“I have a few theories after everything I have witnessed or envisioned. I picked up a few things, but first, I want to ask you a question.” I bite the inside of my cheek, a little worried.
“I’m all ears,” he says, wiggling his ears on top of his head. I laugh and shake my head at him.
“Kyan can’t overhear us?” I ask him, and he nods.
“He can’t hear anything, but I am curious why you don’t want him to hear what you want to talk to me about.” He tilts his head to the side, as if he’s trying to read me again.
“I don’t want to get his hopes up, and until I know for sure it needs to remain between us, not even Jonah is to know. So promise me you will say nothing about it to either of them. Kyan has enough heartache. I don’t want him to suffer anymore; I think we have all suffered enough, don’t you think?” Kaif sighs and nods.
Kora presses forward, getting a feeling for what I want to ask him, and I feel the recognition hit her and her reservations about it.
“Are you sure?” she asks me.
“I am pretty certain. I am just not a witch, so I don’t know if it is possible,” I tell her.
“And the other thing?” she asks.
“It’s worth a shot. Something tells me not to ignore my intuition about that one,” I respond.
“Yeah, I got the same feeling the moment you thought it,” Kora agrees. She remains forward to listen, but she is also reeling with this odd sense of clarity we both now share.
“Dominic told me my magic anchored him. That’s how I have a connection to him because he gave me his magic, anchoring him to me,” I tell Kaif, who seems to think my words over. “Is it possible that he isn’t dead?” I ask.
“He is dead, love; I watched him be buried,” Kaif says. I sigh, trying to figure out what I am asking. It is complex even for me, but the gut instinct I have makes me continue to push forward. It can’t be that an instinct so strong means nothing.
“Okay, give me a second,” I tell him, rubbing my temples and remembering what Dominic has told me. Trying to find the correct way to put this into words Kaif will understand.
I blow out a breath when a thought occurs to me, making me look back at him. “Lycan’s need vessels to come back, right?” I question him. Kaif nods.
“Yes, but not just any vessel. We can’t last in a human body. If that makes sense, only a werewolf’s body is strong enough, human Lycan hybrid?” Kaif tells me.
“Is that possible for witches too?” I ask him, and he seems to think.
“Depends,” he says, and I can tell he is really thinking hard on that one. “Why?” he eventually asks, lifting his gaze to meet mine.
“I don’t think Dominic is dead. He keeps saying to break the curse and set him free. The last visions, your past visions, he walked through them with me. He said the same thing he always says, but to get him Celeste’s grimoires, he would take care of the rest,” I tell Kaif and he whispers something under his breath. “But how would he return if his body is dead?” I ask Kaif, uncertain of that part.
“Easy, with a preservation spell. Witches used to do them to remain young, which would be easy without a consciousness. Witch power deteriorates the body and the waking mind faster than humans,” Kaif says.
I mull over what he says, it makes sense. As weird as it seems, it really does.
“So it is possible to preserve a body, yes. But how long for? I’m not sure exactly,” Kaif adds, then shrugs.
“The longest I have seen someone leave their body was Celeste when she was first forced into the Moon Goddess realm. Her body physically stayed in this realm. It took years before she could break the barrier on the Moon Goddess realm to force it open so she could portal between, but at first, we had guardians that protected her body until she returned to it,” Kaif tells me. His brows furrow as he lets out a low growl.
“That’s where I got the spell to make Jonah my guardian, a blood tie, we couldn’t trust just anyone to guard her body, they could have destroyed it so she blood tied them to her. If they killed her body it would kill them,” Kaif explains scratching his chin.
“Dominic said he is my guardian in a sense, that he anchored himself to me with his magic,” I add slowly. For some reason, I feel like this is starting to make more sense.
“Yes, because a witch isn’t truly gone if their magic has been set free…That’s why witches can channel power, the essence of their magic remains long after the body is dead, however, they are dead just their magic lives on not the person,” Kaif says and he sits up straighter.
“I suppose, in theory, but they would need a lot of magic to do that. No one could harness that sort of power alone. It would need a strong-” Kaif pauses and looks at me. “It would need a strong anchor and an infinite power supply,” Kaif finishes slowly, and I can tell he is trying to put this puzzle together as well, so it makes sense.
“So it is possible. It would also explain why he said he wasn’t really dead, not here, but not part of the shadow realm. When I…” I look at Kaif, who growls. “When I killed myself, I could feel I was dead, but something was holding me still,” I admit.
“Yes, we were trying to revive you,” Kaif answers with a growl. Clearly, he doesn’t like the fact that I brought up that moment. Mate or not, no one likes to listen about the time someone tried to kill themself.
“In the shadow realm, I flickered, while the rest of those trapped were ghostly transparent figures. Dominic was the same as me; we both looked different from the rest of them. Now, Dominic said he gave me the shadows and his magic. What if I am the vessel just like Kyan is yours, except instead of a vessel for a Lycan, I am the vessel for his magic which anchored him to me?” I ask.
“You think he is alive?” he asks.
“Is it possible?” I ask.
“Well, yes, but he has no physical body to return to unless he preserved it, and I am not sure a body can be preserved for that long, Marabella. Then there is also the question of where he would get a power source from that could tether his life force to it?” Kaif mutters.
“But is it possible?” I persist.
“Well, yes, but unlikely,” he sighs.
“Is there any way to know for sure?” I run a hand though my hair again, growing a little impatient to learn the answers I need.
“Yeah, dig up his body…wait… His coffin was spelled shut. We tried to get into it years ago but couldn’t,” Kaif gasps.
“What do you mean?” I raise an eyebrow in confusion.
“The talisman. Kyan dropped it in there when he was a boy. We tried to get it back; the talisman in the past has also been used to keep me in line. It can drain me of energy and keep me weak when worn. We thought the talisman spelled it shut, but what if we were wrong?” Kaif murmurs.
“How so?” I furrow my eyebrows, unsure if I’m following.
“We couldn’t open it. Usually, only the person who locked it can open it when something is sealed. We couldn’t and thought the talisman locked it. But what if it didn’t?” Kaif says, looking at me. I smile, finally figuring out what he is getting at.
“I have Dominic’s magic,” I smile, feeling like we are getting somewhere. Finally! Now, it makes more sense and we could find the answers we seek.
“You can open it, but that means Dominic had to have spelled it shut before he died, meaning had to have known Kyan would chuck the Talisman in there,” Kaif seems thoughtful.