Page 27 of Beta Lies and Cursed Lives

The GBE had some sort of standards. Who would have thought?

Eleven years later, things with my curse hadn’t improved; I’d just learned to ignore it as best I could. After so long, hearing voices that aren’t mine every second of the day, I just gave up and accepted this was my eternity.

And then Mira arrived. The voices dulled, my curse subdued. I accidentally projected my thoughts, and now, on purpose.

Who is she?

More importantly, who is she tome?

And even more importantly, if her unfinished thought is true, how will I protect her?

“It’s forbidden by threat of death. I can’t touch anyone, and I’ve never even—”

She gasps when she remembers that I can hear her. And somehow, the world around me goes even more silent.

What I feel for her is dangerous, but what she’s hiding is even more of a threat to her life.

I rise, and with determined steps, I approach her. Side-stepping Rai, I lean down to her ear, and instead of whispering aloud, I do so in her mind. “No one will ever take you from me. I swear it.”

Her wide eyes fly up to my face on yet another gasp, and in those silvery pools are unshed tears...andhope.

This is what she wants. It’s what she needs.

Connection. Protection.

Now, I just have to figure out how to keep my promise.

Miranda

Time can fly quickly when your life becomes a routine with only one day of rest each week.

Sunday through Friday, we have classes and combat training, while Saturday is free. And I’m sure the only reason there’s a day off is for the faculty, not us.

I’ve been at the academy for about three weeks now, and every day becomes more soul-crushing than the last.

Learn to fight. Spar. Learn tactics. Demonstrate. Learn history. Test.

My sanity is maintained only by my interactions with some of the other Cursed here.

Colt has become a near-constant companion of mine, as has Rai, although he doesn’t touch me as much. Aubrey hangs out with us all as well but is usually off to the side and disinterested in our conversations or activities. However, I have picked up a few of his signs now.

“I’m surprised your boy toys aren’t looming over us right now,” Nyx teases me as we soak in a bit of sun, me on my face only.

I shake my head and give her a sideways glance. “They’re definitely not mine, nor ‘boy toys.’”

There’s a loud huff on my other side. “Please. Those three would eat you alive if they could.” This from Arlowe, a friend of Nyx’s who I’d like to think is also a friend of mine now.

Nyx had introduced us shortly after I arrived, and I appreciate the mahogany-haired beauty’s blunt candor.

“If they could touch me, you mean?”

Arlowe sits up straight in the grass and leans forward, brushing her palms on her dark pants and leaving behind dirt. “Yeah, but not how you mean.”

She means that intimacy is forbidden.

I was just poking at her, but I shouldn’t have.

Of all the Cursed currently at the Academy, I’m the only uncontrolled tactile. Lucky me.