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Isobintohisshirt from the pain of another broken heart. I’m being dragged into the darkness by the weight of what I’ve seen despite how hard I kick. I want to be free of all of it.

I want to live despite the death that surrounds us. I want to try with Killian. I want to know what it is to give myself to someone without anything keeping us apart.

Only the vision I had doesn’t give us that choice.

There is no choice when it comes to love.

I cry more at the Spirits words. How do I have a choice when it means protecting him? Killian holds me tight until I can pull myself together. I’m so tired of crying. The sobering reality of what has to happen makes me want to pull away from him, put up a solid wall and get through this, until it’s over.

It might hurt us both less.

But I can’t. I can’t bring myself to put that wall back up. Everyone else around me has never seen past what I’ve allowed them to, except for Grams. I ignored the longing in my heart for someone else to see me as I am behind all of it.

Until now.

Killian saw me, and he didn’t balk. He didn’t sneer.

For once in my life, I didn’t scare someone away. He has made it abundantly clear that he wants me. He wantsallof me, Spirits and strangeness.

The vision contained the past, and our future. I saw the curse played out in front of me. The only way to end this all is to break the curse with a true sacrifice, like Jasper did all those years ago. It cannot be made out of hate or pride, but from love.

Love must conquer all, even in death.

I pull back from Killian’s chest, and he studies me with worried eyes. “Are you okay?” he asks.

I shake my head and look around, realizing that we’re downstairs, the sun is up, and Killian is still in his pajama shorts.

“What’s going on?” I ask him, confused.

“You … I don’t know, sleepwalked?”

“Really?” I ask him. I’ve never done that before.

“Yeah, I thoughthegot you, but Tiny followed you. It’s the only way I found you,” Killian says.

I blink, focusing on his features, and all I see is fear, and guilt builds in my throat. I did that. I caused his distress.

“How do I help you? Please tell me what I need to do,” he says desperately.

My heart cracks again.

“There’s nothing you need to do,” I whisper.

“Then tell me what happened. Have you done that before?” he asks.

“No, I haven’t. Where did you find me?”

“In the woods, you were lying there surrounded by Death Flowers and …” he trails off. “What happened?” he asks again.

I don’t answer right away, afraid to tell him the truth, but I don’t want to lie.

“Eliana,” he says, and grabs my chin.

“We can break the curse,” I whisper.

“What?” he asks in total shock.

“I saw bits and pieces, but it will come to us. When the time is right, we will know what to do.”