Page 41 of Cursed Lifeline

For Esme’s sake, I won’t play the fool and deny my feelings for her any longer.

Curse be damned.

From this moment on, I’ll. Always. Choose. Her.

My hands trail to the back of her neck as I pull her closer. My fingertips graze the heart-shaped spot as I promise, “From this moment on,Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love."

Fifteen

Felix

song: do it for me | Rosenfeld

Later that night,I stalk purposefully down the darkened hallways of the Martin estate as moonlight casts an icy glow through colorful stained-glass windows, and Talon and Dimitri flank my side.

After Esme left me in the forest to return to her party, I had half a mind to find Lord Martin and tell him the deal was off. The coven would no longer help his revolution in France. But that would leave a mess for me to clean up with Mother. Why she’s so intent on us being part of this uprising is beyond me, especially when her powers have shown her how it all plays out in the end. Though she hasn’t divulged those secrets to the rest of the coven, and perhaps they are the very reason why we’re here because she’s hopeful she can twist fate.

So as not to mess with Mother’s and Lord Martin’s plans, I spent the past several hours dwelling on and weighing the pros and cons of my risky scheme to ensure Esme’s safety. In the end, the only method that didn’t bring about more madness was the idea to come to Esme’s room tonight and convince her to leave with me.

Talon and Dimitri have joined me because they believe I’m a fool, and they may be right. I allowed them to come only because, if Lord Martin gets wind that I’m here and what I intend to do, I may need their help. Not only that, but the Lord isn’t the only one who won’t let Esme go without a fight. Her brother and his minions could prove to be just as tricky.

Rounding the last corner to Esme’s room, it doesn’t surprise me that a guard is seated just outside her door. He rises, pulls his dagger from his hip, and opens his mouth to speak, but his air supply is cut off as Talon’s shadows reach out and strangle his neck in a tight grip.

The fool stumbles backward as my brother’s dark grasp tightens into a deathly vice. Coming to a stop in front of Esme’s door, I frown as the man reaches up to his throat and attempts to loosen the invisible hold. Talon allows the man a small breath before tightening his restraint. Dimitri laughs sinisterly watching the pointless show.

“Didn’t Mother ever teach you not to play with your food?” I sigh.

“Mother’s not here,” Talon grins wickedly. “If she were, you’d be smart to be more concerned with the way she’d feel about the stunt you are about to pull, not the twisted pleasure I get from inflicting pain and torment on unsuspecting prey.”

Dimitri chuckles under his breath, closing in on the ignorant victim in question. Talon quickly follows suit as the man turns and stumbles away in a sorry attempt to save his life.

Intent on putting Talon in his place for running his mouth, I open my own to do just that when a sharp clatter of glass echoes through the wood separating me from Esme, and I stop.

“Tricks and treats, remember,” Talon taunts, sauntering off after the man Dimitri has already sunk his teeth into in a dark corner. “If you plan to indulge, at least soundproof her chambers and spare us the thoughts running through your mind on how savory and delicious her treats truly are.”

The sound of furniture breaking on the other side of the door makes my heart race. Panicked, I instantly mist inside her room.

Searching for her in the dark of midnight, my worried gaze lands on movement in the far left corner. Shards of a glass mirror and a broken nightstand lay scattered across the floor. Alarmed, I step forward just as Esme steps out of the shadows. Fierce violence hangs in her eyes as she grips a large fragment of jagged glass in her palm, intent on doing her intruder harm.

“Felix,” she softly cries when she notices the trespasser is me.

Longing fills her eyes, and the piece of broken glass slips from her palm, but not before cutting a tempting path down the center of her hand and further opening her wound from earlier this evening.

I suck in a sharp breath as my body quickly propels itself back against the nearest wall. Esme’s eyes widen as she glances down and notices the enticing drip, drip, drip of her blood against the shards of glass on the floor. The crimson color of her essence reflects in the iridescent moonlight, inviting me closer and begging me to taste it.

But even though the monster in me begs to be unleashed, my heart knows it could never take what her body is unwillingly offering me.

After a moment, Esme breathes out frantically, “What are you doing here?”

Holding my breath, I attempt to master self-control and slowly push myself off the wall. Each predatory step that takes me closer to Esme causes her to back up against the wooden frame of her four-post bed.

Control.

Restraint.

I try my hardest to grab a hold of both.

But when she raises her bloodied hand as I take my final step toward her and place it against my chest, I fucking lose it.

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