Page 53 of King of the Damned
Even more selfishly…I wonder if she talks about me. What does she share about us in the confidence of her own mind?
On this night, I do not find her lingering at Saddiq’s shrine in the dusk. Instead, she’s on the balcony of my suite, watching the sun fall behind the horizon. A near mirror image of the way I used to watch the sunrise.
Her robe billows softly in the wind as I approach. I quietly say her name so I don’t startle her. The moonlight soaks into her skin and casts an ethereal glow that seems to radiate from within her. In fact, I know it does. She turns her head just enough to acknowledge me with an emotionless smile, then leans forward, lifts up on her toes slightly, and presses a soft kiss to my cheek.
That’s all she offers me before turning away, attempting to leave me on the balcony alone.
I catch her wrist. “Adelasia…you’ve been distant for days. Please talk to me.”
She swallows and stares at me as if I’ve just asked her an unintelligible question. Her eyes flicker to my lips and then back up to my eyes.
“I…I’m scared,” she finally admits after a long silence.
“Of Amatisi?” I ask for clarification.
“Yes,” she whispers. “I’m afraid she’ll come for me–or worse–turn me against you.”
My mouth hangs open in disbelief. I couldn’t have heard her correctly. I don’t have a chance to continue pondering her words, because she speaks again.
Nervously, she asks, “Are curses spells? With spoken word?”
I furrow my brow and take her hand in mine. “Yes.”
“What is yours?”
I swallow the protest in my throat. I don’t enjoy speaking the words aloud, in fact, I can’t remember a time where I have. I’ve written it enough times that it may as well be etched into my pale skin.
“Blessed be, Eternity,
Ten centuries of enmity.
Mortality evade the soul,
Bloodlust consume him whole.
On scar of skin,
Find mark of sin.
Hilt of gems with dagger sharp,
This curse shall end,
when death kisses heart.”
I slowly pull the dagger from its place in my boot and hold it between us.
Adelasia is my freedom. My unbeating heart. My undying soul.
I turn outward to face the edge of the balcony and with every bit of strength in my coiled muscles, I throw it as far as I can. It lands somewhere beyond the valley in the forest.
But just as quickly as it disappears from our vision, a cloud of black dust gathers in my hand, and the dagger appears once more. I can never be rid of it, just as I can never be rid of this curse as long as she stands breathing by my side.
She runs her finger along the sharp blade, gasps, and then holds her hand to her chest. I unfold her fingers to find a small cut on her index finger. I kiss away the single blood drop and then stare at the dagger in a bit of a trance. I lean forward and inhale deeply the scent of her hair so that the taste of her blood does not cloud my thoughts.
“Can I ask you something?” I whisper into the crown of her head. I feel her nod. “When you were in that forest…did you see anyone else? Aside from Saddiq and I?”
She leans backward slightly to look up at me and shakes her head. “I only remember you pulling me from the river. Why?”
