His brows drew together sharply, the first crack in his mask. “Who told you that?”
“Can it be broken, Thrax?”
Typical Thrax—he didn’t respond. But his silence and the tick in his jaw confirmed I was right.
I nodded slowly, feeling the truth slide into me as I slowly digested it. “How?” My voice came out low. “How can it be broken?”
“Drop that subject. You shouldn’t even be thinking about it.”
“Does it have to do with the fact that I’m seeing the dream?”
“No. It has nothing to do with you at all.”
“You keep lying.”
His gloved fingers pushed through his hair again, dragging it back. “Believe that everything I say is for your own good.”
“So you’re lying, then.” My throat burned. “It has to do with me. It has to do with the fact that I saw what actually happened.”It has to do with what Winifred said about surrendering my life to break his curse.
“Sanora—”
“Isn’t that why you’ve been stalking me?” The words came out abruptly, but I pushed on. “You’ve lived in the same places I’ve lived for the same period, and”—I gestured between us, heat rising in my chest—“now we’re here, living together. All that is a coincidence? You bought every single place in Nimorran so I’d have nowhere else to go. Why did you move into this place? You don’t stay with people. You probably have never even done that, yet it was easy for you to move in and stay with me.With me. Of all people—me?”
He didn’t speak, and the silence was enough. I took that as a sign that I was correct.
He had been stalking me, watching me. He had moved into this place with a purpose. It wasn’t a coincidence. I was dreaming about his past life because breaking his curse had something to do with me.
With me.
His curse could be broken, and it had to do with me.
How?
I stared at him, eyes locked, and knowing he wouldn’t tell me, I turned away and burst into the bedroom, putting on my clothes.
I just needed to breathe. I just needed to think. My heart hammered against my ribs as my mind burned with questions on why I was connected to the curse,howI was connected to the curse, and what had to be done to break the curse...and knowing he knew something but wouldn’t tell me for ‘my own good,’ I couldn’t stay in the same house, staring at him with the knowledge that he was keeping important secrets from me.
“Where are you going?” he asked as I came out of the room.
I jogged down the stairs, not looking at him. “Anywhere but here.”
He caught my wrist as I passed him at the bottom of the stairs, his grip firm but not hurting. “Sanora, no. Let’s talk about this.”
I raised my brows. “And you’ll tell me everything I want to know?”
A muscle twitched in his jaw.
“Thought as much.” I wrenched my hand free and strode to the door.
“Sanora. Sanora!”
“I just need a second to think!” I shouted back, slamming the front door shut, the sound echoing painfully in my chest. I walked fast, wanting to get away before he found some way to pull me back into his warm arms. I needed an alone time to process, and with him being around, his scent clinging to all four corners, there was no way I’d succeed.
I walked for hours aimlessly, circling block after block with nothing in my head but the cruel realisation that I was connected to the curse.
When I finally slowed, breathless and still lost in thought, I found myself in front of the library.
It was ridiculous, really. Having nowhere to go except my ex-kidnapper’s workplace.
