positives of holding Lux's hand. Like the way it made his heart trip giddily in his chest, or the sense of peace touching her gave him. But his mind insisted on focusing on how hand had changed since he'd last held it. Bones and grip once strong, now frail and weak. Her steps were steady but slower than he remembered. She was a ghost of the girl he'd danced with next to the fire.

Her earlier suggestion haunted him, and it tempted him to gather her in his arms and rush her back to his room. The very thought went against everything he'd been taught, but if there was even in the smallest chance that it would save her, he'd ask for forgiveness later. And if it didn't- well then, he'd be thankful for every moment he had to love her before cruel fate tore her away.

"They're still going at it," she wheezed when they reached the front door of the main house. Raised voices reverberated within. Lux looked more than a little reluctant to go inside, but she set her jaw in that determined way he loved, the one that wrinkled her nose and furrowed her brows, and twisted the doorknob.

"Bella, he stands against everything we fought for in the Uprising!" Phoebe's voice exploded through the house, the direction indicating they were in the kitchen.

"Oh my lord, Mama! First off, there is no we- we weren't even born- and second, I've told you a hundred times, Gideon wasn't part of the Fallen. He fought for the gods!"

"So he says. I just think it's a little too convenient that he shows up when the gateways are the weakest they've ever been, and he has a miracle cure for Lux!"

Declan froze. Lux tugged on his hand, gesturing towards the stairs with her chin, her eyes wide in her face. "Please, let's go before they see us."

"Did you not hear what they just said?" he hissed, refusing to move. "A cure."

"I want no part of that cure," she said darkly, releasing his hand and starting up the stairs.

"Wait- they told you what it is?" He followed her.

"No, I just Know that it's not right."

"Lux, if it can buy us time," Declan pleaded, spinning her around when they reached the next floor, "we have to consider it. I will not lose you over something like this."

Her gray eyes clouded. "But you would lose me all the same if we took what Gideon was offering."

Groaning, he let her go. How could he make her understand that he would take her in any form- as long as she was alive. That was what mattered most to him. The rattle of silverware drifted to the second floor as a hand slapped down on the dining room table.

"Are you going to come with me or go to them?" Lux asked. She'd stopped, her hand resting against the wall in a spot that made his mouth dry out. It was a coincidence. It had to be.

"Always you," he answered, hoping she missed the hitch in his words. She nodded, turned and pressed her other palm against the wall. The click that sounded ricocheted in his chest, thrusting him back a hundred years ago when he'd helped fashion the spell to hide her room. He didn't speak again until they were standing in Leora's room.

"How did you find this?"

"It's more like it found me. I could hear them laughing, and my magic showed me the way. Why was it hidden?"

Declan crossed the room and sat on the bed, his head going into his hands as memories overwhelmed him. He could smell Leora- she always smelled like the outside: sun warmed, fresh grass and flowers. He could hear her humming slightly off key in her sweet soprano.