But as she moved to take her seat, she caught the eye of the old crone. The hatred there chilled her to her soul.
Mildred was brewing evil. She could feel it. It crawled over her skin like a living, breathing creature.
“You will hold what you love in your arms and you will watch as he dies.”
Those words echoed in her ears. She remembered her curse. The old woman intended to kill Valteri.
To punish her.
Ariel winced as she remembered everything. The warrior she’d escorted from the battlefield—Mildred’s son—who had been honored to join ranks with her brethren.
And his mother’s wrath over something that Ariel had had no part in. Her role had been minor. All she’d done was escort him from where he’d fallen to those who offered him a chance to live again. To do what he’d wanted to do with his afterlife.
For that, she was being punished.
And so would Valteri.
It wasn’t right.
In that moment, her stomach cramped. By marrying him, she’d condemned him.
Belial had been right.
She wasn’t just a psychopomp. This time, she was the hand of death, and she’d stupidly dealt it to an innocent man.
Valteri felt the darkness from Ariel as he reached for his wine. “Is something amiss?”
She smiled and shook her head. “All’s well.”
Lifting her hand, he placed a kiss to her palm, amazed by her and the feast she’d made for him. No one had ever been so kind or thoughtful. And he couldn’t believe his good fortune.
How had someone so special fallen into his life?
That thought brought back his dream to him. The notion that with the good came an even greater evil.
Happiness never lasted. At least not for him.
Night invariably followed the day.
Was this only a setup for something far more foul? At no time in his life had he ever been allowed to take a breath and just enjoy one moment of his existence. Every heartbeat had been an endurance.
Surely this was no different.
What evil would follow? What cost would he have to pay for daring to enjoy this time with her?
But then, he knew.
You are cursed.
He’d been told that every day of his life. By everyone around him. No peace. No quarter.
His dream had been a warning, and he knew in his heart that fate would tear them apart.
Sooner rather than later, he would lose her.
And there would be nothing he could do.
CHAPTER15
