The Serpent's Curse by Lisa Maxwell (read an ebook week .TXT) 📕

“Maybe you don’t have to be,” Maggie said, pulling a small leather pouch from her skirts.

“What do you mean?” Esta asked, frowning.

“Seshat wants your affinity, right?” Maggie asked, and Esta reluctantly nodded. “She can only use you through your magic.”

“As far as we know,” Esta admitted.

“It’s a problem I might be able to take care of.” Maggie took a small white pill from the leather pouch and held it up between her fingertips.

Esta knew all about Maggie’s concoctions. She’d experienced some of the more potent ones back in St. Louis when she’d had her first run-in with the Antistasi, and she’d seen for herself what Maggie’s serum was capable of. “What, exactly, is that?”

“It’s sort of an oral version of Quellant,” Maggie explained. “Unlike the fog we used back in St. Louis, this tablet can mute an affinity without leaving the person completely unconscious. It’s also a lot more potent—it’ll last close to twelve hours instead of the usual two.” She held it out to Esta. “It stands to reason that if you can’t reach your affinity, Seshat won’t be able to either.”

“You want to take my magic from me,” Esta realized. Her body felt suddenly cold. She remembered what it was like to have her affinity stripped away by the Quellant back in St. Louis, especially the strange emptiness she’d felt.

“No,” Maggie said, shaking her head. “I’m asking you to consider giving it up. Temporarily, at least. It would only be until we get the artifact.”

Maggie’s explanation seemed completely reasonable, but everything in Esta was screaming for her not to take the pill. The idea of willingly relinquishing her link to the old magic made her recoil. To give up the power that was so much a part of her—even for a short time…

But Maggie could be right about the danger Esta might pose to them. Esta had felt Seshat’s furious determination back in St. Louis, and she had no other explanation for her inability to control her affinity now. If Seshat took her over the way she’d taken over Harte…

Reluctantly, Esta accepted the pill from Maggie. It was small and unimpressive, but she could feel the warm energy that spoke of old magic coming from within. Every instinct she had was screaming for her not to place it in her mouth, not to put herself at such a disadvantage. But she remembered the darkness, uncontrollable and absolute, as she’d run from that train. If Seshat actually did have a connection to her, it might happen again.

No. It would happen again. There was no denying that Seshat would keep trying. The ancient power wouldn’t stop, not until they stopped her.

Still, Esta couldn’t bring herself to do it. She was already starting to hand the tablet back, when another thought occurred to her—one that tipped the scales. If the Quellant could truly hold back Seshat’s power, then perhaps it was an answer to a problem Esta had believed to be hopeless. Maybe with the Quellant, she and Harte could keep Seshat controlled enough to return to 1902 together.

It wouldn’t do anything to protect the stones. If they returned to 1902 with the artifacts, they would likely lose the ones they currently had. But if they could return to the time they should have been in, Julian would never have given the necklace to the Society. The Devil’s Thief never needed to exist. The Antistasi wouldn’t have stoked the hatred of the Occult Brotherhoods with their violent deeds, the Defense Against Magic Act would not have been ratified, and the attack at the Festival Hall never would have happened. The serum wouldn’t have been deployed—it might never be invented. Even if they couldn’t find a way to bring the artifacts with them, she and Harte could fix the mistakes they’d made. They could start fresh.

They could have more time.

Going back wouldn’t give Esta a future. She understood that. Seshat would still need to be dealt with, and if they couldn’t retrieve the Book—if the Book didn’t hold the answers they needed—Esta would willingly give her affinity and herself to control the ancient being. She would stop Seshat from taking her revenge on the world and save Harte from what that power would do to him. She would give him a future.

As she placed the pill in her mouth, Esta told herself that it was worth the risk. It was only temporary, and besides, she didn’t need her affinity to steal the Pharaoh’s Heart—and she still needed the dagger, especially if the Quellant didn’t work. When she crushed the bitter pill between her teeth, she felt her affinity draw away from her almost immediately. Where her magic had once been, Esta felt only a strange, indescribable hollowness, but little else. There was no way to tell if it was enough to block Seshat’s connection to her. There might never be, she realized. Not unless it didn’t work. As the train rattled on, Esta could only hope that she’d made the right decision and that she hadn’t just managed to hook herself.

FURY AND GRIEF

1902—New York

Cela Johnson didn’t have any magic, and she hadn’t ever particularly wanted any. But as she’d watched Jianyu grow paler and weaker over the past few days, the wound in his shoulder steadily seeping even as it had started to turn with infection, she had to admit that having something more than hot water and a few old herbs at her disposal might have been helpful. Especially when there wasn’t anything natural about the wound itself.

She was fussing with the bandage and trying to ignore the way Jianyu’s breathing had grown shallower since Abel had gone to get Viola a little while before. The house was mostly quiet now. A few of Abel’s friends were in the kitchen, working on an article for the New York Age. The paper belonged to Timothy Thomas Fortune, the man who’d lent them the use of his house after their own had been