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“Tell me about the curse.” She spat out the words so fast that I imagined she’d bottled them up with each step we’d taken and was afraid she’d lose her chance to speak once we walked through that door. Stars, the warmth of her tiny hand on mine poured into me its own kind of magic. No woman had ever voluntarily touched me after learning I was cursed.
Here was a woman I could love. A woman whose beauty was the unadorned simplicity of a wildflower, whose tenacity rivaled the best summer storm, and whose compassion tore my black heart in two.
Tilting forward, I bent my forehead to hers, inhaling the honey scent embedded in her clothes. Her breath escaped her lungs in a crisp oh sound that left me equally breathless. Cool fingers quickly found my neck, curling around and preventing my escape—for that was what I should do. Leave. Back away. Fight this. Instead, I moved my head down to the crook of her neck, resting my mouth against the soft, warm skin just above her collarbone.
There was nothing good left in me. Stars, I wanted her to love me, if only to feel this passion requited for a single moment. For that was all it could be, a single moment. Her life would end within hours of her taking my curse, whenever the sun rose and her body changed. Curse my brother for this. And curse my own soul for wanting to destroy her in exchange for a single moment.
My fingers reached up and slid beneath her hair, memorizing the way it felt, the way she didn’t pull away but melted at my touch. One moment. One single moment. I couldn’t pull away.
“You can tell me,” she whispered. “Please tell me.”
At that, my senses returned. I lifted my head and stared at the door behind her. The real world waited there, cold and unfeeling. “I can’t,” I whispered.
“Why not?”
Indeed, why not? If I told her why I’d married her, it would certainly be the cure she needed, the antidote to ever loving me. Selfish beast that I was, I couldn’t do it. “Because you would see me as I truly am.” Black. Murderous. Unredeemable.
Fingertips traced along my hairline, brushing long, damp strands away from my face. “Whatever it is, it can be forgiven.”
I backed away, moving down a step. “No.” Because deep down, I still wanted to do this, to love her. To have her love returned. I pulled her hand away gently. “One cannot forgive a future act.”
Rejection burned in those eyes, and I lost a little more of my dignity when I pressed a kiss to her palm. Her brows lifted, confused.
“It is for you that I must not do this.”
“But you…”
Married me hung in the air, unspoken.
I offered the briefest nod. Yes, I’d married her. Chosen her as my sacrifice. I’d never known how badly one could hate a choice after the fact. “Trust me,” I said, reaching past her to open the door that would take us away from this torturously tempting narrow stairwell. She needed to see that I was despicable, and if I couldn’t admit to the truth that would change her mind, I could show her. “Let’s take a ride. I want to show you the village.”
She cocked her head sideways at me. “If you’re taking me into town, I’m not wearing this.”
She turned and marched out ahead of me. I had never felt so alive and yet so close to destruction. I would fade into madness, and she would live, if I had to burn the entire Sun Court to ensure her safety.
* * *
In the barn, I opened Lily’s stall.
“Let me ride him,” Talia said, pointing to Espera. She wore a slim red dress that made it difficult to remember I needed to keep my distance.
I should let her ride my fire stallion—it was the least I could do for her tonight.
When I nodded, she clapped and entered his stall. Shaking my head, I saddled Lily and internally repeated the reasons I was taking her to town.
By the time we rode into Moredo, the nearest fae village to Starfell, the moon was high and the residents were in the full swing of their nightly revelry. Moredo housed none of the great Sun Court families, and as such, fae with significantly less power could find a place of superiority here. It was a town of little importance among the fae, which kept haughty fae like my brother and his favorites far away.
As we made our way between the pedestrians and slow-moving carts, a hush fell over everyone we passed. Heads turned. Hands clapped over gaping mouths. A few fae children pointed and laughed, ugly cackling little sounds.
“Why are they doing that?” Talia whispered from atop Espera.
“Because they hate me.”
Talia frowned at them. A kindness. But as we progressed through the canopied streets strung with magical lights that bottled sunlight and poured it back to us from tiny globes, her frown became a frozen, almost petrified expression. Good.
“I don’t come to town often. And the times I have, I’ve…left a bit of a mess. They hate me because I’m the reason this town is not favored by the high fae. I’m the reason the Wild Hunt lurks in these woods, the reason the crown prince’s crows plague this place, the reason none of the blessings of the Sun Court fall on Moredo.”
Her face snapped toward me. “What?”
