Page 36 of Cursed Lifeline

"Shut up," I hiss through a forced smile. "Or I make no promise not to step on your feet. I'll warn you, I sharpened my heels just for the occasion."

"Sharpened heels," Caelum chuckles with a devilish smirk. "Is that the latest fashion these days?"

"It is if you plan to use them as a weapon later."

“Touche, mon cheri,” he grins.

The way he says mon cheri causes my breath to catch and makes my steps falter. Once again, I trip over my feet. Caelum gives me a concerned look just as the heat of Felix's stare draws closer.

"I'm worried, Cal," I confess a moment later. He raises his brow, questioning why as we glide through the crowd. "What if all of this is for nothing?"

"The choices we make will never be for nothing," he smiles reassuringly. We'll always put your best interest and chance at survival first, Es. Trust me when I say the cost of losing you would surely kill us all—not just Alfred, Silas, and yours truly. "He gives me a wink to lighten the conversation, and I roll my eyes. "But others as well."

His eyes lift and lock on a dark presence nearing in behind me.

"Thanks for putting the weight of all this on my shoulders," I roll my eyes, which earns me a laugh as Caelum twirls me out of his arms, and then pulls me back closer than before.

His mouth rests at my ear. To anyone in the room, it would look intimate. Loving. They'd never know that inside, I'm cringing, acting a part, because Caelum will always be nothing more to me than a brother.

"The future of the world has always been a weight on your shoulders," he whispers. "The only difference is, before you met your dark prince, you had nothing to lose."

He kisses my cheek and slowly pulls back. My eyes catch his, and he frowns at whatever truth he sees hidden in my gaze.

"That's what I'm worried about," I softly cry. "Something tells me, no matter what I do, I'm doomed to end up losing everything in the end."

The burden of it all rests heavily on my soul as my gaze falls to the floor.

"Hey," Caelum attempts to comfort me as his knuckles softly knock the underside of my chin, and my fearful gaze lifts to his. "Just because you went and fell in love with the enemy doesn't mean you won't win."

"Who said anything about love?" I roll my eyes.

Caulem smiles, an all-knowing, older brother type of smile, but his grin is quickly replaced with suspicion as his eyes rise and latch onto someone over my shoulder.

Our dancing slows as we maneuver our way to the far end of the crowd.

"Remember what we talked about," he whispers, leaning in and kissing my cheek. He gives me one final twirl as we come to a stop at the far side of the dance floor. "Invitation. Submission. When the time is right, if you need to, don't hesitate. Strike and conquer the darkness. If we fail, and your premonition is right about losing, Silas will never let us live down the fact that we used you as bait."

His hands briefly tighten on my hips, and he pulls me closer into a brotherly hug. The coolness of night through the large French doors to my left causes an eerie, prophetic tremble to rush through my body as Caelum attempts to comfort me before the chase. Glancing out at the full moon, I take a deep breath as Caelum steps back, gently picks up my hand, and whispers, "This will only hurt for a moment."

I close my eyes, feel the prick of metal piercing my skin, and suck in a sharp breath. When I chance a glance back Caelum's way, his eyes grow wide as they watch the shadows move in quickly behind me. My blood calls to Felix as it pools in the center of my palm. Caelum pinches my hand harshly, coaxing more plasma out of the wound he just inflicted. A low growl can be heard growing with savage rage through the ballroom.

Caelum brushes his fingers against the inside of my palm, smearing the blood and causing more to spill out of the cut. His eyes flash up to meet mine.

"Don't back down," he insists. "See where his loyalty stands."

I give him a stiff nod.

"Whoever said women were the weaker sex never stood in the slayer's shoes," he grins. I force a sarcastic laugh as he pulls me close and kisses the top of my head. "Be safe, Es."

Before I can respond, he releases me and stalks off into the crowd. Darkness closes in from all sides. My breathing quickens as my hand falls and blood drips from my fingertips onto the ballroom floor. My heart hammers as I put one foot in front of the other, reach out with my bloody palm, and grab the doorknob to the French doors that lead out onto the veranda. They open for me on a foreboding breeze that screams for me to pay attention to its secrets.

"Esmerelda," my name is a carnal growl as it falls from my predator's lips, but I don't turn around.

Raising my skirt, I take off running and pray that choosing Felix over everything and everyone else wasn't the worst mistake I've ever made.

Fourteen

Felix

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