She points to Darius’s forehead, pressing the tip of her finger to his head. “Now you will no longer have the tumor in your head. It will not regrow again. I have blocked the magic that caused it to begin with. You can have your mate now.” She smiles at Darius. Then she presses her finger to my head. “You will be blocked from his magic as well.”
She smiles to both of us. Another flash of light appears and a goblet is left in her hand. She scoops up the water from the pool. “You need to get Markus to drink this.” She hands the goblet to me. She snaps her fingers on her right hand and a small scroll appears in it. “You need to read this after he drinks the contents of the goblet.” She hands it to Darius. “This will put his spirit to rest. He will cause no more trouble. Don’t get me wrong he will still be attracted to you, but he won’t be obsessed. The attraction will continue to linger. I am sorry for that, but it will make it better. He won’t try to take you away again. This is the only way you can have your brother back Darius. Please heed my words. I know a part of you wants to leave him right where he is, but that isn’t what he needs. You two will be fine from here on out. No one will take your mate again.”
Then as quickly as she appeared she was gone. Darius and I look at each other. He looks down at the scroll. “I guess we should do as she said.”
I nod. “It would be for the best. Your parents would be crushed if they couldn’t get their son back.”
He nods. “True. I don’t like that he will be attracted to you. But I like the part where you aren’t going to leave me again.” He smiles down at me.
“I like the part where you aren’t going to die anymore.”
He laughs. “Yeah, I am pretty happy with that part too.”
Darius lets me go enough so that he can pull himself out of the pool. Reaching down he pulls me back up with him. “I love you Sophia.”
“I love you Darius.” I lean my head on his chest. “Don’t ever leave me.”
He laughs. “I will never even let that thought cross my mind. The bad stuff is behind us now. As long as we do what the goddess says with Markus. If we leave that soul alone, then he will do this again. We still don’t even know what witch did this.”
“True. Let’s get this over with.”
We trudge back down the mountain and through the woods. We are silent. The deed that needs to be done is weighted between us. It’s just the prospect of facing Markus again. It’s not the job that is hard. It’s hearing Markus and the things that he did. It might even be hard to face him in the future. It has gotten hard to see that kind little boy that helped me all those years ago. I know he is in there, but it’s still hard.
We make it to the cells just as the sun is rising. Still the moon is fighting for ground. We decide it needs to be quick so that the goddess has the most power. I descend to the cells first. Excusing the guards. When I see Markus I want to cry. He is crouched in the corner of the cell. Crying. He sniffs me out as I come to the bars. “Beautiful, you came back.” He jumps up, running to the bars.
“Yeah, I had to. I brought you something.” I show him the goblet. “I want you to drink it. It will make you feel better.”
He eyes the goblet. “I don’t want to.”
“For me. Please.” I plead. “I want you better, then we can let you out.”
“I am better. I just want you.” He reaches through the bars, brushing my cheek. “I love you Sophia.”
“Markus, please do this. Then you can be with me.” I let a tear stream down my cheek. It’s not a lie, but not really the truth either.
“Kiss me and I will drink it.” He counters.
I want to say no, I want to object, but the only way to end this is for him to drink this water. I nod and lean forward. He takes my lips as greedily as he can with the bars between us. “Don’t ever forget I love you Sophia.”
“I won’t.” I whisper. Handing the goblet to him, I pray that he takes it.