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Hector shouted back, pointing. “That house is empty!”
I lunged at a gilded door set in a bulbous, whitewashed wall. It burst apart, and I crashed to the floor inside a sparkling, vacant entryway. The others left the horses in the front courtyard, beside a bubbling fountain.
Inside the house, Talia ran her hand along the stone, looking up at the carved wave frozen in place over her head. Tiny threads of light followed where her fingers brushed the wall. She jerked her hand back, then, with a breath of delight, she raked her hand across the stone again. More light flared.
My blood heated, and I snuffled loudly, hating that I couldn’t speak. She glanced back, her eyes tight with either anger or concern, and I couldn’t let myself hope it was the latter. How could I show her that I hated myself for what I’d done? That I wasn’t happy she’d fallen for me because she would suffer for it?
Before I could settle this dilemma, she moved on, fingers drawing lines of light on the wall. Boldly, I bumped her other hand with my muzzle.
She lifted it quickly away—repulsed, perhaps?—and stopped walking. Over her shoulder, she said, “Rafael, I don’t want…”
My heart soared that she used my name, even when I was trapped in this body. But she never finished her thought. She walked swiftly to catch up with the others, leaving me agonizing over what it was she didn’t want.
Then Talia let out a small yelp. I hurried to her side, but I felt in my bones that the change was about to take place. In the oval-shaped foyer with glittering blue floors, a willow wraith who had clearly spent the night soaking in water, skittered stickily from the room. I exhaled with relief.
“This way,” Hector said, snapping his fingers to ignite a small flame over his right shoulder. “The house is empty.”
“How does he know that?” asked Talia, still staring after the wraith.
“His magic is related to space and sound,” Everence explained, tugging Talia along.
The hallway quickly darkened around us, as the magical lights fell dormant when a cursed creature passed. Hector’s flame was now our only light. I hadn’t been in the home of another high fae in a long time, but I hadn’t forgotten the way they wore their prejudices like fine jewelry. Even their homes rejected the weak.
I paused in the hall, the pain in my side hot and throbbing. Talia stopped and looked back at me.
“You can make it,” she whispered.
If she believed I could, anything was possible. Why she was encouraging me, I couldn’t fathom.
The moment the tip of the sun slipped beneath the horizon, I stumbled and crashed into the wall. The entire house rattled, and three faces turned toward me. My curse was festering, intensifying my pain as it drew near the moment it would become incurable.
A small hand touched my furry shoulder, and the world condensed into that one delicate, electrifying point of contact.
“Get in here, and stop wallowing,” Hector snapped, waving me onward. His tone, however, betrayed his fear.
He opened a door and strode into the first room off the hall. Light poured in from skylights that opened when he progressed across the room. He lifted his arms out at his sides, and floor-to-ceiling windows burst open as well, letting in more light and a warm breeze. Talia stood right inside the door, gaping at the room as it came to life. It was a sitting room, complete with couches and a settee.
I flopped to the floor, enjoying the coolness of the marble as I felt the change pressing over my body. Talia leaned against the nearest wall and slid down, her hands pressed to her middle, eyes closed.
My muscles tensed with the desire to move toward her, but at that moment, the sun vanished for the night, and for several seconds, I could neither see nor hear Talia. The world darkened, my vision blurred and spotted with purple and gold, and my bones shrank and snapped. The wound at my side smarted and flamed as it shifted with me, pouring out fresh blood.
Then, I was lying at Talia’s feet. Tears glistened around her eyes, and her breaths came quickly. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her knees. I tossed out all expectation, all hope, and reached for her hand.
Her warm fingers looped through my own and a thousand years of madness could never erase this feeling from my mind.
Everence hurried to my side and tugged at my jacket, revealing the wound in my shoulder. “Let me see it.” She huffed at the sight of the dried blood on my clothes.
The acrid smell of fear rolled off Talia as I lay on my back, exposing the wound on my shoulder. Everence opened a vial. I barely noticed as the healing ointment stung my skin. My eyes remained fixed on Talia.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me,” I whispered, my voice rough and ragged.
She shook her head. Tears dripped onto her arm. I smeared one away with my thumb.
“If I hadn’t run to Puerta that night, I’d—” Her words stopped with a shake of her head.
Emboldened by her words, and the fact that she hadn’t yet flinched from my touch, I sat up, pulling her face toward mine as I did. Her body tensed, and she took in shallow breaths. I pressed my forehead to hers.
“If I had never met you, Talia, I would never have accepted that bearing a curse for ten thousand years would be better than living with the guilt of having harmed the one person in this world that I love.”
