Ensnaring his Dark Moon-Chapter 293: Nyxenna

By the time Luciana finished eating, she realized that she had forgotten something important, ’’We don’t have much time.’’

Cardan stroked her hair as he fed her another pastry, adjusting her position on his lap, ’’To get married? To have children?"

’’Yes, marriage,’’ When his eyes glimmered, she hit his chest softly, ’’Who is marrying you? I don’t believe in things like marriage and love.’’

His gaze dimmed, ’’One day, you will.’’

’’That day will never come,’’ she sighed, ’’I am talking about Esme’s marriage with my Uncle. We do not have much time for it. We need to find Duke Maverick soon.’’

Cardan frowned, ’’I am not interested in that Duke or anyone. It’s not bad if Esme marries that hare-brained merman.’’

Luciana glared at him.

’’He will have a painful death,’’ Cardan winced, ’’That woman is a disaster when she is provoked.’’

Luciana chuckled, ’’Don’t badmouth her.’’

’’But we do have to stop the marriage or my brother would poison himself to death,’’ Cardan stroked her hair.

Luciana laughed but her expression turned solemn when she thought about something, ’’My Uncle is powerful. Although he does not look like it, he is one of the most powerful mer in Defire. Even the elders of the sea court cannot battle him. When the King was nominating his heir, the other heir apparents... none of them stood a chance against him. I am afraid Es would marry him quietly in fear that he might harm Duke Maverick with some underhanded methods.’’

Luciana paused for a moment before she continued, ’’They would have been married for a long time but even without her memories, Esme kept delaying the marriage with him. She always made excuses like her body was not feeling well, and she needed to see more of the world or that she needed more time but I knew it was because of the dreams she used to have. Even without her memories, she kept having visions of the past. So, I helped her delay the marriage but now... after discovering that Uncle has ulterior motives, things are no longer the same. If we try to delay the marriage, he might get suspicious. He should never know that Esme has regained her memories...’’ she trailed off.

Cardan’s brows tugged together, ’’My shadow guards have been looking for Maverick since you informed me about it.’’

’’But, we don’t have time to waste. I thought about it for a long time and I have come up with an idea."

He raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"There is an ancient spell of the mers that can help us find Duke Maverick,’’ she stood up from his lap.

Cradan crossed one leg above the other as he watched her pacing in front of him, ’’And what is it?"

’’A vision of lure.’’

’’No,’’ Cardan said without a second thought, still sitting there calmly as he looked at her.

’’I am not asking you, I am telling you,’’ Luciana pursed her lips.

’’Vision of Lure. Do you think of yourself as a joke?" Cardan snapped as he pushed himself to his feet, ’’You think I don’t know anything? You want me to extract your tears, blood, a part of your skin, strip your bone and lure the tree spirits into giving you a vision? You can dream.’’

Luciana’s eyes widened, ’’How do you know so much about our ancient spell?"

Trees, plants, and flowers had consciousness of their own. And these things that he mentioned could lure them towards a plain mirror. Once they were there, she would cast a spell on all of them and ask them to give her a vision of anything she wanted.

If she wanted to know about Duke Maverick, they would lead her to him. Unlike humans, trees had their eyes everywhere.

’’I know everything about you mers. Do not forget that your god once was a heavenly god. This spell is not a secret spell so it is not uncommon for me to be aware of it,’’ Cardan massaged his forehead, ’’And what ancient spell are you talking about? It is a forbidden spell. If you do it wrong then your blood would flow backward until you eventually lose your life.’’

’’And what makes you think I will do it wrong? I am not that weak,’’ she looked at him in disdain.

Cardan stroked his chin, ’’I have a better way to find him.’’

’’You do?"

"It’s a spell of the witch clan,’’ he looked at her, ’’And it is nowhere as vicious as the vision of Lure.’’

The witch clan’s spell is not vicious? Why did that sound so surreal?

’’Why did you not mention it earlier?" she eyed him suspiciously.

’’Because I have no interest in who dies or lives?"

She smacked his arm and glared at him.

He pulled her into his arms, "Don’t be angry. I had not told you about it because I was preparing for it."

’’Tell me about it now."

Cardan sighed, ’’Have you heard of Nyxenna?"

Luciana nodded, ’’The night flower. It blooms in the darkest hour of the night and starts wilting the moment the sky turns bright.’’

’’In the witch clan, there is a spell called Nyxenna bloom. When a black magic practitioner or someone from the witch clan feeds on a mortal’s soul by sucking their life essence, he binds that person to themselves. If he drops his blood on Nyxenna and casts this spell, then he can control that mortal forever, or turn him into a puppet if he wishes.’’

Luciana’s blood chilled. No matter how much she heard about witchcraft, it was still hard for her to grow accustomed to how ruthless it was.

’’But a lesser known fact about the spell is that it can be a blessing too.’’

’’A blessing? How?" Luciana was perplexed.

’’I can provide my powers to him for some time through it," When she looked at him quietly, he continued speaking, "I have fed on Maverick’s life essence for some time when I had no better alternatives and I can assure you that it was not to my appetite,’’ Cardan’s expression turned to that of disgust.

Luciana pinched his arm, ’’You...’’ She did not know what to say to him. It was like he stabbed someone but he was complaining about the person’s blood that got on his sleeves.

Cardan cleared his throat, ’’Since I have fed on his life essence, it is my wish whether I want to harm him or not. This spell gives me the authority over his life.’’

’’And that means you can find him...’’ Luciana mumbled in doubt. When he nodded, her eyes brightened.

’’Nyxenna bloom was first used by the ancestor of the witch clan. The ancestor of the witch clan detested his adopted brother who was a mortal.

He wanted him dead but so as to not make the elders suspicious, he sucked the life essence of his adopted brother gradually.

During a war, he was cornered by his enemies after they tricked him but his adopted brother came to his rescue and selflessly sacrificed himself to save him. The adopted brother was abducted and the ancestor was touched by the act of kindness.

Overwhelmed by guilt and regret, he found a Nyxenna flower in its full bloom and bled on it to extract every bit of life essence he had sucked from his brother. But unknowingly, the flower started shining and his consciousness found his brother.

Being formidable at spells, he did not hesitate to provide his powers to his adopted brother to aid him in escaping the clutches of enemies."

Luciana sighed. Who could have thought there would be a tale like this behind such a ruthless spell, ’’So, did they reunite?" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Cardan glanced at her hopeful face. He smiled and ruffled her hair, ’’They did.’’