Page 115 of Fate's Sweetest Curse
“I need quiet, I think,” she said regretfully. “How about I stay another hour, then bring my blindfold to the inn?”
Noble bent, brushing a few featherlight kisses across her soft lips. “Yes. Do that.”
Hattie giggled against his mouth, deepening the kiss to slide her tongue behind his teeth for three, four, five delicious seconds. He was gripping her hips, about to push her firmly against the bookcase, when she pulled back and tsked.
“You’re insatiable,” she said, but based on her dilated pupils, so was she.
“Making up for lost time, remember?”
Hattie’s lustful expression faltered. “I’m afraid we’re losing time ahead of us, too.”
“I thought you were staying late to follow a thought?”
“I am,” Hattie said, sliding her fingertips up into his hair. She curled them against his nape, sending a shiver down his spine. “I just…” She rested her head back against the bookshelf behind her, staring up at him with love and pain and pleading. “I want tosavoryou.”
He thought back to how he’d savored her on their first night together. “Idoknow,” he purred.
A short, breathy chuckle. “Imean…I want to go swimming in the river together. Hold hands as we walk down the street. Be honest about who wewereand who we are now, without fear, without secrecy, without…” The oceanic blue of her eyes took on a crystalline quality, shimmering like water. Her voice was throaty when she spoke again. “I don’t want to feel like all our moments have to be stolen.”
Noble swallowed thickly and brushed a few frizzy hairs out of her face. “Me, too.”
Tears wobbled on her lower lashes. “Do you think we’ll ever get that?”
Her sorrow made him want to rage against the Fates for doing this to her. Birthing her into a life of secrets and shame. Letting her fall in love with a man whose own existence was a series of failures and hurtful mistakes—a man who perhaps couldn’t be cured of his wickedness. Who would one daysuccumbto it, leaving Hattie all alone.
Noble knew she loved him with eyes wide open—and he respected her choice, hebaskedin it—but he wouldn’t have chosen any of this for Hattie. For her, he would’ve chosen sunshine, laughter, freedom,joy. The love of a normal man, not a monster.
Noble forced a deep breath. He couldn’t change their past, but with their Fates not yet fixed until next year, he was determined to create the future she desired.
“I don’t know what the Fates have in store for us,” he answered honestly. “But I’m going to do everything in my power to give you the life you deserve.”
Hattie nodded, shaking a tear loose. Noble bent to kiss it, and she laughed wetly, her voice throaty in his ear. “I know I seem weak right now, but—”
“I would never think of you as weak.”
“—but I’m determined, too,” she finished. Then, more firmly, “I’m determined.”
40
Identity
Hattie
For the past hour and a half, a theory had been forming in my mind.
Seated at the table in the library with a single candle flickering before me, I stared at the book Noble had retrieved for me—Arcane Basics—and reread the passage I’d found.
When balancing or neutralizing arcane symbols, it is recommended to boil or filter water to remove undesirable contaminates—otherwise effects can vary greatly. The source of water is also significant.
I stared at the crude formulas I’d scrawled in my notebook:
Gildium + Arcane magic + water = cursed blood
Gildium + Hylder + water? = containment or cure?
Under that, I added a simple question and underlined it three times:
Water = source???
