“I’m sure.”
Silence settles over us, and I listen to the sound of his heartbeat—the way it calls to mine. How it calms and soothes me with each thump.
“Julian?” I whisper after a few minutes of quietly existing together, and he shifts against me just slightly.
“Hm?” By his tone, I can tell that he’s nearing sleep.
“Thank you. For protecting me.”
“Always,” he mumbles, pressing his lips to my forehead.
It appears he doesn’t have the strength to pull away, because he falls asleep like this, breathing in my skin and resting his warm lips against me.
In any other circumstance, I would be so insanely happy. But right now, considering everything that has transpired, I just feel like a curse. A burden.
Like I’m destroying him.
As I wake, I find myself alone. The left side of Julian’s bed is cold, and panic immediately takes over me.
I leap from under the covers, pulling Oscar’s bloodstained robe back over my body and running out into the empty hall. But I can hear voices.
I follow them to the main foyer, where I find my father, Atticus, Oscar, my mother, and Julian and his father standing around awkwardly.
“Ah, there he is,” Father calls upon seeing me. “Nowwe can get some answers.”
“Sorry?” I mutter, eyeing Julian as I approach to make sure he doesn’t have any untreated injuries we didn’t catch last night.
Once I’m certain he’s fine, I find my spot next to him, with Atticus to my right. I feel the heavy weight of Julian’s palm landing on the small of my back, rubbing gentle circles. Everyone else in the room notices, but Julian pretends they do not.
“I refused to talk until you woke up. I… It’s not my story to tell,” Julian tells me, peering down at me with his good eye as the other is covered in fresh gauze.
I wince, turning away to look somewhere else. Seeing the destruction I caused only hurts.
All eyes are on me, expectant and patient, but as I look around, my brow furrows.
“Where is Abigail?” I ask.
“Hannah took her on a walk,” Oscar supplies, motioning for me to continue. Or, well, tostart.
I clear my throat. “Yesterday, I had a flare-up. And I know I should have informed you all sooner, but an accident occurred some time ago that divulged my condition to Julian, so—”
“You mean your curse,” Atticus interrupts. “If everyone knows, there is no point in calling it a condition anymore. It’s just silly. You’recursed, Atty.”
No one chastises him or denies it, so I nod softly and divert my gaze to the floor.
“Alright,” I concede. “Point is, he already knew of what I was dealing with, so he… he helped me.”
I’m essentially admitting to a room full of my closest relatives that I got railed by one of our employees last night. If it weren’t for Julian’s gentle rubbing on my back, I think I’d be having a panic attack.
“You don’t listen at all,” Oscar mumbles, but he’s looking at Julian, not me.
Julian shrugs.
“I guess we fell asleep after, which was my fault. I know that it comes when I’m sleeping. I’m assuming that it got angry when it saw Julian with me, and it retaliated.”
I’m notassuminganything. Julian has encountered the incubus before, and it all but told him to stay away. So, Iknowwhat the demon was feeling.
But I’m choosing to keep that piece of information, as well as theBlack Bookand the altar room, a secret as of right now. Not only am I convinced it will only endanger my family by knowing, but it hasn’t led us toward the cure anyway.
