Page 65 of Too Cursed To Kiss
“Okay, go into the marble. Put the ring in your pocket and then take off your jacket. Leave the jacket behind. Got it?”
I didn’t like his deadly serious tone. “How can my jacket stay in this? That makes no sense.” I held up the marble and gave him the double-raised eyebrows that hopefully stated I was unimpressed with being ordered around.
“The marble is linked to a place sort of like a room without walls. Once you access it, you can leave things there and visit them. As long as you are holding the marble, you have access to that place.”
“Fine. Be right back.” Although that made no sense because when I was in the bubble it was like being right beside him, so I hadn’t really left. Or had I?
Out of the bubble and in the car again, I set the marble on the seat beside me and stared at it.
“What do I do with the marble now?” I whispered, wondering what it would be worth on the open market. Probably enough that I would never have to work again. Maybe worth the price of a desert island, with staff to service my needs. Wald could come. I would have days upon days of languid tongue licking…
“Keep it close to you,” he interrupted, but his voice rasped like he needed water.
The gravel fed my island dream. Without the jacket, I had no pockets. I tucked the round smoothness into the center of my bra. That should be close enough. “Where are we?”
“Oregon border.”
“Gah. Specifics please. WithIdaho or California?”
“I stayed out of California and drove us through Nevada.”
Wow, I’d slept for hours. “How are you feeling?” I asked, looking him over. The pale skin over his jaw was a hard line.
“Fine,” he snapped back at me.
“Then why are you mad?” I replied, crossing my arms over the priceless glass ball.
“I’m not pleased Britannia still has the album.”
“Yeah, she does.”
“You shouldn’t have let her leave with it,” he said with a grimace.
“Like I had a choice. I saved your sorry ass. Without me, you’d be lying dead on the floor… probably.” I waggled a hand at him, but he didn’t bother to look in the rearview.
I’d done nothing to save him. Britannia had. But I felt like I’d saved him. That had to count, right? I recrossed my arms and sat back on the seat grumbling. “Bas-turd,” I said under my breath. I pondered how breathing now didn’t hurt, while examining my non-broken wrist. How was that possible? It must have meant licking. I bet a lot of licking. A thrill blossomed up, warming my insides as I imagined a languorous tongue bath. It was too bad I hadn’t been awake for that.
“By the way, where is Britannia?” I asked, pulling my hair off my neck and wishing for an elastic.
“I expect with Elizabeth. You left her alive, right?” He glanced at me.
“Seriously? If you wanted Britannia dead, you could have killed her yourself. You had ample opportunity.” I gritted my teeth.
“Britannia is hard for me to kill.”
“Let me guess. It’s a long story, right?” I rolledmy eyes.
“Right.”
“We have time.”
“It’s difficult for us to kill those of our own kind. There is a curse that’s unleashed when the spirit transfers.”
“See, that wasn’t so long. I get it, kind of. It’s easier for me to kill her than you. So Britannia is cursed now because she killed Agatha?”
“Maybe, but she’s already cursed, and we don’t know for sure her hand killed Agatha.”
“What does that mean?”
