Page 111 of Cruel Destinies

She cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

Cold fear seeped through me as I realized my slip, momentarily freezing me from the inside out.

I wasn’t ready for Arya to learn about the curse. I wasn’t even close to finding a way to break it. What would she do if sheknew? Would she run? Even if I told her about my imprint on her?

For the briefest of seconds, I considered spilling everything. Letting it all out. Trusting someone for once in my fucking life!

But the possibility of her rejection was too terrifying to contemplate further.

“Nothing. Speaking of presents,” I said, plastering a smile onto my face. “I have a gift for you.”

She eyed me for a moment, her brows still pinched, the tug-of-war between skepticism and curiosity plain in her gaze. But then both melted, replaced with sparkling anticipation. “Oh?”

Taking her hand, I led her back to my spot near the fountain where I’d left my bag and tablet. Sitting cross-legged, I patted the space beside me for her to join. I chuckled when she hesitated, probably remembering thesnowwasn’t actually cold.

When she’d settled, my heart thudded at a faster pace. This was new territory for me. My interactions with women had always been either purely physical or with a blood relative, and while I had presented my mother and sister with gifts plenty of times before, I’d never done so with any other female. And with them, their reaction didn’t matter nearly as much as this did.

I awkwardly handed it to her. Slowly, she untied the thick red ribbon that had been so adeptly tied by the store clerk and was careful not to create a single tear in the gold paper before revealing the square white box.

My heart hammered harder, threatening to push through my ribcage. Time seemed to slow to a stop.

Fuck, it’s just a damn Christmas present, not an engagement ring!

But I snapped my thoughts away fromthatline of thinking immediately. I was seriously in danger of losing Arya forever if I wasn’t careful.

When she gasped, seeing the silver bracelet contrasted against the black velvet, I had to bring my knees up to my chest and put physical force against my beating heart.

She lifted the charms delicately and slowly as if any other way would make them turn to ash.

“Tobias,” she said, her voice breathy and barely a whisper. “This is...”

She trailed off, inspecting the five charms I’d chosen—thanks to Niko’s somewhat spiteful advice—with purpose and care.

“This one is obvious,” she said, grinning as she held up the open seashell with a blue back and silver mermaid sitting inside. “And this one...” She teared up as she looked at the single silver wing with a tiny golden heart attached to a ring surrounded by clear gems.

“Because flying is better than swimming...” I prompted, teasing.

Her smile met her eyes, and she shoved me lightly.

She furrowed her eyebrows at the next one—the silver origami crane with its wings folded up.

I touched it with a fingertip and rolled my eyes. “Jewelers need to grow imaginations.” My neck grew hot with sudden self-consciousness. “They didn’t have any dragons.”

“Ah.” Her eyes widened, and I wondered if she saw any resemblance between the tiny paper crane and my own alter-form.

I felt a little chagrined, thinking maybe she was merely humoring me. It seemed more obvious when I picked it out in the store.

The next was a silver locket. Simple, with embellished swirls on the outside. Arya opened it carefully.

“What, no picture?” she asked with a wink. “Am I supposed to ask for a tiny picture of my boyfriend so I can take him with me wherever I go?”

“Actually, I thought you could put your mom in that one,” I said, hearing my voice go flat. Probably due to my previous embarrassment.

She nodded and swallowed, moving on to the final charm. “And this one is just pretty.”

She held the rose-gold sphere, diamond in the middle and spokes of gold pointing outward to more diamonds, then more spokes and diamonds. It had reminded me of one of my fireballs, but again, like with the crane, I felt foolish for thinking so.

“Actually...” She paused and turned it to the side. “It looks like...a fireball.”

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