The chamber was quiet, save for the soft drip of water echoing through the still air. Lila knelt beside Cassian, who lay still beneath the silken covers of his bed, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. His eyes remained shut, hidden behind a strip of dark cloth, cursed and blind to the world.
Lila reached out with trembling fingers, brushing a damp cloth along his brow. The wound on his arm had begun to fade, healing faster than she expected. Magic, perhaps. Or maybe something else.
Her heart beat loudly in her chest. The memory of her earlier encounter still clung to her like a second skin—the way the water had moved for her, listened to her. She had commanded it, shaped it, as though it had been waiting for her all along. And when she had touched Cassian, something had awakened.
"Lila," Isolde's voice came from behind her, calm and even. "The spirits are near. They say the curse on his sight is ancient—woven from shadows and pain. But water can reveal what lies hidden. You may be able to see it."
Lila's eyes widened. "You think I can… see the curse? How?"
Isolde stepped forward and extended her hand. In her palm sat a crystal vial, filled with water so clear it shimmered like starlight. "This is mirrorwater," she explained. "Drawn from the Moonwell. It reveals truth—but only to those who bear the water spirit's favor."
Lila hesitated only a moment before accepting the vial. She uncorked it carefully and poured a few drops into her palm. The liquid felt alive—cool, fluid, but pulsing faintly with a rhythm that echoed her own heartbeat.
She placed her hand gently over Cassian's eyes.
A spark.
It wasn't painful, but it jolted through her—a connection snapping into place between her, the water, and the hidden curse lying dormant in his sightless gaze.
Her breath hitched.
The world blurred, and suddenly she wasn't in the room anymore.
Darkness enveloped her, thick and heavy. She stood in a void, but not alone. Ahead of her floated two glowing shapes—Cassian's eyes, or perhaps a projection of them. Chains wrapped around each orb, twisted with inky smoke that pulsed like a heartbeat. Something whispered within the dark, low and angry, a language she didn't understand but instinctively feared.
This was the curse.
And it was alive.
"No one should see this," came a voice—deep and ancient. "Not you, not him."
Lila's pulse raced. "Who are you? Why are you doing this to him?"
The shadows writhed in response, and she felt the chill of fear clawing up her spine. But she didn't back down. Instead, she lifted her hand, summoning a ripple of water that shimmered into form—clear, glowing softly, like moonlight on a lake.
The curse hissed.
Light clashed with darkness, and the shadows recoiled. The chains around the glowing orbs cracked but did not break.
"You are not strong enough," the voice warned.
"I will be," Lila whispered. "I'm not leaving him like this."
The vision shattered.
She gasped and fell back, catching herself on the edge of the bed. The mirrorwater was gone—absorbed, or used up—but the image burned behind her eyes: the chains, the curse, the raw malice behind it.
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.
Later that evening, in the quiet of her borrowed chamber, Lila stood before a shallow basin of water, staring into her reflection.
"I have to find the others," she whispered. "Fire. Earth. Wind. I'll need them all."
A breeze stirred the curtains as if in answer.
Then a ripple spread across the water. Not from her touch—but from something within.
In the reflection, Lila didn't see her own eyes.
She saw Cassian's—glowing faintly blue, bound in chains, but flickering with hope.
End of Chapter 8