Page 65 of Cursed Heirs

“Imean,he’s there with her. He can help her. He’s one of the few beings who’s delved deep into black magic and not only survived, but overcome its corruption.”

“To an extent only,” Orpheus said. “There was some permanent damage.”

“Anything right now will be a help to Alena, right?”

“He wanted Orpheus to attack her mind not long ago,” X reminded us.

“That’s over with now. Things are different,” I told him.

“He knows what she means to me,” Ore spoke. “He’ll try to save her for me. For us.”

“Then let that hold you over while you rest and Tal and I work on the map.”

“Yeah, okay. Okay,” he breathed.

“We’ll get her back,” I said, stroking his hair as his eyes started to flutter closed.

The truth was, it couldn’t possibly be any other way.

14

~Saryan Hart~

“One day you will take my place.”

“Your place, Father? Where will you be?”

“My time as King would have come to an end, Orpheus. It will be your duty and your birthright to carry on in my stead.”

“No, I don’t want to be without you.”

I knelt down in front of my seven-year-old son in the expansive gardens of our home and gently tipped his chin up, finding him pouting and tears filling his bright purple eyes.

So much innocence there.

So much hope.

So much love.

He truly was my very special boy.

How I, as dark and damaged as I was, could have created such a miraculous being was beyond me.

But I had.

And that specialness, his pure nature, needed to be protected.

“You will never truly be without me, my boy.”

“You promise?”

“I swear it to you.”

He threw his arms around me, his little arms holding me to him for dear life. “I love you. So much.”

“As I love you.”

My son.