Page 3 of Fate's Sweetest Curse
“You made it into the Order of the Mighty,” I observed. “Congratulations. Your father must be so—”
“I was never worthy of Mighty Knighthood.” He pointed at his neck. “This is meaningless. I’m retired.”
“So, you decided to retire…in Fenrir Territory? InWaldron?”
Noble took a step closer, staring down at me through the rain-soaked tips of his hair. His pupils blew out his bright irises, making his eyes appear almost black. “What?” he intoned, taunting and sarcastic. “Are you not happy to see me?”
I lifted my chin. “You don’t seem particularly happy to seeme.”
“I’m not.”
It took all my willpower not to place my hands on his chest and shove him off the dock.
“I am not happy to see you,” Noble continued coolly, “toiling in obscurity when you deserve better. I am not happy to see you hidden away in some inconsequential town, when it’s my fault,and—”
Without thinking, I reached out and gripped his forearm. “Itwasn’tyour fault.” The muscle beneath my palm flexed, ropey and hard; his lips pulled into a frown, and I let go. “It wasn’t your fault,” I repeated.
A streak of rainwater traced down the side of his face. The collar of his shirt was soaked through. His eyes searched mine and I wondered what he saw.
“I am not happy to see you because I am notallowedto see you,” he said firmly. “I am not allowed to—” He broke off, eyes lifting to the heavy clouds. He shook his head as if to clear it of whatever he’d been about to say.
Hold you.
Want you.
That’s what Ihopedhe’d been about to say. Yearning was an old, terrible habit of mine, apparently unbroken by time. Yet not only had Noble never wanted me in the way I’d wanted him—even if he did, wecouldn’t.
Be near you.
Interact with you.
That’s probably what he’d meant to say.
“If you’re not here for me, then whyareyou here?” I asked, trying to sound more curious than hurt. Familiarity was quickly being overtaken by long-buried grief, and I wasn’t in the mood to dig it up.
“Better you not concern yourself with my goings on.”
“How long are you staying?”
“As long as it takes.”
I growled through my teeth. “Seriously? You barge into my life for the first time in eight years and you can’t even tell me—”
“You aren’t supposed to be here,” Noble pointed out.
I stomped my foot. “I’m not supposed to beanywhere.”
His jaw ticked again—the only evidence that he felt any type of way about my outburst. “Look, Hattie, I’m not here to interfere with yourlife. Ignore me. Pretend you don’t know me. We’re supposed to be apart, so let’s just…be apart.”
In true Noble Asheren fashion, his sentiment was completely logical and altogether infuriating. “So…what? We just live in the same small town and pretend we don’t—after all we—” I broke off before my voice cracked.
“You and I both know it’s safer that way. Not just for you, but…”
My lower lip quivered, and I caught it with my teeth, biting down to distract from the swell of anguish in my chest. I glanced out across the river, into the misty rain. A pair of swans bobbed on the calm surface, ghostlike in the haze.
Noble took another step closer. I could feel the heat radiating off of his body, steamy as a sudden break in a storm, like sunlight beaming down on wet cobblestones. Inexplicably, he reached up and grazed his thumb across my bottom lip, gently pulling it free of my canine.
We’d touched plenty of times in our youth—playful pokes, casual hugs—butneverlike this. The intimate, unbidden contact must’ve been from his shock at seeing me—mere evidence of our long-ago platonic affection.Nothing more, I told my hopeless heart, but still, itthrobbed.
