Page 69 of Sugar & Sorcery
My whole body tensed with discomfort. I had touched other humans before, yet with her, it was different. It had always been different. Forcing the thought away, I focused again on the strange mark near her heart.
“The dark stain has spread since the lake. Her heart… it’s being eaten by rot. And I think…” I clenched my gloved fist and locked eyes with Yeun. “I think it’s my fault. When I touched her without my gloves… when I…”So perhaps I had kissed her, after all.“My cursed form forbids me to care for anything.”
I knew it. I could touch nothing barehanded without risking its life. I brought only death wherever I went.
Yeun shook his head. “Are you so certain? Or is that what your heart makes you believe? They lie to us sometimes—that is how illusion becomes reality. Perhaps your curse is not so different from Mademoiselle Lempicka’s.”
I scowled. “What do you mean?”
“Your hearts, Master. You listen only to the call of darkness. That is how Zelda holds you.”
I tightened my fist. “Then explain why, when Lempicka was there, an arrow pierced me so swiftly that my magic faltered for an instant. I felt as though it had left me. It was weaker. I couldn’t control the curse as I usually do. Even transforming took more effort.”
“Perhaps Mademoiselle Lempicka’s presence brings you closer to your humanity.”
I nodded grimly. The two could not coexist. One would devour the other. Human or monster. “I didn’t think she could affect me so much. It’s too dangerous.”
Dangerous enough that my favorite pastime had become her. Watching her. Exasperating her. Worse still, trying to make her smile—as if she didn’t smile enough already.
“Perhaps that isn’t such a terrible thing,” Yeun suggested, stepping closer, his cheeks flushed deeper. “The voices have ceased tormenting you, haven’t they?”
I nodded again. Lempicka’s confections silenced them. “I ask too much of her.”
“You must believe in her.”
“I curse her,” I snarled.
“No. You must believe in her,” Yeun insisted. “If you reclaim your human heart, perhaps you could remain at Mademoiselle Lempicka’s side.”
I laughed bitterly. My human heart would never overcome my cursed one. It was nothing but sucremort, darkness, and weakness. My cursed heart, though, would defeat Zelda.
“Even I am not selfish enough to condemn her to that fate,” I hissed.
Yeun opened his mouth, then closed it again, as if realizing I was not ready to hear his truth.
“That is why she must break her curse quickly,” I said. “The sooner she does, the sooner she can return to her life. I’ll be dead, Zelda too, and the world will live happily ever after.”
“Once again, you choose wrong,” Yeun muttered. “To live without purpose is to die slowly. Perhaps you are already dead, but I do not wish your death. Even if I know you never heed my words.”
“I don’t want her to stay longer than necessary.”
At that precise moment, Yeun and I froze as we met Lempicka’s wide-open gaze.
23
Food is a universal love language. A powerful ingredient that binds us all together.
LEMPICKA
“Ididn’t hear anything! Pretend I’m not here,” I said, waving my hands as if that could erase what I had just overheard.
I don’t want her to stay.
I understood, after all. Because of me, Arawn had been forced to save me, to endanger his kingdom, to unleash his cursed form, and now—rotten cherry on the cake—I had just been given a vision of his past.
Arawn, as a child, had been the Orchard Spirit.
And as if fate hadn’t tormented me enough, I sneezed so violently that a cloud of powdered sugar burst out of me in a true pastry storm. Groaning, I shoved off the blankets and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Mistake. Arawn moved before my toes touched the floor, his sharp gaze freezing me in place.
