Page 116 of Cursed Lifeline

“Stay here with me, and we’ll find a way to break the bond,” I say.

“What?” Alfred scoffs, stepping forward and hanging his head low. He leans into my ear and whispers, “Saving him was one thing, Evangeline. But this…”

“You’re free to go, Alfred,” I snap. Turning and staring the watcher down, he takes a hurt step back and looks at Viktor. “No one is keeping you here.”

His eyes snap back to mine. “I’m staying,” he insists.

We’ll see about that.

Stepping around me, he saunters off towards the supplies I’ve laid out and busies himself with rummaging through what little I could grab before I transported us to the cliffs of Mount Erymanthos. The fae lands where I was born.

Viktor eyes Alfred angrily.

“Same goes for you,” I sigh, crossing my arms over my chest. Viktor’s gaze swings back my way. “You don’t want my help, fine. You’re free to go. No one is keeping you here, either.”

Viktor steps forward. I catch Alfred’s watchful gaze out of the corner of my eye and take a deep breath.

“Evangeline,” Viktor whispers, and I swear my heart flutters. “You’re the first honest thing to come into my life in centuries. I’m not going anywhere.”

Part Three

song: the final countdown | damned anthem

“Tis the very witching time of night,

when church yards yawn,

and hell itself breathes out,

contagion to this world:

now could I drink hot blood,

and do such bitter business as the day.”

-William Shakespeare

Hamlet

Present Day

Forty

Viktor

song: Rescue | lauren daigle

Mount Erymanthos,Greece

Evangeline eyes me cautiously through the haze of candlelight. Her stare flickers with mischief as she sucks in a shaky breath. Biting her bottom lip, she raises a suggestive brow. A playful chuckle leaves my mouth. Licking my lips, I slowly look her up and down and study her closely.

Her eyelashes flutter; she seems to have stopped breathing.

Leaning forward, my eyes fall to her lips.

I study her mouth for the telltale sign she’s nervous. For the adorable twitch of her left cheek that I’ve grown accustomed to staring at the past several decades we’ve spent together. It’s a quiver that inevitably gives away her nerves and just how panicked she really is.

She releases a shuttered sigh.

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