Page 71 of Cursed Lifeline

Sucking in a sharp breath, I glance over my shoulder and realize the door to the room is closed. We’re all alone. The weight of that knowledge wedges between us and makes it impossible for me to think straight. My chest rises and falls quickly, but I can’t seem to suck in enough air and start to panic.

Felix’s hand raises and wraps around my throat. He brushes my hair out of the way and his lips fall to the back of my neck. His mouth tenderly caresses across my birthmark and an indecent moan slips past his lips.

“The men you’re used to, doll,” he growls in my ear. “Do they ask before they take?”

His strong grip anchors around my waist as he tenderly brushes his lips over the mark again. At a loss for words, my eyes flutter closed. His nose tenderly brushes against the nape of my neck and he whispers, “Something tells me, I’m not like the men you’re used to.”

“I’m not used toanyman…”

“Good,” he grits, pressing me further into the wall. A desperate groan falls past his lips. Its pleasurable sound causes my breath to hitch as he growls, “You have no idea how happy that makes me.”

“Why?” I gasp as his hand releases my neck and he brushes his fingertips lovingly, teasingly down the center of my chest.

“Because that means you’re chaste.” I suck in a wanton breath. “Pure.” He places a kiss against my collarbone, and I swear I see stars as my body betrays me and my back arches into him. “Untouched.”

He trails his hand to the back of my neck, across a secret I’ve always tried to keep hidden. His sharp intake of breath as his thumb gently sweeps across my heart-shaped birthmark causes desire to pool between my thighs.

As his lips hover above the mark, his voice is laced with emotion as he says, “In time, you’ll remember.”

“Remember what?” I pant.

“That you’ve been expecting me just as much as I’ve anticipated you.”

His mouth trails to the side of my neck. My pulse beats rapidly against his lips as they close over my pulse point before he slowly kisses a path back to my birthmark. The sharp hiss of my dress's zipper lowering causes me to stop breathing. A second later, cool metal wedges itself between my trembling skin and the strap of my bra. With a violent snap, Felix cuts the fabric, and I suck in a much-needed breath. He smiles against my skin as he tenderly kisses the heart-shaped mark.

A moment later, his hands fall to my hips. He grips my sides with selfish desire, then flings me around to meet his stare.

As my hungry gaze meets his ravenous one, his fingertips trace the side of my cheek, and I lose myself in the moment—in him. A faint whimper escapes my lips as his fingers trail to the back of my neck and perfectly rest against the mark I was so sure I was born with, up until a few minutes ago.

“Don’t deny me, Esme,” he breathes desperately against my mouth. “After all this time, I don’t think my heart could take it.”

Closing my eyes, I remain silent as an urgent need builds between us.

“Have dinner with me,” he insists. “Tonight.”

Instantly, I nod, accepting the invitation. I don’t know what I expect next: his kiss, a loving embrace. But neither come. Instead, before I open my eyes, his presence suddenly vanishes, and I collapse into a nearby chair.

I don’t hear him leave, but suddenly find myself all alone.

I sit for a long time wondering what just happened. Eventually, I glance to my right and notice a red rose sitting atop a note on the desk across the room. Pulling myself to stand, I timidly walk over, pick it up, and breathe in its heavenly scent. Its aroma calls to me. It begs me to unlock a past I know I need to understand.

Picking up the note, I noticed that my name is written in beautiful script on delicate paper. Turning it over, a message is revealed, and I read,

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”

Play with me, Esme.

One. More. Time.

-Felix

My dream.

Startled, I drop the paper as an unsettling chill ghosts over my skin. I debate going back to the dining car to join Alfred and Caelum, but in light of all that’s just happened, I’m not hungry. Sitting on the sofa, my hands shake as I prop my feet up on the bench across the way, lean back against the pillows, and take in the sunrise against the countryside while the train takes me further away from the only life I’ve ever known. The irony is it’s taking me closer to a life I’ve been desperate to uncover.

Eventually, the sound of the train running the tracks starts to lull me to sleep. I close my eyes and doze off thinking of one thing.

Felix Caldwell and his striking violet eyes that hold a secret my soul desperately wants answers to.

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