Page 55 of Cursed Magic

“It’s not something I’m proud of.” He rubbed his jaw. “At first, I didn’t care. I just didn’t want the guys to know what I’d done because they’d worry. Finding whoever did this to my pack and our late royals was the priority. Nothing else mattered…until you came along. I should’ve known—you’re a damn troublemaker.” The corners of his lips tipped upward.

My heart skipped a beat. I tried to ignore the flutters because we had to work through these issues. “I wanted you to be open with me.”

He lifted both hands. “Why? All it would do was give you another reason to push me away.”

A knife pierced my heart. “That’s not fair. My pack was slaughtered, my sister was missing, and all I wanted to do was find her and take her someplace safe. The last person I trusted killed everyone I loved.”

He huffed. “Now I get what they say about the Sinclairs.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I stumbled back.

“That when things get complicated, you run. Royal blood or not, you aren’t cut out to deal with anything messy. You hide and wait for the conflict to be over.”

That hit a little too close to home. “Oh, so you get upset with me for believing rumors about you, but now you’re using rumors against me.”

His eyes flared. “They’re not rumors if they’re true, are they? You told me that was your plan. Get your sister and disappear.”

Heat rose in my cheeks. “You asked me to leave! When I stayed, you were the one who told me to go.”

“Of course I did!” His voice thundered in my ears. “I wanted you to be safe. That’s the most important thing to me. I fucking lo–!” He winced, closing his mouth.

My heart lurched into my throat. Had he been about to say he loved me?

The words hung between us, and my head spun. His chest heaved with each breath, and he stood, vulnerable, in front of me.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to see you fight your way in and out of my life?” He spoke softer now,but the words still had an edge that cut deep. “You’re all I think about, Ember, even when I should be focused on keeping my pack alive. I fucking took a knife to save your sister because I couldn’t bear the thought of you losing her.”

A wave of conflicting emotions crashed over me. My wolf begged for me to close the distance between us again, but I was scared he’d reject me once more.

“I can’t live without you either,” I whispered.

His eyes widened, and his jaw clenched. “Then stop playing with me. Stop making me think I’m crazy for feeling this way and that it’s one-sided.”

I hated that he felt that way. My resolve broke, and I took a trembling breath. “I feel the same way about you, Ryker. It’s definitely not one-sided.”

Something unreadable crossed his face, and then he stalked forward, his attention focused on my lips.

Even though kissing him was the one thing I wanted to do, we hadn’t truly resolved any of our problems. If he touched me, I’d forget that we still had an issue that would continue to fester.

I must have shied away because his expression fell, and he looked wounded all over again. He turned away and stepped around me to head inside.

“Please don’t go,” I rasped, clutching his arm. “It’s not what you—”

“Tell me what you want from me, Ember.” His voice was hoarse, cracking under the weight of everything unsaid. “I’ll do whatever you want. I just need to know what that is. I can’t keep doing this.”

My throat tightened. “I want you to tell me the complete truth. I need to hear it all from you. I can’t move forward unless we can both trust each other.”

Our gazes locked, and the world stood still.

He released a long, shuddering sigh. “All right. I’ll tell you everything.”

The certainty in his voice sent a shiver down my spine. He reached for my hand, hesitating as if testing whether I would pull away again.

This time, I didn’t. I was just as exhausted as him. I missed his touch… No, Icravedit. I felt peace only when I touched or was close to him. I clasped his hand.

“After the attack on the royals, the only emotions I could feel were anger and pain. Some days, it was hard to function…to even get out of bed. Other days, my anger got the best of me. Nothing mattered except finding whoever did it, but I wasn’t able to hold it together to actually make progress.

“One day, while we were eating in the kitchen here, Queen Ambrosia mentioned a witch nearby with the ability to manipulate the soul to help people focus on their end goals.” His thumb rubbed against my wrist as he continued, “So, at the first opportunity, I went into the study and looked into it. I learned that a witch with that ability could cast a spell to take away my humanity.” The words were raw, filled with something close to shame. “I asked Raven a question about the witch Ambrosia had mentioned, remarking that I knew witches usually tried to remain hidden. Raven made a comment about a possible location, and I was able to figure out where to find the witch. I found her, and she said she could cloak my soul so that I could focus on my end goal. All I had to do was give her some of my blood. I did.”

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