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Her father? Eric had some questions about him. “How did your father feel about being brought into the curse’s power?”
“That’s an odd question.”
Eric grinned over at her. “I’m just trying to make small talk. It’s going to be a long drive.”
That approach seemed to make her more willing to speak to him. “He loved my mother. I think he didn’t care what he had to do to be with her.”
“Your mother was lucky.”
“I know. We both were. My father was eternally optimistic and made me believe I would break this curse.”
“Maybe you will.” Or he would for her.
“I don’t see how that’s possible now, unless I die.”
Eric whipped his head toward her. “Don’t say that. You’re meant to live.”
She seemed taken aback by his abruptness. “That’s what you said in my dream. The dream where you told me I could heal myself. Was that a real dream?”
“Yes,” he said apologetically. “Sorrel.” He paused. “Who is the man in your dreams you’re always walking with in the vineyard?”
Her cute button nose scrunched. “What are you talking about? I don’t remember walking with any man in my dreams.”
Curious. Very Curious. “Are you sure? Every time I visited you,” he hesitated to admit, “you were walking with a man with dark hair and penetrating brown eyes. You seemed to have a great deal of affection for him.” Eric tried not to sound jealous, although he was envious of the man.
“My dad did have dark hair and brown eyes, but I have no idea what you’re talking about. While we’re on the subject, can you just come into my dreams whenever you want? Because that’s an invasion of privacy, and you should take everything I may have done or said in my dreams with a grain of salt. They were dreams, nothing more. A person can’t control themself in their dreams.”
She was adorable when angry and embarrassed, he thought. “Sorrel, I’m sorry for violating your dreams. It was the safest way to get to know you. I feared if we ever got too close physically, I might make a fatal mistake.”
Sorrel gripped the door’s armrest. “Your father said you killed a woman.”
Eric’s face turned crimson and seemed to pulsate. “I did. Karina,” he whispered her name. “I was stupid and careless and didn’t put enough stock in the curse. I thought since the book hadn’t told me who to bind myself to, it meant the curse was broken. I was wrong.”
Sorrel visibly relaxed. “I had some of the same thoughts over the years. Do you think the curse forced us together because it wanted us to, you know, have sex so we would kill each other off?” She blushed uncontrollably.
Eric loved her innocence. “That’s an interesting theory, but I don’t think so.”
“Why?”
He twisted his hands around the steering wheel. “Because my book told me how to save you.”
Her mouth fell open. “It did? Why?”
Eric shrugged. “Maybe because I asked it to.”
She bit her lip. “Oh. Does your book normally grant requests?”
“Only once.”
“Where is your book?” She was eager to change the subject.
He raised his brow.
“I don’t want to steal it.”
He chuckled. “I keep it hidden in the shadows. I’ll show it to you when we get to Saint Augustine. And by the way, I can only enter your dreams if you let me or want me there.”
Her entire body seemed to flush red.
“Don’t be embarrassed. I didn’t lie when I told you I dreamed about you too.”
“Do you like music? I think we should turn on the radio.” She flipped on the radio to some pop station before he could respond. Then she leaned her seat back, closed her eyes, and started humming along.
So much for them talking. She hardly said a word to him the rest of the drive unless it was to tell him she needed to stop to use the restroom. It gave him too much time to think. He wanted to know why she didn’t remember the man in her dreams. He wondered if it was her father or if he was a piece of this bizarre puzzle. When the man in her dreams had spoken to him, it seemed real. Could someone else enter her dreams? Certainly not her father. He’d seen David Black’s coroner’s report. And most importantly, how did Sorrel possess gifts from both the Tellus and Aelius families? How could she still feel connected to a destroyed book?
If only he could stay alive to see how it all unfolded. But he’d promised Sorrel he would protect her, and he meant it. He had only a precious few hours left, depending on what they found when they reached Saint Augustine. Which was any moment now. Eric wanted to wait until dark to enter the city, but Sorrel wouldn’t hear of it. Eric thought she still held out a tiny shred of hope that her mother had survived just like she had.
