Eternally Devoted (Frostbite 4)

Amelia never replied, except to look fully ashamed, and Alexander continued. “I didn’t realize it until I sensed the spell here right before I blacked out. But that’s what is causing them.” He scowled at his daughter, looking much more like Caley. “I suspect that the spell Amelia did to pull Kipp out of the Netherworld somehow used your energy. Thus, caused your headaches.”

I kept my feet firmly planted on the cement floor and barely managed through gritted teeth, “Is that true?”

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nbsp; Amelia nodded at her feet, as she stood near her sleeping husband, and said softly, “After you went to Kipp in the Netherworld, I tapped into his energy off you, since you touched him there. I wasn’t sure if it worked or not, but then, tonight, it became obvious that it had.”

I recalled when I’d seen her after I’d first gone to find Kipp in the Netherworld, which seemed like a damn lifetime ago now. I remembered that I thought she whispered something, but I hadn’t been sure.

My anger rose, yet I kept my mouth shut as she went on. “The cucumber sandwiches you ate had the spell in it that bound him to me.” She peeked up at me through her lashes. “But it’s directly linked through you, which is why you’ve had headaches. Sometimes it’s makes people feel tired, but for you, it must’ve given you migraines.”

I could only blink at her, not sure how I felt about her admission. I glanced at Max and Zach, and then to Eddie. I even looked at Caley, and surrounded by people I loved, I realized a truth I didn’t want to accept.

Maybe fate wasn’t a bitch after all.

If it hadn’t been for Amelia’s interference, then I wouldn’t have gone into the Netherworld to talk with Nettie. I wouldn’t finally have the answers for why I received my gifts. I wouldn’t have recalled the memory that healed the empty hole in my heart caused from my family’s deaths. And I wouldn’t have experienced the acceptance and peace I did with my gifts now.

More than anything, we wouldn’t have found the answer we needed to reconnect Kipp’s soul with his body. Or what I hoped saved him.

That was the worst part in all this. I still didn’t know if Amelia had trapped Kipp, or if he’d gone back into his body. The timeframe was exact, and it was a toss-up who’d won.

Until I knew if Kipp had been saved, I wasn’t sure how to feel. If Nettie had her facts wrong, we’d be back at square one, which I suspected would piss me off and make me hate Amelia.

But what if Amelia was wrong?

If Nettie had been right and we had saved Kipp, how could I hate Amelia? Her plan brought too much good with it, even if not hating her for what she’d done went against every fiber of my body.

For now, I had to wait this out and stay calm until I knew the truth. “Okay, you did what you did. We can deal with all that later.” I restrained my glare at Amelia, controlling my rage simmering at the surface. “But remove the spell like, right fucking now.”

Amelia gave a hurried nod with wide eyes, indicating I didn’t control my anger all that well. She reached into her pocket and took out a little bag. Then she whispered words I couldn’t hear and approached me.

I raised a hand, stopping her. “What is that?”

She stopped dead in her tracks with one of the dark corners in the room at her back. “Black cumin,” she replied gently. “It’ll break the spells on you and Kipp.”

I didn’t need a further explanation. While I shouldn’t trust her, I did believe with Alexander here she wouldn’t do any more damage. Truth was, Amelia only wanted to save her father from his current predicament. Now that she knew he would be, she had no reason to do me wrong.

Or so I prayed.

At my silence, and maybe appeased expression, she settled in front of me, and then she proceeded to pass the packet around me three times. After which, she knelt and lit the sachet on fire.

After it burst into flames, a pungent scent filled the air and removed the musky aroma. When the flames sizzled out, my headache, that had been killing me for days, vanished. The relief of that was so welcomed I could only sigh.

“Better?” Alexander asked.

“A thousand times, yes.” I scanned the room, waited a good minute, and although everyone still slept, someone was missing. I turned to Amelia. “If the spell is broken, where’s Kipp?”

Amelia cocked her head. “He hasn’t returned?”

I looked around again for good measure, only seeing sleeping bodies, dark corners, and a trunk with bones in it. “No.”

Alexander looked around, too. Of course, he could actually see Kipp as a ghost. Only a second later, his eyes searched mine. “It may simply be that the magic has exhausted him.”

Or maybe I had saved him.

Dammit! I actually wanted to punch Alexander for that answer. I hoped they’d have no reason at all. If they gave me a simple answer of I don’t know, then I could believe Kipp had returned to his body. “Why would the magic weaken him?”

“Because ghosts are not living,” he explained. “Just like you saw with me, I could only hold the magic for so long as a ghost, which was why we needed Caley’s body. Since Amelia pulled him out of the Netherworld not only once, but twice, it might have drained him.”