Page 51 of The Midnight Order
“You would.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t feel like it. You used some kind of magic on me, knocked me out, brought me here, and are holding me untiltestingis done, but whatifI am this key, and I don’t want to be with you? What if I don’t want to break the curse for you?”
“Love is rooted in free will; you’ll be free to go. We would continue looking.”
Sadness looms in my chest, but I staunch it down to let common sense rule.
I can’t give up my entire life for a coven of vampires to be happy.
Interacting with them, the little bits that I have, tells me that a love like theirs, a love strong enough to break a curse, would consume me whole and spit out my pieces on the ground afterward.
“I can’t… this is too much.”
Jasper stands, holding out his hand to me. “Come, I’ll show you to your room.”
Reluctantly, I let him take me back to the room, where it’s a little emptier without Corvin and the sounds ofYellowstoneblasting through the television speakers.
“Jasper,” I say before he shuts the door.
He turns.
“Thank you for telling me.”
He crosses the room and lingers in front of me. “You deserve the truth. Besides, the curse demands honesty. We’ve learned that over the years.”
He leans down, and I brace for what he’ll do next when he kisses my forehead, his cold lips feeling warm as my body responds tenfold.
“You’re so much like her,” he whispers, pulling back.
I look up into his eyes, wishing like hell I could rip the white mask off his face.
He’s long gone when I realize I might be the only one to take the mask off his face.
And I might be the one to walk away and leave it there.
Chapter 14
Silver
“Rock a bye, baby…”I hear softly in my ear. The tone causes a rancid shiver to worm through my bones, and I slog my eyes open to look around.
Red, glowing eyes stare back at me as a menacing smirk lifts over sharp fangs.
My scream curdles through the room as I shoot upward in the bed.
It’s dark, still early morning, and I don’t know when I fell asleep, but I know I was sleeping deeply.
“Lowell,” I breathe shakily, wringing tension out of my hands, eyeing the door with hope gnawing at my stomach like a hungry dog. “Why are you in here? It’s not your time…”
There’s an inkiness to how it feels to be in Lowell’s presence; there’s also a spike in anxiety.
It’s as if he’s teetering on the edge of sanity, and I’m the one trying to balance him.
One wrong move could tip him in either direction, and I don’t want to be the one to do so.
