Page 94 of Black Heart

“There is no way to break this curse,” Liam said softly before adding, “at least not for the two of you.”

“Meaning?” Tristan asked, giving her hands a comforting squeeze and reminding her that she wasn’t alone. He wouldn’t let them do this. He would fight. He was an asshole and he would give them hell and she’d never been happier about that than she was at this moment.

“The two of ye are stuck in this cycle with the rest of us. There’s no way out, lad. I’m sorry,” Liam explained. “But that babe should get his chance, even if it’s just for a release.”

“He’s never had a chance to be born, never been held or loved. He’s stuck in a hell all of his own, lad,” Shayne said after a slight hesitation. “If he could at least be born, we think that his soul would be set free.”

For several long, tense minutes, no one said anything, which was probably for the best while Marty struggled not to cry as her heart broke for their baby. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like for him to never be born, held, or loved and she knew without question that she would love this child more than anything else on this earth, but she also knew that they were wrong. Taking Tristan away wouldn’t guarantee anything. She needed him, hell, they needed him here to protect them, love them and help them break this curse. She needed him to-

“This was my idea, wasn’t it?” Tristan asked, breaking the silence.

Shayne looked at them as he said, “Aye, lad, this has been yer plan all along.”

CHAPTER36

Tristan didn’t have to ask Shayne anything else. He had his answers, finally. Although he had absolutely no doubt that he would chase Marty to the ends of the earth to be with her, he knew that he would never continue putting her through this hell unless there was a good reason. That reason was their baby. He pressed his lips against Marty’s forehead as he did his best to block out her soft sobs as he released her hands and pressed his hand against her stomach.

“Has this plan ever been tried before?” Tristan asked, wanting to make damn sure that they were making the right decision.

“No,” Liam said, shaking his head. “Since ye came up with the plan, we haven’t had a chance to test it out.”

“Why not?” Tristan asked, doing his best to ignore his wife as she cried, “Please don’t.”

“Half of us were either making our own attempts to break the curse or we were too late.”

Meaning he’d already been killed.

“We did our best, lad, to watch after Macha when ye couldn’t, but nothing helped. She was either too far gone in her grief over losing ye or the curse took care of things,” Declean quietly explained.

“We tried to approach her, but that didn’t end well either, lad,” Finn sheepishly added.

Tristan had questions, a lot of them, but for right now, he was content with just sitting back and holding his wife while they finished explaining everything to him. Besides, he’d have all his memories and answers by the end of the night, but he wouldn’t have her. Right now, he needed to hold her one last time before he was forced to say goodbye.

“We figured that if we couldn’t break the curse fer yer son, then the best thing would be to free him from this curse by making ye promise to stop trying,” Liam explained before adding with a glare, “But ye kept breaking yer promise and pissing us off, lad.”

Which would explain the ass whooping Liam had dished out, Tristan realized with a wince.

“We’re not happy that ye broke yer promise and are forcing our hand on this one, Tadgh, but we’ll do what needs to be done,” Liam promised, making Marty tremble harder in his arms.

For their son, Tristan would do anything, including giving up his own life, but he had one question that he needed answered before they went through with this.

“Will I be able to watch over them?” Tristan asked, closing his eyes and tightening his hold around Marty as her sobs tore at his heart.

“I’m sorry, lad, but once ye fail to break the curse, ye won’t get to see her again until the next time she’s born,” Shayne explained.

And if this worked, and their son was freed, then he would never see her again. This was too much to ask her to go through and it needed to end. It would kill him to never see her again, but he would give her the freedom that she deserved.

“This time, she knows about usbeforethe curse took its hold and we’ll be able to stay by her side without scaring her,” Shayne said, giving him the one promise that would make this situation tolerable.

He allowed himself another moment to simply enjoy having Marty in his arms before he opened his eyes and did what needed to be done. Ignoring her sobs and the way she clutched desperately to him, Tristan leaned down and pressed a kiss against her forehead, one on each cheek before he pressed his lips to her trembling ones.

“I love you so much, Marty,” Tristan whispered hoarsely against her lips, “so goddamn much.”

“Please don’t do this, Tristan,” she pleaded against his lips.

“Shhhh, it’s fine, baby.”

“No,” Marty sobbed, shaking her head frantically as she pulled away from him. “It’s not!”

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