Hyacinth shakes her head. “The few friends I had at the diner were having trouble making ends meet. I couldn’t ask them. My mother died when I was a teenager—I spent years running from foster homes, and the diner was my first real attempt at independence.”
“It was the same for the other girls,” I reply. “Sadie and Trina lost their mothers at a young age, as well. It’s part of the curse, I think.”
“Really?” she asks. “Neither of them has any family?”
“No,” I answer. “Well, Trina had an aunt who left town, but Sadie believes she somehow got left out of the curse because she was a twin. The girls also don’t think the woman lived long afterwards—the magical feedback of the curse causes isolation, insanity, and death to anyone within the bloodline.”
“So the curse could come for me, too?” Hyacinth asks, shocked.
“It already has,” I reply, in a gentle voice. “And we’re going to get through it—together.”
Hyacinth smiles, snuggling in a little closer to me.
“You make me feel safe,” she whispers.
“I’m glad,” I reply. “All I want is to protect you.”
Sorrow flickers deep in her violet gaze, and she turns her face away as the bad memories from her past rise in her mind again.
“Dan said that,” she whispers, very softly. “And I was so desperate to be taken care of. It felt like I finally had someone who cared about me.”
“I’m so, so sorry,” I say, meaning it with every fiber of my being. “I don’t want to cage you—and I’ll never hurt you, I swear it, Hyacinth.”
“I know,” she replies, her eyes softening as she reaches up to stroke my cheek. “It’s just that the intensity between us scares me a little.”
“It scares me, too,” I admit. She shakes her head a little.
“The thing is, I thought the intensitywaslove. I thought that not being able to resist him was a sign that we were meant to be. I was so excited when he touched me, I let him do all sorts of things to me.”
Hyacinth chokes up, looking away as a tear falls down her cheek, and I’m lost for words as ugly images storm through my head.
“I begged him to do those things to me. And I always came, so I liked it, right? I always went back for more. So I must have loved it.”
“Oh, my poor sweet girl,” I whisper, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her towards me. We curl up together, and I stroke her hair gently, desperate to heal the hurt in her soul.
“Maybe I’m fucked up for life now,” she says. “Maybe it’s got to be pain, entrapment, fear, or I can’t be satisfied.”
“But with me,” I ask urgently. “With me, were you scared or hurt?”
“No,” she says, shaking her head. “But you kidnapped me, Shane. It’s essentially the same. How can I trust myself?”
“Oh my God,” I whisper. “I’m so, so sorry. I mean—I was sorry before. I knew what I did was wrong, but I can’t believe I’ve done this to you.”
“I’d like to say it’s okay,” she answers. “But clearly, it isn’t.”
“I don’t even know if it’s up to us,” I mutter. “We’re all just dolls in the game of some ancient witch. I take full responsibility for what I did to you, but I didn’t create these circumstances. We’re both trapped in this.”
She nods slowly, hugging me even more tightly. “I want to say sorry, too,” she says.
“Why?” I ask, surprised.
“I didn’t really understand how hard the situation is for you. You’ve lost people you love, Shane, and I didn’t have any empathy for your grief.”
Pain slices through my heart, making me turn my face away from her, but she wraps her arms even more tightly around me and won’t let me go.
“Tell me, Shane.”
I nod, keeping my eyes closed as pain floods my chest. I have to take a deep breath and hold it for a second to steady myself.
