Chapter 140. Gauis' Hex

Magnus

I jolted awake, my breath ragged, chest heaving like a bellows. For a moment, the world around me was a blur of dim light and shadows. The pain was immense, searing through my veins as if my blood had been replaced with molten lead. 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. The last thing I remembered was Gaius, his malevolent presence inside my body, being forced out by Meredith's spell. A spell that should have saved me but had left me feeling as if a part of me had been torn away.

My eyes landed on the body beside me. The older man's form—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. The older man wa