Adrian Sinclair's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Adrian sat in Thalia Moonwhisper's cottage and could not hold a thought. Three days without blood had hollowed him out. His hands trembled on his knees. His mind snagged on the floorboards and began counting the cracks. One. Two. He lost the number and started again. The old historian watched him over her round glasses. She had known him for years, since the winters he carried her firewood. Now she saw a man too weak to sit straight. "You can't hear a name in this state," Thalia said. "You'd forget it before I finished." "Tell me anyway," Adrian said. His voice shook. He counted her earrings without meaning to. One. Two. Thalia stood and went to a cupboard. The gray tabby cat slid off her chair and followed her. She returned with a small clay cup and pressed it into his hands. "Drink. It's not blood. It's from the tree behind my cottage." Adrian looked into the cup. Dark sap, thick and sweet-smelling. "I have to count it," he said. "I can't stop myself." "You count blood," Thalia said. "The curse binds blood. Not this." She tapped the cup. "That tree grows over ground the coven blessed. What comes from it is outside her spell." Adrian lifted the cup. His whole body braced for the count to seize him. He drank. No number rose. No compulsion clamped down. The sap slid down his throat, warm and steady. His hands went still. For the first time in three days, his mind held one clear thought. He drank the rest and set the cup down. Strength crept back into his arms. The floorboards stopped pulling at his eyes. "It won't cure you," Thalia said. She sat again and the cat curled at her feet. "It only feeds you while you're near the tree. You cannot carry it far. The sap spoils by morning." Adrian understood. He could live at the edge of her land, tied to one tree, or he could break the curse for good. "Then tell me the name," he said. His voice was steady now. Thalia studied him a long moment. "You'll remember it now. That's the danger." She leaned close. "The witch who cursed your blood was my sister." Adrian went cold. He had come to a stranger for a stranger's story. Instead he sat across from the cursed witch's own blood. "She's still alive," Thalia said. "And she'll know the moment you go looking. I'll help you. But you should know what you're walking toward." Adrian rose. His legs held him. The hunger was quiet, for one night. He had come starving and unable to think. He left fed, clear, and bound to a truth he could not put down. The woman who could guide him was sister to the woman who had ruined his line.