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“That looks heavy, let me take it for you,” he purred, his voice coaxing a shiver down the length of my spine. His fingers, adorned in black and silver rings, slipped around the handle of the basket, brushing intimately against mine. I didn’t need to look. I couldfeelhis heated gaze sweeping over me slowly, sensually.
Lady Light, help me.
I heard him chuckle.
The jerk. He knew what he stoked in me—like wind feeding a flame.
A flame—that was one of the many things I had yet to process. On top of being Water Cursed and Dream Cursed, I now bore the Curse of Fire. Or at least, I thought I did.
What else could that have been?
My mind replayed the chopped-up memories from that night, of the shackles and how I’d disintegrated them to ash, off the wrists of the conscripted men—off Kaleb’s wrists. Kaleb . . . I stumbled upon the image of him lying there, his lifeless eyes staring up at me, and I choked, my mind recoiling like a stepped-on snake.
I shoved the thought away and turned to Von. “Have you ever heard of someone having three Curses?” I asked, my voice breaking the steady hymn of our shoes crunching leaves.
He nodded. “Yes, many years ago, it was not uncommon to have more than oneGift. As you know, the Gifts came from the Old Gods. They were passed down to the Demi Gods. The Demi Gods then bred with humans and passed those gifts on to their children. But with each generation, the bloodlines became more diluted, and so the Curses did as well. That is why most people only have one Curse now.”
I sat with that for a moment before I asked, “Why do you call them Gifts?”
“Because that’s what they were always intended to be,” Von replied, his elbow pointed to the sky, the basket slung behind his shoulder. Sunlight filtered through the swaying branches, dancing across his face. The dark-haired warrior looked so casual, so carefree—I liked seeing him like this.
“Did any of the Demi Gods have all six Curs—Gifts?” I inquired, banking on Mr. Know-it-all knowing it all.
He looked to the sky, returning the basket to his side. “There is no Demi God strong enough to possess all six.” He turned to me. “However, there is one god that does.”
“Really?!” I exclaimed, fascinated by this. I quickly realized that I sounded like a little kid. “Which one?”
When he didn’t answer, I glanced his way, grinning.
My smile faltered—he wore that same pained expression as before—a hint of it—before it flashed away, that phantom mask slipping back into place. It was like a storm that came with a sudden onslaught of pounding rain and cracks of lightning and window-shaking thunder—visceral and real and raw, and gone as fast as it had come.
But I was tired of not knowing, so I threw that internal door open and chased after his storm. “Why do you do that? When I ask you certain things or our conversation goes a certain way, it’s like . . .” I paused, trying to find the right words. There weren’t any. No words in the English language could possibly describethatlook.Torturedwas as close as I could come, and even that seemed dimmed down. I licked my lips, trying again, without any idea what I was going to say. “It’s like—”
He cut me off, his expression as bleak as his eyes. “It’s you.”
. . . What?
“I’m the reason you look like a steel blade slit you from hip to hip and your insides are being ripped out?” I half blurted, half seethed. My brow shot up as I repeated my words in my head. They weren’t bad. I was getting closer, but still not quite there.
“Yes, it’s because of you—vicious little creature,” Von remarked coyly as he held a spindly, barren branch up, allowing me to pass underneath.
Misjudging how low to duck, I got a wisp of my hair stuck. I tugged on it while the branch tugged back, snagging a few strands as a memento from its entanglement with me. The branch was as bad as Arkyn and his obsession with my hair, all because it reminded him of his dead lover. A ghost that haunted him, even in her death. And now, Von saidIwas the reason for his haunted expression? For his torture?
“Actually, you look much worse—it’s a look akin todeath.” I paused, riding a wave of sudden emotion. “Also, I’m insulted.”
Von smirked at that.
“I’m amusing to you now, am I?” I hissed as I tromped through a thick layer of leaves. The sound of crinkling destruction did wonders for my budding nerves.
Von caught my arm and spun me towards him, bringing our bodies a breath away from one another. Thick black lashes dipped slowly as his gaze raked over me, stoking my coals. His voice lowered, hitting that deep, decadent baritone. “I find you agreatnumber of things.”
My inner divine female stirred, awoken by the primal alpha male standing before her.
But as quickly as that fire was lit, guilt exhaled and blew it out.
I was a horrible person. My brother was dead, and I was here, living like it was just another day. But it wasn’t. And it never would be again.
“I can’t do this,” I whispered under my breath.
