She looks at me. I look back. There is a pause as I watch her brain work.
“Darius.” My voice comes out clipped. “I think I should make a will. I’d like to leave everything to my parents.”
The room on the other side of the screen goes silent.
Darius’s brow furrows. “Sienna? What the hell…”
Violet has pressed both her hands flat against her thighs, still trying to follow.
But Lillian gets there. I see when the comprehension lands. Her jaw tightens, and her tone does not soften.
“You’re cursed.”
My eyes close. The relief that drops through me is so heavy, I almost slide forward off the couch. She has said the word for me. The thing I could not put into the air is in the air now, and someone else carried it there.
“How long?” Lillian asks.
I open my mouth and can’t answer again. Frustration fills me.
“When do you want to make the will?”
“Within a year,” I whisper.
Her head turns toward the corner of her screen where she can see Lucas at his desk.
“Do you also need a will, Alpha Steele?”
He shakes his head once.
“Is this desire to make a will recent?” Lillian asks me slowly.
I nod jerkily. I reach out and touch my neck where the mating mark is. “Last night.”
I glance at Lucas. He is watching me, and I can see admiration in his eyes.
Lillian’s gaze drops to my throat. The shirt slipped a little when I leaned forward, and I have not bothered to fix it. She sees the mating mark when I crane my head to the left.
“A curse activated upon receiving a mating mark.”
Darius’s jaw is tense, and he looks at Lucas. “You knew?”
Lucas just sighs.
Violet’s eyes are bright with sudden tears. “Is there a way to break it?”
“No.”
The word comes out of me without resistance. I blink. My mouth opens again.
“It’s a generational curse on Lucas’s bloodline,” I say carefully, testing each word as it comes. “A witch laid it more than a hundred years ago. There are no records left. We don’t know how—”
I stop. The words are coming out. The damn words are coming out!
“Clever woman.” Lucas’s voice is low.
He has not moved from the desk. There is heat along with pride underneath the quiet tone, heat that I can feel through our bond. It goes through me at the wrong angle and lights up at the base of my spine.
My eyes drop, and I bite my lip before my face can tell on me.
