Page 28 of Magic Cursed

He thinks he can intimidate me? He has no idea who he’s messing with, and now that I have leverage, he’ll think twice before I’m through with him. “So. Are. You.” I pronounce each word with calm infliction. He flinches back and I know I’ve hit my mark. I give him a wicked smirk and saunter away before casually leaning against a tree. I brush some dirt off my skirt. “A secret meeting in the middle of the night seems like something you don’t want anyone else to know about.” I fold my arms. “So how about you stop pestering me about the shadow demon attack and I’ll keep my mouth shut about what I saw up here.”

His hands clench into fists.Jackpot. He follows me to the tree and puts a hand next to my head on the trunk, leaning in, anger seeping from him, anger that matches my own. And if I’m really honest with myself, it’s slightly arousing.

He lowers his voice. “I don’t know who you are or why you’rereallyhere but—”

“Let’s get one thing straight,” I say, cutting him off. “Theonlyreason I’m still here is because you people tookeverythingI had, and you’reblackmailingme to go on some quest that has nothing to do with me.”

His brows crease as he considers my words, and he looks confused. “Wait, you don’t want to be here? You don’t want to go on the quest?”

“Hell no,Princess. I want to get as far away from this castle and everyone in it as I can.”

He ignores my jab and his whole demeanor changes. His face relaxes and he backs off to pace between two trees. “Finally, something we agree on,” he murmurs.

He doesn’t want me to go? Kellan had said it was the Regent’s idea, but never said anything about what Daimis thought about it. This is good, perhaps he can get me out of going.

“You’re the Prince,” I say. “Get me my belongings from the Steel Guard, and I’ll leave. You’ll never have to see me again.”

He examines me again, this time like he’s trying to figure out a riddle. “So, you’d just leave, and you wouldn’t tell anyone what you think you saw tonight?”

“Like I said, I don’t care who you’re meeting with or why. I want nothing to do with any of this. I just want to go—with all of my belongings, of course.”

He nods. “I’ll get right on it.”

My mouth drops open and I push off the tree. Could it be that simple? “Honestly?”

“On my word. I will do what I can to get your belongings so you can leave Stonemount.”

“Just moments ago you were hounding me again about the shadow demons, and now you’re just okay with me sneaking off?”

“More than okay, I’m going to help you.”

“Why?”

He pauses as if he’s considering my words. “I suspected that you were put here to spy on me. But now that I know you want to leave, I know that’s not the case. And you’re safer the farther you are from this castle.”

I know that, but I’m more than surprised that he believes that. “Why?” I ask again.

“It’s not something you have to worry about now that you’re leaving. Come, I’ll escort you back to your rooms.”

I think about pestering him more, but really, it’s not my problem. We make our way through the halls in silence. I keep telling myself our bargain is a good thing, and yet, knowing how much Daimis wants me gone somehow hurts. It’s absolutely ridiculous that I even feel this way. Daimis doesn’t know who I am (although if he did, he would probably equally want me gone, or worse) and he’s no longer the child I knew as my best friend, but I can’t shake the awful feeling that leaving him again is giving me. Like a part of me is begging me to stay with him and never leave his side. Perhaps it’s because I just discovered that Daimis didn’t abandon me at that fountain like I thought he had all those years ago. He thought I died that night, that’s why he never came. One question keeps running through my mind, if he had known I was still alive when we were children, would he have come? Or would the events of that night have caught up to him and he still wouldn’t have?

What was with my strange reaction to him? It’s like my body has a visceral response to his that is completely independent of my mind. I can’t believe that I almost kissed him in the conservatory. Or at least I wouldn’t have stopped him if he’d kissed me. I wouldn’t have stopped him if he’d torn off my nightgown and had his princely way with me. Though by the way he fights and argues, something tells me there would be nothing noble about the way he beds a woman. My skin tingles at the thought. That can, under no circumstances, happen. I’m sure what I’m feeling is just a natural reaction to being around the last person I had true feelings for. Anyway, it doesn’t matter because I’ll be gone and out of Daimis’s life for good very soon.

I glance at him sidelong. His brows are creased like he’s deep in his own thoughts. He gazes at me, and I look forward again. When we make it back to where the guard is. His eyes widen at seeing me, but he doesn’t say anything. He just scrunches his brows in confusion. I give him my sweetest smile as we pass. Daimis opens my door for me. I walk in, but before I shut the door, he says, “Will—will you be all right?”

I turn around to face him. “What?”

He casually leans on the door frame. “I mean, do you have a home to return to where you’ll be safe? I wouldn’t feel right if I knew I was throwing you out only for you to fall into trouble.”

He seemed so eager to get rid of me that I’m surprised he even cares where I might end up. “First, you’re not throwing me out. I want to leave the castle. And trouble?” I shrug. “I run into that all the time, or cause it, depending on your point of view. But I’ve survived it all so far. I’ll be fine.”

He nods with humor in his eyes. “You’re fascinating, Sky. It’s a shame we met under strained circumstances.”

“And why is that?”

“I think I would have enjoyed getting to know you better.”

“I guess we’ll never know.”

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