Page 99 of Beneath the Flames
My eyes snapped to his, heart suddenly, inexplicably, quickening.“What do you mean you talked to her about me?”
“She’s not just doing this to break the curse, or to save Eroth.”
Doubt filled my mind, but before I could utter a retort, he added, “She’s doing it for you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Maren has feelings for you, dimwit.”The words were so surprising that I couldn’t even get my tongue to cooperate to reprimand him for calling me such a name.“She said she liked you.”He ran a hand over his short hair, visibly frustrated.“I told her I wouldn’t say anything, but I can’t watch you squander this when you two could quit fighting and love each other.When she could finally be the one to set us free.”
“Are you sure you didn’t just hear what you wanted to hear in her words?I kidnapped her, for Moon’s sake.How would she have feelings forme?”
He shrugged.“She didn’t understand it either.”
“Helpful.”
“And if there was anyone else left here, they would be able to see—plain as day—that you have feelings for her too.So quit being a grumpy prince and do something about it.You want her to fall for you?Give her a reason to.Stop pushing her away.”
“You seem to forget how this ends even if the curse is broken.”
He didn’t miss a beat.“Wouldn’t you rather have a few moments of feeling alive after centuries of death?”
His words made me go still.It had been centuries since I’d feltanything, let alone happy or alive.My life before the curse was…quite different.Alive had a different meaning then.
But the way Maren had begun to make me feel…it had indeed been new and almost addicting.I wanted more.
And yet it was so hard to give into the desire when I knew how this all ended.
If the curse was never broken, Eroth and I would cease to exist, swept away on the wind like ash.
But if Maren was the one to break it, to finally set us all free, she would still perish.The queens covered everything when they laid the curse.Not only was it impossible for me to free myself, but also, on the off chance that I did somehow break it, they’d made sure I would live the rest of my days without the cursebreaker.
The moment the curse was broken—if it ever was—a timer would begin on Maren’s life.
There was no happy ending for us.
Either way, she would die, and one of the ways meant thatIwould have to watchherdie, and that was a fate I couldn’t stand to think about.
Nico’s words crept under my skin even still.
Maybe a few fleeting moments of happiness would be worth it in the end.
MaybeMarenwas worth it.
I would never know unless I found out, right?
The decision snapped through my veins like lightning, forcing me to my feet and out the door.
Nico’s smug smile followed me out, along with a single word.
“Finally.”
Even though I tried to stay positive and encouraging in front of Rhydian, I was truly beginning to worry about the flower.
There wasn’t even the faintest hint of anything sprouting.What I had told him was true—it could take a long time for seeds to germinate.But that was with proper growing conditions, which these were definitely not.
Dead soil and no sunlight.Not the most winning combination for making something grow.
But I wouldn’t give up hope yet.Thishadto work.There was no time for it not to.If I failed, there would be no breaking the curse.I had done everything I could, and now I had to be patient.
