Page 11 of A Cursed Heart

I didn’t particularly like the idea of owning a person. Big ick. There had to be a way out of that. “There’s more to it.” He was holding something back.

“Or until someone takes the heart ruby from you and feeds it their blood. Though that is usually only possible if…”

A shudder raced down my back. A sense of foreboding came with it. “If I’m dead, right? That’s another way to break it, isn’t it?”

“Yes. In the past when my owner has died, that has broken the bond.”

“What happens to you then?”

“I go back inside and wait for the next one to come along. They always do. The lure of the gem is too much.”

His existence was horrible. How could anyone live like that? “Why?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why were you in there?” He had said it was a punishment, but I felt like there was more to it. I needed the context, what he thought he was being punished for to really understand.

Over the course of a few minutes, Mal laid out the story for me.

Telling me about his past and how he’d hurt the treasured concubines belonging to his oldest brother.

How it wasn’t just that event, but a series of them.

All powered by greed and a need for more power.

I could tell he found it difficult to speak about it and that he didn’t hold anything back.

By the end, I hated his brother for what he’d done to Mal.

“I am a selfish creature by nature, and this is my penance. To live to serve others until I have balanced the scales enough to earn my freedom.”

“What’ll happen to you then?” Surely there had to be a reward at the end.

“I do not know.”

My stomach swooped. I couldn’t live like Mal, not knowing when I would be free of the hell I was in or what was to come after. To suffer through it for centuries was beyond anything I could wrap my head around.

“Doesn’t that scare you?”

“No.” His almost black eyes turned distant. “If it is my death, then I think I would welcome it.”

Fuck. He sounded so hopeless. “Can’t I wish you free?”

Mal’s smile was bitter. “I am not a djinn, remember.” He sighed. “No, I will do my best to be a good servant to you. To protect you from Sloane Salvatore. Then, when it is time, I will move to the next person if this is not enough.”

I hated that idea down to my very bones, which considering I barely knew the guy, was a pretty intense reaction to have. “That’s not good enough for me.”

He frowned. “I do not understand.”

This was something I would have to figure out for myself.

I had to get Mal free from the gem, but only if he got to live after.

I wanted him to have some freedom first. “It’s fine.

Look, I’m taking Salvatore down, so all I have to do is buy some time without getting too deep with him. Does he know you were in the gem?”

Mal thought about it. “No. It appears as if that side of the legend had slipped from memory. This is the first time I have been outside for such a long time. I forget when the last master was.”

“Well, that’s useful.”

“Though he might suspect you have the gem. Is there anywhere you can hide it?”

I thought about the fist-sized, heart-shaped stone in my pocket and winced. “Not sure.”

“It’s possible for me to make it smaller. Although not by much.”

“That’d help.” The lump in my pocket got lighter, the bulge it made had shrunken somewhat.

“Better?”

“Yeah. I’ve got a place.”

“You must keep it out of Salvatore’s hands. After today, you will be the first one he suspects.”

Mal was right. I knew it was a risk breaking in, especially since I wasn’t taking the files then, which would have been quicker, just building a door to make my thefts invisible.

My plan needed a more stealthy approach than get in, steal, get out.

I needed to eventually replace the files seamlessly without any trace of my being in them.

Copying everything in one go would have taken too much time.

I didn’t have the equipment for such a big stop.

This wasn’t supposed to be my life. I was rusty, which was why I wasn’t completely sure I got all the cameras.

The alarm on the gem had surprised me, so it was possible he had other cameras in his office I’d missed.

“Can’t I just give it to you, and if he comes looking you can just vanish somewhere? ”

“Ryan, I think you forget we are bound.”

Ugh, I hated that. “I’m your owner, yeah, I got that part.”

“No,” he said patiently. “We cannot be all that far from each other.”

Well, damn, this was getting trickier. “Okay, so if he comes to look, then you hide in another apartment, or on the roof or something.”

“There is another problem.”

“What is it?”

“I cannot hold the gem.”

“Fuck.”

Mal grinned. “My brother did not want me to run and hide.”

“I really hate your brother, y’know.” He’d made Mal a slave! There was no way I was using him to fix the problems I’d created. Once I got out of my situation, I’d do something, anything, to help Mal.

His face sobered. “He did what he thought was best. He was an excellent king.”

“Maybe, but I don’t like what he did to you.”

“I—”

“You can defend him all you like, Mal. I’m not going to change my mind on it.” I looked up at my building. “It’s late. I think we better go inside. We can deal with the gem and everything tomorrow once Freya is at school.”

“Alright.”

Hell, my sister was going to lose her mind when I told her about Mal. None of us would get any sleep if she knew what he was.

“My sister is upstairs looking after my daughter. I don’t want to get into everything right now. Can we just pretend you’re a friend from college or something for tonight? I’m tired.” My brain was overloaded. There was no way I could cope with showing Lydia magic and still function in the morning.

“I agree. This is the best plan for tonight.”

“Cool. Lydia usually sleeps in Freya’s room, so you can take the couch.” I got out of the car and waited for him to join me.

“Ryan…?”

“Yeah.”

His expression was conflicted. “I wish to do as you ask, but I am concerned that the couch will be too far away for our bond.”

Shit. “Alright.” Under my breath, I muttered, “Fuck my life.” Louder, I said, “You can share with me. It’s no big deal.”

Guys could share a bed with no problem, right? I’d never done it. Never really had that many close guy friends to share a bed with. It was fine. Totally fine. Mal wasn’t just a guy though, he was a demon with the horns and the tail and stuff.

“Just stay in that form, okay?”

Mal smiled innocently, though there was an edge of wickedness to it. “Of course.”