Isolde knelt beside her. "What did you see?"
"It's like the curse is… feeding on him," Lila said shakily. "His eyes—there are chains around them. It's alive, and it knows I'm coming."
Isolde looked grave. "Then you've seen the truth. The curse is no ordinary magic, it is a binding made by one of the Forbidden. Spirits that once defied the balance of the elements."
Lila swallowed hard. "Can it be broken?"
"Yes," Isolde said slowly. "But not alone. You will need more than water to destroy it. You will need all four elements."
Lila looked down at Cassian again, guilt welling in her chest. "Then I'll find them. The other spirits. I'll earn their power."
Cassian stirred slightly beneath the covers. Lila leaned closer, heart pounding.
His lips parted. "…Light…"
Her breath caught. Was he waking?
"Cassian?" she whispered.
But he didn't respond. Whatever part of him had spoken was still lost in the dark.
Isolde placed a hand on her shoulder. "He senses you. That's a start."
Lila looked at her hand, the one that had touched the curse. It still shimmered faintly with waterlight. She was the start.
But she couldn't stop here.
That night, under the silver moonlight in the palace gardens, Lila stood by the fountain, heart pounding. The basin before her was still, reflecting stars like scattered diamonds. This wasn't about visions or mirrorwater now. This was her. Just her and the water.
Cassian stood nearby, silent and wary. Isolde had convinced him to come, calling it a "healing session," but he didn't believe in her power. Not really.
"I don't see how this is supposed to help," he muttered.
"You don't have to believe," Lila replied softly, lowering her hand to the water. "Just... trust me for a moment."
He didn't move, but he didn't leave either.
The moment her fingers touched the surface, she felt it, warm this time, pulsing with recognition. She wasn't reaching into it. She was joining it. The water shimmered faintly with a glow only she could see.
Focusing, she shaped the water slowly—tendrils rising like wisps of mist, curling into gentle ribbons. Cassian's presence, his pain, and his fear—they guided her.
"I'm going to try something," she said. "I think… I can see the curse if I'm close."
Cassian hesitated, then nodded stiffly. "Fine."
She approached him, water coiling softly around her hand, and pressed a single fingertip, drenched in silver light, to his temple.
A sharp jolt.
Darkness bloomed again, but smaller this time. A more focused vision. She saw the curse clinging to his eyes, like living thorns twisted with malice. And there, a rune. Pulsing, ancient.
"The curse, it's not just blinding you," she whispered. "It's feeding on your spirit. Trying to hollow you out."
Cassian stiffened. "That would explain a lot."
Lila's touch fell away. The water dropped back into the fountain, and the light faded.
"I can't remove it yet," she said. "But I'm starting to understand it. Water doesn't fight like fire. It reveals. It wears away slowly."
He was silent for a long time before finally asking, "Why are you doing this?"
End of chapter 15