CHAPTER 158 THE CURSE OF GAIUS

Dominic I jolted awake, my breath ragged and my chest heaving like a bellows. For a moment, the world around me was a blur of dim light and shadows. The immense pain seared through my veins, as if molten lead had replaced my blood. Gradually, the room came into focus—the dusty wooden beams overhead, the flickering light of a nearly spent candle, and the cold stone floor beneath me. I was back, but something was terribly wrong. My hand trembled as I raised it to my forehead, trying to push away the disorientation. Meredith's spell forced Gaius' malevolent presence out of my body, the last thing I remembered. Meredith's spell, which had the potential to rescue me, instead left me with the sensation of losing a piece of myself. My eyes landed on the body beside me. The borrowed older man's body lay still and lifeless, his eyes open and empty. Despite the relief of seeing him gone, a deep sense of unease gnawed at my insides. Even though the older man had already left, his lingering pre