Page 23 of The Stone Survival
The loss of her. The lack of her.
Is Curi feeling the same? “How are you coping?”
“Coping?” He scoffs. “With what?”
Nah, we’re not going to play that game. “You know what.”
He huffs. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
He definitely wants to talk about it. But I know his type. If I push, he’ll shut down. “Okay.”
Several seconds pass, and he sighs. “How did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“You know what.” He grinds out the words. “Stop loving her.”
I don’t stop the rough laugh that grates up my throat. “I guess I’m a better actor than I realized.”
He slows his pace. “You…You’re still in love with her?”
Fuck it. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”
Curi chuckles, and his chuckle turns into a full-blown laugh, and I can’t help but join in. Because here we are, two males in love with the same woman. Males who in a different situation would be rivals but instead are both rejects with no hope of ever having our heart’s desire.
It feels good to laugh. It leaves my chest feeling lighter, but it doesn’t last for long before the awful yawning feeling returns.
“I’m not sure I can do it,” Curi says. “Be around her all day, every day, seeing her with him, knowing that I should be happy for her but feeling nothing but jealousy.”
If anyone can understand what he’s going through, it’s me. “You’ll do it. You’ll fake it. And after a while, you’ll believe it.”
“Is that what you’ve been telling yourself?”
“Yep. I knew as soon as I found out that she had a fated mate that she could never be mine. Even when we thought Serathwas gone, I knew that our time, mine and hers, had passed. She would never be mine. I’d already begun to build a distance between us, to allow myself to begin to heal and hopefully move on when Serath returned so…Yeah, I guess I’m more prepared.”
“And…did you talk to her about it?”
“Not really, not in so many words, but she knows. Cameron is smart. She realizes what I’m doing, and I’m grateful that she’s giving me the space I need. It doesn’t make it easy, though. Love simply doesn’t stop.”
“She stopped loving you.” His tone is bitter, and I can’t help the protective surge that rushes through me toward Cameron.
My smile is stiff when I reply. “She never stopped. She still loves me. But…not the way I love her, and nothing like the way she loves Serath. And I’ve come to terms with that…at least…I’m trying.”
“I’m not sure I’ve got the emotional strength you have.”
Is he serious? “Curi…you lay with her. Held her. Helped her find release so that she wouldn’t be in pain. Then you let her go. If that’s not emotional strength, then I don’t know what is.”
His jaw tenses. “I’m so…I’m fucking angry, Levi, and I know…I know I have no right to be but…Argh.”
“I get it. Trust me. I get it. It hasn’t helped that the focus has been on Cameron for the last few weeks.Herpain.Herloss. She needed us. But she has Serath back now. We should take a step back and focus on the bigger picture. The faction.”
He nods. “Yeah. You’re right.”
“Once this is over, the world is our oyster.”
“What do you mean?”
Am I the only one who’s considered what might happen? “We know the truth of the threat now, and once we stop it, everything will change. This whole system…the elites, the guardians…”
