Page 72 of Magic Cursed

I nod. “They stopped when we parted.” I tentatively reach out and touch him. When his eyes don’t illuminate and my magic doesn’t show itself, I sigh in relief.

“Does that happen often?” Daimis asks.

I move to sit on the edge of the bed. “No, never.”

His lips quirk. “I’d like to say I have that kind of effect on women, but this is a first for me too.”

“Daimis, this isn’t funny. Neither of us knows what just happened or what could have happened if we’d continued.”

He closes the distance and takes a seat next to me. “Oh, I can imagine exactly what would have happened had we continued.”

I scoot away from him, scared of what I might do. The only other time I’ve ever seen the dark tendrils leave me was when they were attacking. “I’m serious, Daimis.” He doesn’t understand. But then he doesn’t know that the magic in me is dangerous. He doesn’t know who I really am, or that my magic is responsible for his father’s death. “Something happened to me recently, and because of it, I’m volatile. I’m dangerous. Or at least my magic is. It could have hurt you.” I look down at my hands, seemingly innocent despite what I know is underneath the surface. “My magic is evil.”

Daimis gently takes one of my hands in his and turns it palm up. He traces the lines there. “I was told by a very wise woman once that magic is neither good nor evil, but an extension of the intentions of those who wield it.” He looks into my eyes. “Were your intentions to hurt me?”

I shake my head.

“Then I trust that it wouldn’t have.”

“I don’t trust myself.”

“Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe you need to learn to trust yourself and your magic will follow suit.” He lifts my hand to his mouth and kisses it. “I trust you.”

He’s placing his trust in someone who is lying to him. I drop my gaze. I have to tell him the truth, I realize. He deserves to know who I am.

“Do you believe in fate?” Daimis asks, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I think about his words. “I believe our path in life is constantly changing and evolving. Every choice we make, or don’t make, based on our circumstances, affects that path. I think it’s a living thing, fed on our choices and circumstances. And I don’t like the idea of anyone telling me what my life should or shouldn’t be. I decide that; no one else.” But then I think about us and how we still found our way back to one another after all this time. “But maybe some things are just meant to be, so if our choices and circumstances change our paths, perhaps it still happens, just in a different way?” I shrug. “I don’t know. I suppose I’m still figuring it out.”

He nods and I can almost see the wheels in his head turning at my words. “Before the Blood Moon, I was told my life was fated to be a certain way. That I didn’t have a choice in how it would be. I was the future king, but I had no say in what that would look like.” He shakes his head. “Gods and Goddesses, I was so angry about it. I felt like my choices were stolen from me. I thought there could be nothing worse. Then the night of the Blood Moon came and I found out how very wrong I was. In one night, I lost everything I was so resentful of only days before. I’ve wanted nothing more than to have what I’d lost. When I came back to the palace a few weeks ago, I was a stranger in my own kingdom. I felt just as lost as I had the night of the Blood Moon.” He turns his gaze to mine. “Then you came along, and suddenly this stunning, strong woman, who wanted nothing more than to leave, started to change everything for me. And for the first time in a long time, I found myself wanting the present, not the past.”

Emotions stir in me at his words. “I know,” I say. Because I do know, I know all of it. But I can’t tell him how yet. I still need to work up the courage for that.

Later that night when Daimis is sleeping soundly next to me, something tugs at my mind. I retrieve the note Daimis gave me as a child from the secret pocket in my leathers and re-read it. What did he overhear our fathers talking about that made him resent me all those years ago? I put the note back and cuddle next to Daimis’s warm body. That’s when I realize I haven’t had a nightmare since the night Daimis chased them away. I fall asleep with thoughts and memories racing through my mind, trying to connect to a greater truth that is just out of my reach.

* * *

The next day, we had to wait until early afternoon when the snow storm finally stopped, before heading out to Glacier Pass. The clouds still hang in the ominous sky, threatening to dump more snow on us, so we travel fast. With our delay, and being on foot, there’s a chance the rest of the traveling party will get there before we do.

We travel most of the way in silence, alert and listening for any signs of danger. My mind won’t stop recounting the kiss we’d had last night, or the way my magic responded to it. Or that I have to tell Daimis the truth of who I really am. How will he react?

I can’t help but notice that there’s a change between us after the kiss. An unspoken connection that might have been there before with our childhood bond but hadn’t fully developed until now. As we run through the white blanketed forest, we move as one. When he changes direction, I don’t miss a beat, as if I instinctually know what he’s going to do before he does it. I think he notices it too, because he glances at me and even seems to test the theory at times.

Within a few hours, Daimis slows to a walk. “This is it,” he says.

“What is it?” I ask. “I don’t see any—” I stop short as the forest opens up to the brightest blue I’ve ever seen in nature. The incredible glacier sits between two sheer rock walls in a V-shape, like it’s connecting the space between the two mountains.

“Looks like we got here first,” Daimis says, taking in our surroundings.

I close the distance and stare in awe at the sheer size of the glacier.

“It’s the same blue as the underground lake,” I say and reach out to touch the glass-like surface. I’m surprised it’s not cold. I slide my palm over the surface. It seems to be radiating a strange heat that doesn’t affect the surrounding snow, but my magic responds with a tingling. It’s as if the stone knocked on an invisible door within me, and my magic wants to open the door. I snatch my hand back. “It’s not a glacier.”

Daimis’s brows crease and he reaches out to touch it. He pulls his hand back the same way I had. “It’s Faestone,” he says in awe.

I remember what the journal had said about it being able to hold a fae’s magic to use later. “Did you know about this?”

“No.” He looks at the expanse of stone spread out before us. “I’ve never been here before. I wonder if the fae say it’s a glacier to keep others from trying to harvest it.” He turns and looks around us. “But if the fae know what it is, there would be guards here, protecting it.”

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