Page 13

Miranda

My ears are screeching as I huddle down, eyes closed tight against the pain in my head.

That was Aubrey’s curse. That’s why he doesn’t speak. He must not be able to control it, just like the rest of us.

I pry one eye open a sliver to find Aubrey’s back as he walks away from us, right through the hole he created in the coliseum wall.

He’s hurting.

My head ticks at the strange whisper inside me. It’s feminine but wild, in a way.

That’s when that thing in my chest moves behind my sternum, shifting in its place like an animal finding its comfort before slumber.

What the fuck?

A hand grips my shoulder, and I find Rai beside me. He beckons me to stand, which I do on wobbling legs, as I take my hands from my ears.

“Are you all right, Mira?”

His question is more loaded than it should be. Am I? The ringing in my ears is now a quiet, constant tone. I’m physically unharmed, at least I think. I could hear his voice, so my eardrums have to be okay.

But my heart?

I blink up at Rai’s covered face and want to see his eyes so badly, to find comfort in those dark depths. Before I realize what I’m doing, I grab his hand in my gloved one and yank the blindfold from his eyes, sending his white hair swirling in a flurry before it settles again. His beautiful eyes are wide as they stare down at me.

“Mira…” His voice cracks.

What does he see in my own eyes? What emotions does my gaze elicit in him that cause his to pool with unshed tears?

All I want is to wrap my arms around him, press my lips to his forehead as I hold him close.

But I can’t.

“How do you know?” Colt asks as he approaches Rai’s side.

“What?” My voice is raw.

“How do you know that this connection, whatever it is, doesn’t go both ways?”

As in...my curse is neutralized too?

My head is shaking fast as I back away from the two of them. “I’d never risk it.”

“But—”

“She doesn’t want to hurt us,” Rai says, his voice full of more force than I’ve ever heard from him. When he squeezed my hand, he asks, “Is there another way to test it?”

“You were there. at the end of my assessment. I saw you. You have to know I won’t hurt an animal.”

Rai’s gaze swivels to Colt. “She was told to freeze a rabbit, and instead froze a scientist to death.”

“I was told to!” I shout, telling them for the first time. “Major Tomlin promised to try and get my dad transferred out of Tenebrosa if I did it.”

Each of them looks equally shocked, and I don’t blame them. I’m sure it isn’t a regular occurrence for a Cursed to be told to kill a member of the GBE by another member of the GBE, and I’m sure that a Cursed trusting one is equally rare.

“Doctor Ness?” Colt’s voice is like air.

“Yeah,” I whisper back in response.

He looks at me, and the light drains from his green and blue eyes. His voice is robotic. “Did you make him suffer?”

His question takes me aback, but I remember...the look on Colt’s face when I mentioned my father was in Tenebrosa.

“You were there.”

“Yeah.” His arms cross over his chest. “I don’t care who told you to kill him or why, but I am glad that monster is no longer on this earth.”

I understand, to a degree. I didn’t personally suffer in that facility, but the desire to save my father drove me to being fine with murder.

And I still am. Maybe even more so now that I know they hurt my Colt.

My Colt?

“I am yours,” he says, voice even as he nears me and takes my other covered hand in both of his, drawing it to his lips and placing a kiss on my knuckles.

I’m both overjoyed and devastated.

It isn’t fair.

“Just try it, Mira.” Colt’s whisper is imploring. Desperate. “Touch me.”

My reaction is immediate and automatic. I recoil, horror on my face. “I can’t!” I shout at him; at both of them. “I could never chance it. I couldn’t…”

As the tears stream down my face, Rai wraps his arms around my shoulders, taking care not to touch my face with his chin. His voice is airy and quiet. “Don’t do anything you don’t want to.”

But I do want to.

I want this to work. I want to be able to touch them without killing them.

But it’s a chance I will not take.