Page 26 of The Curse and the Silver Rose

In panic, she shifted her body enough to reach the silver rose in her pocket. Using her thumb, she clicked off the bud, causing the glorious song of the sirens to fill the library. The luminous blue blade extended from the rose-stem hilt, slicing the air close to Davron’s scarred face.

He howled and recoiled, covering both ears and stumbling backward. Amelie hurriedly stood, the torn ends of her dress falling in ribbons around her ankles. She strode up to him, brandishing the blade at his face.

The whites of his eyes showed, like a horse in a thunderstorm, his chest heaving. He backed up until he ran into a bookcase, Amelie’s blade at his heart the whole way. His claws retracted and his growl died in his throat, becoming a clench-jawed silence. She fought the urge to cry, wishing dearly that she’d ridden away on Trésor that very morning when she’d had the chance.

“Look at me,” she commanded.

He dropped his hands, flinching at the pain of the Sirensong, and raised his garnet gaze to her face.

“Amelie, do it,” he said.

He moved closer to the blade, his face a mask of regret. Instinctively, she withdrew several steps, her heart thudding and hands shaking. Could she actually kill him?

Did she even want to?

“I will never forgive myself for what I just did,” he snarled. “Kill me, I implore you.”

She looked from his face to the shimmering blade and back again, struggling to divine the correct course of action. Then, somehow, the moment for action passed. Instinctively, she knew he was no threat to her now, slumped in front of her like a fallen dark angel.

Ghastly as he was, she could not kill a man who was practically cowering. The fury left her as quickly as it had arrived. Now, she felt only betrayal, and intense disappointment.

“My first impressions of you were correct, after all,” she said, her voice quavering. “As were my brothers’. You are, in fact, worse than a beast. Beasts do not dine with you and confide in you and show you the loveliest library imaginable, only to attack you when your defenses are down. Beasts are straightforward. Their intentions can be counted upon.” She took a deep breath. “You should not have brought me here!”

Amelie sheathed the singing blade by putting the rosebud back in place. She stepped away from him until she was out of his reach, then she turned and fled.

CHAPTER 13

Davron watched the tattered hem of Amelie’s dress disappear through the library doorway with a flick.

His heart felt caved in. Her reproaches had somehow been more painful to his ears than the hellish, skull-grinding screech of the Sirenstone sword.

Now, he heard only silence, as she ran farther away.

With a groan, he clawed his fingers into his scalp, trying to make sense of what happened. He remembered all of it—the good and the bad. The way she’d caressed his left hand, making time stand still. It was the first time he’d been touched with tenderness since he was cursed, and her gesture caught him off guard. It was divine, beyond what he could have ever dreamed.

In those precious minutes, she singlehandedly dismantled the rusted, barbed fence that encased his heart. Through her fingertips, she poured her incredible sweetness into him. He didn’t want to move—didn’t want to do anything that might make her stop. Never had he imagined he would feel such bliss. That she trusted him enough to speak intimately with him and to touch him seemed like a kind of miracle.

Then, the best moment was swiftly followed by the worst. It was as if a lever had been yanked deep inside of him without his permission. His beast—an ugly side effect of the curse—was only ever usually brought forth when he was under physical attack.

Even then, he had some control over it, unlike today. For his beast to emerge in such a horrifying way—to attack the one person he cared about—made him want to die. The look of shock and utter betrayal on her face was devastating.

If not for the sword, how far would he have gone? Would he have regained control of himself before destroying her truly? In his heart, he knew the answer. He would not have stopped until he had tasted every part of her, driven himself inside of her, and claimed her as his own. His hunger for her was too great.

He was an animal. Amelie was right, he was worse than a beast for bringing her here, and for knowingly putting her in terrible danger. If not danger from him, then from Levissina.

Even more despicable was how he felt when he remembered her lithe, soft body moving beneath him. How he yearned for her, even now as she fled him. He had sworn to keep her safe, and now she feared him more than she feared the Dark One.

Davron stared dolefully at the scraps of material on the floor next to the lounge. Guilt and shame crashed over him in another great wave. How could he ruin things so completely? It had taken him just days to drive her away.

She would leave, surely. With her, she would take her lilting voice, a smile like sunshine, an intriguing mind, a gentle touch, and a beautiful and open heart. Or at least, it had begun to open to him.

Right before he turned on her, the barricades she’d built around her own heart were in danger of crumbling, he could tell. He could hardly believe his good fortune. There was nothing in the world he had ever wanted more than he wanted her.

No, that wasn’t true. There was nothing in the world he wanted more than to keep her safe. His desires mattered naught compared to her well-being.

Had he forgotten he was cursed? The only way to break Levissina’s spell would be for someone to fall in love with him, deeply and truly. His chances had always been remote, with his disfigurements and isolation, but any chance he might’ve had was now zero.

There would be no other woman to take her place. She was the one he’d dreamed of all his life. It was only fitting that she was gone, and in such heinous circumstances, too. Levissina herself could not have orchestrated this any better—any crueler.

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