The Sickened Luna's Last Chance novel Chapter 319

“Is there a way to break it?” I blurted out.

She was quiet for a long moment. Then she said, “There might be. But it would be nearly impossible.”

My heart stuttered. “What do you mean?”

“These kinds of curses can only be broken by destroying the original sources of power. When your ancestor performed the ritual, they would have used three specific artifacts as conduits. These artifacts would have absorbed the dark magic and become permanently linked to the curse.”

“Do you have any idea what the artifacts could look like?”

“Likely some kind of ritual blade,” she said, counting on her fingers, “then a scrying mirror of some sort–or something that can be used to contact the other side. The third was likely a grimoire from which they read the incantations. If you could find all three artifacts and burn them together under a new moon, the curse would be broken.”

“That’s it?” Liam straightened beside me. “We just need to find three objects and burn them.”

The witch’s expression was grim. “I know it sounds simple in theory, but these artifacts could be anywhere. They might have been destroyed centuries ago, lost to time, scattered across the world. Your ancestor could have hidden them, sold them, passed them down through different family lines. Who knows?”

The brief flare of hope in my chest guttered out. Of course it wouldn’t be that simple. Nothing ever was.

“But it’s possible,” Liam said excitedly. “If we could track down family records, old histories-”

Suddenly, his words cut off with a violent spell of wet coughing. The excitement of it all had taken a toll on his body.

“Liam!” I lurched forward and grasped his arm.

“I’m fine,” he gasped, but that was clearly a lie. He needed to lay down. I glanced at Julie, who simply nodded with a knowing look in her eye and moved to Liam’s other side, gently helping me lift him to his feet and guide him to his bedroom.

Once we had him laying down, propped up by his pillows, I found his medicine bottle and shook out two pills, then helped him swallow them with water from the glass beside his bed.

“You’re getting worse,” I grit out.

“Doesn’t matter.” His eyes, despite being hazy with pain, were fierce. “You heard what she said. There’s a way to break the curse.”

“Liam-”

“You have to search for those artifacts, Ella.” His hand found mine and squeezed weakly. “I know you can do it. I didn’t have a chance to respond before his eyes fluttered closed and he began to doze off. Biting my lip, I gestured for Julie to follow me out of the bedroom and shut the door quietly behind us.

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