Page 50 of Cursed Lifeline

Finally, he says, “To save her.” The ground beneath our feet starts to shake. “From herself. From him,” he grits out, as his arms quiver and he clutches me to his chest and tries to hold out on the illusion breaking as long as he can.

Slightly angered, I push back against him. “Ophelia didn’t need saving, and neither do I.”

With a sad shake of his head, he pulls me closer and says, “That’s where you’re wrong. Ophelia had no control over her mind, her body, her relationships.”

“And you think I don’t as well,” I glare at him as the stained glass windows burst, their shards violently punch through the air, then suddenly stop.

Suspended, dangling in space, a daunting purgatory, time pauses. The air becomes electric as I question Felix and stare deeply into his violet,tear-filled eyes. The confidence in his gaze when he promised me he’d find a way for us to be together wavers. He’s resorting back to the way he felt the first night we met. But I’ll be damned if either of us stays away from each other now.

Leaning forward, he softly, gently steals a kiss and says,“God has givenusone face, andwemake forourselvesanother.”

I know what he’s hinting at, and my heart breaks.

While we’ve been wrapped up in our love, we’ve denied ourselves the truth of who and what we truly are.

The room slowly starts to spin. The shards of glass delicately, sluggishly, begin to move in a circle. Felix pulls back and regards me with a sad frown as a heartbreaking tear gently crests down his pale cheek.

“I haven’t been completely forthcoming with you. The way we feel for each other, it’s a curse, Esme. Passed down from my mother and my father.”

I shake my head no.

“You said you chose me,” I cry, “That you’d always choose me.” He starts to speak, but I cut him off and shout. “Don’t tell me the only reason is because of some damned curse.”

The shards of glass start to spin faster. The heat of the fire surrounding us, sparked to life from the petals that fell like snow, burn closer. My feet, my ankles, and my calves threaten to go up in flames as I stand my ground and demand, “Answer me!”

“I should’ve told you before. Before I promised you…” his voice shakes with emotion as his forehead falls against mine. “By birth, I’ll never be able to love you honorably. That’s my curse. I know I made you a promise to try, but since you were taken, I realized how fragile life is. I won’t make the same mistake they did.” His eyes lift and fill with anger. “I won’t sacrifice you to save myself. That was Hamlet’s mistake, though he saw it too late. He thought his actions wouldn’t affect Ophelia and that his choices wouldn’t destroy her. Only him. He was selfish. I won’t be like my father. I won’t be like yours, either. I won’t use you for gain. That’s how much I love you. That’s how much Ichoose you.Forty thousand,remember?Not with their quantity of love could make up my sum, Esme. Never, ever, forget that.”

As the words fall from his lips, a spring of rosemary falls from the ceiling to the ground between us. I take a small step back and pick it up. Taking Felix’s hand in mine, I gently place it in his palm.

If he intends to see things this way, all I can hope is that one day, his view will change, and we’ll eventually be together.

“There’s rosemary,”I quote Ophelia as I stare into his eyes. My voice cracks as I bite my bottom lip and struggle to keep my tears at bay.“That’s for remembrance.”His hand clenches mine tightly, wrapping the rosemary and my palm in a protective embrace.“Pray you, love, remember.”

Felix’s eyes brim with tears.

The glass from the stained glass thunders to the ground, and the illusion shatters completely. I look up just as one of my father’s men gets past Dimitri and charges for me. Sword drawn, ready to strike a fatal blow, Felix pushes me out of the way just in time, and I fall to the ground. The sword pierces through Felix’s upper right arm. He lets out a crazed howl. Frantically crawling backward, I startle when hands grip under my shoulders and start to pull me to my feet.

Turning, a pair of lovely violet eyes meet mine. The woman helps me up with a smile.

“Verena,” Felix yells over his shoulder as he pulls his sword and quickly stabs my father’s man through his heart. “Get her to the Palace of Versailles.”

I glance to the ground at Felix’s feet, where the man he just killed is now lying, and see my father’s lifeless body just a few feet away on the altar he was intent on sacrificing me on. His face is white, his body is drained of all blood. I glance to my left, to my right, and see more of the coven have infiltrated the church. They’re feasting on the dead and killing more of my father’s men with quick fatal bites as they try to fight back.

Fear gets the better of me until Felix shouts, “Alfred will meet you there. Hurry. Get her to safety.”

My attention draws back to Felix. A loud clang of metal and the deathly slash of swords steal my next breath. I watch in awe as he effortlessly holds two of my father’s men back without breaking a sweat. Even though he says he can’t love me honorably, that doesn’t stop him from protecting me honorably.

Felix spins around to look at me one last time just as the man behind him raises his sword, victoriously smiles, and brings down the weapon intent on killing the man I love. I scream out as Verena begs me to follow her to freedom. In a flash, Felix positions himself behind the attacker and runs him through with his sword.

“If you wish to see him again, in this life and your next, I suggest we go, petite,” Verena pleads.

My next?

I don’t have time to ponder the meaning of those two suspicious words as Alfred’s name for me gets my attention. The sounds of warfare rage on behind us as I swing her way and she gives me a curt nod. One that means business. One that tells me I’m safe with her. That I can trust her. I give her a reassuring one back as she flings open the doors to Notre Dame, and we hurry out into the dark Paris streets.

Rushing down the steps of the cathedral quickly, I glance over my shoulder, and hold my breath, sending up a prayer that Felix makes it out alive. I know it may be silly to pray for those who are already damned, but where would any of us be if we didn’t have faith in the impossible? If we didn’t love the broken? Or pray for the fallen?

I start to trip and catch myself just before I fall and tumble down the last few steps. Dizzy and trying to catch my breath, I reach the bottom of the stairs and look up just as I collide with Verena’s back. I try to step around her, but her right arm darts out, and she blocks me. Confused, I glance up. My stare locks on the black eyes of one of their kind. A vampire I have never met before.

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