Page 48 of The Prince's Curse

“Okay. But you’re not going to believe me.”

Chapter 12

Her heart thundered as she stared down the vampire across the brick expanse. Moonlight caught the hints of red and bronze in his hair, and she begrudgingly had to acknowledge that he was very handsome, at least as murderous vampires went.

She knew what he had done, so why was something in her whispering trust him. He’s telling the truth. Why did she want to touch him the way she had in all those dreams?

His dark green eyes never left hers as he spoke, his voice low and rasping. “You were born over two hundred years ago. Your name was Brigitte Maria Haas, and you were born in Zurich. Your parents were Peter and Johanna, and you grew up well-loved, if not wealthy. You had a little sister named Monika who thought you painted the stars in the sky. And in 1844, I met you in a park in Zurich, and I fell in love with you at first sight.”

“That’s impossible,” she said. Clearly, he was not only homicidal, but insane. And yet…he sounded so sincere. A faint smile curled at his lips as he evoked his delusion. He believed it.

He shook his head. “I told you that you wouldn’t believe me. I fell in love with you, and you gave me one dance that turned into hours, and within a few days, you were mine. We had just over two years together. You married me in a little church in Vienna, and I promised that you would always have someone to dance with, and I would hold the loom so you could weave your dreams into existence,” he said, his eyes welling over.

Before she could protest, he continued. “And because I angered Armina Voss, she cursed you. You died in my arms not long after our wedding, just after your twenty-ninth birthday.”

“No,” she breathed.

“And you were born again and again. I know that your mother was twenty-nine when she died, and that you were born in 1991. I know that you have a birthmark on your neck that everyone can see, and you have another at the small of your back that looks like Orion’s Belt,” he said.

Her hand drifted to her back. “How do you know that?”

“Because I know you. Because back then, I loved you more than anything in this universe,” he said. “And she took you from me. She has punished you because of me. And if I could take on all your suffering, I would. I am trying to save you from the same fate, but I can’t force you.”

He strode closer, but Scarlett pulled her gun, keeping it down by her side. “Stop right there.”

“If you don’t believe anything else I say, please believe this. Your birthday is in a week, and unless she has changed her pattern, you will die within a week of turning twenty-nine,” he said. “Kova was trying to tell you to get away because he knows we would help you if we could find you. He was cursed by Armina Voss too, and he went to her begging to spare the woman he loved. And she tricked him into slavery.”

Her throat went dry at the thought of Kova begging for mercy. And she had left him there, alone and caged. With her mind on Kova, she was too slow to react. In a heartbeat, he was on her, grabbing her wrist. She went to pull away, but he pressed her hand close to his chest, aiming her gun right into the base of his jaw.

“What are you?—”

“Pull the trigger. If you could remember, you’d know I’m not a creative man. I could not weave a lie this outlandish if I tried. If you want to kill me and be done with it, then go ahead. I am exhausted, and I can’t watch you die again,” he said.

“But my mother…” she said.

God, he was so close that she couldn’t see past him, couldn’t smell anything but that rich, masculine scent. Why didn’t she just pull the trigger and end this? One bullet, and this would all be over. This was all she’d wanted for the last ten years and he was serving himself to her on a silver platter, so why couldn’t she pull the damn trigger?

He just stared down at her with a sad smile on his face. “I don’t know who she was. For all we know, she’s still alive out there. But based on what Kova told us…the woman you think was your mother was actually you. Because Armina Voss is twisted. The last time, she killed someone close to you and convinced you to take revenge by hunting vampires. You weren’t nearly as good at it last time, though.”

“This sounds insane,” she said.

“I know. But it’s all true.”

She should have been fleeing. The smell of him should have been a warning to prey, telling her to run for her life. And instead, she breathed deep and stayed there under his intense stare. “What did you do to Armina to make her so angry?”

He was quiet for a while. His eyes closed, as if he remembered something painful. Then he stared at her evenly. “I killed the man she loved. Her husband, maybe her soulmate. He commanded a group of vampire hunters who were killing my people in cold blood. I allowed my subordinates to interrogate him, and then I killed him so he couldn’t go and warn them we were coming,” he said. “And if she had simply killed me in revenge, it would be fair and just. But she targeted you instead to make sure I suffered like she did.”

Suddenly, Julian’s head snapped to one side, and he put his arms around her, spinning quickly. His voice was louder as he said, “I’m fine. Stand down.”

She tried to shove at his chest, but he was so damned strong. “Let me go!” she protested. Both his arms encircled her head now, and she was keenly aware that he could snap her neck as easily as she breathed.

“Paris,” Julian said in a warning tone. She didn’t dare look around, but her skin crawled with the phantom sensation of being watched, of knowing there was probably a scope pointed at the back of her head.

He was protecting her, and that was not even close to the strangest thing she’d experienced tonight.

Finally, he released her and let her back away a few steps. Now his scent clung to her, doing unspeakable things to her brain. Struggling to regain her composure, she huffed and said, “I thought you were alone.”

“My colleagues are waiting for me at a safe distance,” he said mildly. “I am the Elder of my court after all.”

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