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Brad looked up at me. “You give my life meaning. You Jaiy. Only you.”
I shook my head. “It might feel like it now, but memories fade. You’ll find a new muse.”
Suddenly, I wasn’t just sitting in this living room but countless others. Little square after little square popped into existence, each with a slightly different decore and a unique man to match.
“You’ll be happier without me.” Every version of myself said the same thing to every man. I’d meant it every single time.
I cried, not in the memory, but me, the person watching, because they had been. Every single one had gotten over me, had a second life, and died with their loved ones. Everyone except Brad.
My memory became the cream and blue living room again. Fast as a snake, Brad punched my stomach. The memory version of me felt the physical pain before realizing the object in my ex-lover's hand was now embedded in my gut. I couldn’t move, and my magic responded as if called from miles away.
A portal appeared behind Brad, and Marduk stepped out.
“It’s done,” Brad said. “This better work.”
Marduk put a hand on his shoulder. “Our deal is complete. Jay’s strong. You have six weeks, at most, to find a permanent solution until her mind becomes her own once more.” He pulledout a slip of paper. “And as agreed, the key to something more permanent.”
My hatred for Marduk burned, adding to the betrayal from the man I’d spent the last twenty years with. I tried to move my arms, but my body was so heavy.
Brad took the paper and unfolded it. “Gorm’s Casket?”
“I’ve watched Jaiyana’s every waking moment since she tricked me.” Marduk grimaced. “Only twice did she fail to harness the power she sought, and only the first time was she stupid enough to leave her mistake behind. In a few more minutes, the crystal will take full effect, and her mind will belong to you. After that, she will answer any question you desire.”
Brad squeezed the paper. “I don’t even know what Gorm’s Casket is.”
Marduk laughed. “Then I suggest you figure it out. You’ve already given me what I want, mortal. Jay’s fate is merely my entertainment now.”
Marduk’s portal opened again. His perfect hair and glowing white eyes held mine as I felt my will leave my body. My grimace relaxed into nothing. Marduk laughed, and his portal vanished.
“Jay?” Brad asked.
I blinked a few times before smiling. “Yes, honey?”
Brad’s face brightened. “We need to find something. Will you help me?”
I cupped his cheek. “Of course, baby, anything you need.”
Time sped up. A montage of my life played before my eyes to the song of Girl on Fire – Losing My Identity. I betrayed friends, broke into buildings, and used favors from other immortals I’d been currying for centuries. Brad took me to a cabin he built just for us, far away from the world. We made love as if it were the last time we’d ever see each other. The memories slowed until we sat at a table with Gorm’s completed casket resting between us.
“We need to open it and connect it to the spell before I lose any more of my mind,” I said.
Brad hesitated. “You love me, right baby?”
I smiled. “Always and forever, how could you think anything else?”
Brad closed his eyes as if steeling his resolve before opening them and gripping the box. “Always and forever.”
As one, we lifted the lid. Darkness seeped out. I pushed my hand forward, chanting and funneling the power, not into my third eye, the source of my magic, but into the object, Brad had embedded into my abdomen. I couldn’t see myself, but I watched as Brad’s face drained of blood. His lips twisted, and his eyes filled with tears in response to whatever fight he saw on my face.
The moment my lover, the man I trusted to sleep at my side for two decades, realized he’d made the wrong decision twisted his face into a dark sea of regret and pain.
He lunged, covering the box with his body to try and stop the magic. But once a spell was in motion, it couldn’t be stopped, only redirected.
I screamed.
And so did the version of me trapped inside my own body. Lines of blood broke out on my skin. While fake me lived Brad’s fantasy, trapped me had been hard at work. The lines of blood connected into runes I’d drawn on the inside of my skin. They push to the surface, and blood burst out of me, ripping away everything that touched me. I fell to the floor, naked and bleeding from a fist-sized hole in my stomach.
Gorm’s Casket still billowed with dark energy, which tried to sink into my skin, only to find an impenetrable barrier.
