Page 74 of Cursed Lifeline

“Enemy?” I ask, amazed, because that’s not the impression they gave earlier when they so freely let Felix show me to my room.

My cousins look apprehensively at each other.

Eventually, Caelum smiles, “It’s like ripping off a band-aid. Best to just get it over with quickly.”

Alfred sighs heavily, before glancing back my way and regaling me with a story that makes my hair stand on end.

My nightmares parading as dreams are linked to a calling. A summons. A fate I can try to ignore, try to outrun, but will never escape. The moment I took my first breath, my future had already been decided.

I was right to assume the dreams I’ve had for years hinted at more than just garden parties and cotillions.

Because I’m the slayer.

A fated line of women destined to hunt and overtake one of the most tempting forms of evil the world has ever known.

An enemy like the one with violet eyes who haunts my dreams.

As my cousins rise to leave, I sense they still haven’t told me everything. Perhaps because there is much more to their stories, and the haunting memories starting to unravel that they know my heart can’t handle yet.

Starting with the man who’s waiting to have dinner with me.

Felix Caldwell.

I have a responsibility to break a curse. Hiswords torment me as I sit alone in my room and wrestle to untangle dark memories.

As they twist and turn and make me nauseous, I realize fate’s sick twist. Unfortunately for both of us, I’m the weapon sent to destroy his reign before he ever gets the chance to right the past and give us a future we hopelessly crave.

Twenty Six

Felix

song: you’re the one i want | lo-fang

Later that night,my heart feels light for the first time in decades as I smile at Esme,lean against the doorframe to my roomette, and drink her in for the first time in a little over a century.

Her auburn hair is different from the golden locks of her last life. Pulled up high, they’re secured by a beaded headband with a feather on the left side. The bodice of her dress is burgundy. Black, sheer tulle covers the crimson silk, which is accentuated by black beading. The dress flares at the knee before cascading into a breathtaking puddle at her feet.

As she enters the room and meets my eye, the candlelight plays dangerous games, luring me into a spell I haven’t been cast under in close to ten decades.

Inviting her into my private quarters, it suddenly dawns on me that the last time we were alone like this, I controlled my appetite by indulging in her pleasure. Her memories are still too fresh, too new to hope that this night could end the same way. But, if she’s willing, and if my thirst for her toes the line between civil and carnal, I have no problem falling to my knees and worshiping her like I’ve dreamed of for the last hundred years.

Reading the intent of my predatory gaze, Esme’s cheeks flush an adorable shade of pink.Swallowing hard, she stutters, “Since you walked me to my room earlier, my memory has been returning to me.”

Pushing off the wall, I ask, “Tell me how much you remember.”

She bites her bottom lip and glances nervously from side to side as I make my way toward her, then says, “I remember enough to know that my feelings are valid.”

Even though she puts up a believable front, the scent of her blood hammering wildly through her heart gives her nerves away as I continue to take calculated, purposeful steps toward her.

I’ve dreamt of this moment for a hundred years, and I intend to savor every delicious, tantalizing second of it.

“Feelings?” I grin. “Pray elaborate, Esmerelda.”

“What happened to doll?” she sasses.

She watches my ravening approach and shamelessly undresses me with her eyes. When my toes meet hers, I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her flush against my chest.

As I lean forward, her eyes close, anticipating the feel of my lips against hers. Goosebumps break out across her skin as my breath feathers against her neck.

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