Page 14 of Cursed to Be Mine
Her magic flows through me, warm and soothing, but I move away, knowing the drain it has on her these days. She’s been cursed, and the more she uses magic, the more it will consume her until it eventually kills her.
Rising to my feet, I glare at her. “You should not have entered,” I say.
She waves away my concerns. “I brought you into this world, son. It’s going to take more than a measly curse of your father’s to take me out of it.”
“Why did you?”
“Give birth to you? It’s a woman’s responsibility –”
My glare hardens, not in the mood to listen to her jokes. Although a woman’s top duty in this family is to breed, to give birth to healthy sons and daughters that can strengthen our footing in our wars against the vampires and werewolves, she knows that was not my question.
Exasperated, Mother says, “You know the dangers ofbreeding hybrids, Kal. They will cause an imbalance –”
“Catching the attention of the archangels and damning us all,” I finish, but the words don’t have meaning in this moment. They do not explain why she entered when we could’ve just talked about this after I finished Cid off myself.
But the door opens before I can push for the truth. Maddox, my youngest brother, strolls in and makes no effort to hide his concern. Walking straight over to Zita’s untouched stone, he surrounds it in his magic. The strands of auburn hair I bound inside the alexandrite pulls free between his fingers, making the stone just a stone, no longer connected to her.
He winds the strands around his fingers, then brings them to his lips as he turns to face us.
“Claim her or leave her, Maddox,” Mother says sternly, her green eyes on him. “A war is coming, and she must know where her loyalty lies.”
He grins as he pockets her hair. “Don’t try to change the subject, bruh. You shouldn’t have entered.”
“You shouldn’t have let me then. Now come,” she says, heading for the door, efficiently changing the subject. “We must discuss how to kill Antonio Garcia before he does us.”
My eyes find Maddox, the concern for Mother mirrored back at me. Then he shrugs.What can we do?And turns to follow her out.
My fist loosens, releasing the dust of the alexandrite. I wipe my palm on my jeans, gritting my teeth as my body aches with the agony of broken bones and stab wounds – phantom pains that will linger for days as my soul heals. Rolling my shoulders, I spit out the blood still pooling in my mouth. Reminded of the blood of my girl again, I smile.
A war is coming.
I make my way for the door.
So I must bring her in before it burns across this city, which means…
Soon.
Soon she will be mine.
FIVE
HIM
As soon as I step out of the room, Mother and Maddox nowhere to be seen, Varius pins me with his glare.
“You shouldn’t have let her enter,” my oldest brother says, his flat voice hiding his ire. He leans against the wall, his muscular arms crossed. It’s a look I see often. Disappointed Varius is going to make a great father.
My teeth flash in a bloody smile. “And how would you propose I did that? I stopped her from using her magic –”
“And yet, you walk easily. I saw how much blood you spat up. How Cid grabbed you. You should be in a ball on the floor.”
My smile turns into a sneer. Ever since we were young, Varius has been a stoic pain in the ass. His shoulders bear the weight of responsibility proudly, never sagging. When Father left us, Varius stepped into the roleat twelve. I was ten, and overnight, I went from having an annoying older brother to asuperannoying older brother who kept trying to put me in time out.
Bloody lips and noses filled our every day, and Maddox came up with a great acrostic that describes him perfectly:
Verifiable
Asshole
