Page 133 of Cursed Evermore

I was going to a place I’d never been before. A place where I had no family.

The enormity of the truth sank into my very essence, reshaping my world. It terrified me.

I tore my gaze away from Wolfe and pressed my cheek against the pillow as I watched more mottled gray fill the space outside. Then it got brighter. Too bright considering it was so dark before.

It wasn’t until Wolfe tugged on my hand that I remembered he was holding it.

“Come, let me show you something.” He spoke in a gentle voice that soothed me and intrigued me in equal measure.

“What is it?”

“A better introduction to the magical realm.” His eyes lit with an almost boyish excitement.

I was about to tell him I couldn’t walk, but he slipped his arm behind my back and scooped me up as if I were as light as the air.

My fragile body crushed against his hard chest. A pang of pain pulled on my insides from the movement, but I was too captivated with being in his arms to let it affect me.

The last time we were this close and I’d felt the same pull toward him was last night when he kissed me. Not the kiss of life. The other one. The one I knew we might never speak of again.

Wolfe cast me a sidelong glance, as if he could read every wayward thought, then carried me from the room with slow, measured steps. I could feel his weakness in the careful way he moved, yet he still carried me like the warrior he refused to stop being.

The bright light greeted us in the hallway, shadows retracting with each step he took. I tried to keep my head up because I wanted to see what awaited us outside.

When we turned the corner, fresh sea breeze washed over us. It filled my lungs with the cleanest air and pulsed through my body as if it knew I was desperate for rejuvenation.

Both Sirril and Arielle had told me the air in the magical realm had healing properties. I was eager to see if it would truly work.Work on me.

We emerged on the deck, breaking into vibrant sunlight with sparkling rays that warmed my skin.

Behind us was that mass of gray—the Veil. It rose into the sky like a curtain of writhing smoke with no beginning nor end, no matter where you looked. Up, down, left or right. The mass was dreary and depressing to look at, filled with endless woe.

It was disturbing to think that was where I’d come from.

I had no idea what awaited me on this side of the Veil, but the connotation ofendless woefelt fitting for the mortal realm. Life there seemed like it would never get better. Especially of late with the harassment from Chancellor Blackthorne and my marriage arrangement to Thayden.

It was strange to think that I didn’t have to worry about either of those things now.

A blade of sorrow cut through me when I thought of my family left behind to pick up the pieces while I was here. The Ruskiel’s false hope of being reunited with them felt worse. Like a jab at my heart for my helplessness.

I quickly shoved the feeling away. It was best not to think about my family now. Not thinking about them would hurt less. And it wouldn’t hinder me from getting back to them.

My prayer was that Wolfe didn’t make them suffer more than necessary. He said he wouldn’t. I had to hope with everything inside me that I could trust his word and my disappearance wouldn’t affect my family too terribly. All I had now was the journey ahead, where magic met mortality.

A light flutter of fingertips over my arm called me back to the moment, compelling me to bid goodbye to things I couldn’t control.

I turned away from the wall of despair and glanced up at the Fae prince, my eyes tangling with the blue gaze that hadn’t stopped haunting me.

He’d been watching me, and I was certain from that knowing look in his eyes that he was aware of my worries. Still, he remained silent. His wordless stare reminding me I was at his mercy.

Wolfe Nightblade had the power to change this. To fly me right back home or keep me. He would choose the latter because he needed me. Just not in the ways I wanted to be needed by him.

Foolish girl.He was three hundred years old and a Fae prince. No matter what I thought I saw in him and felt last night, we were right at the top of the list of things that were never going to happen. And quite rightly so. I would do well to remember that.

I looked away, choosing to stare ahead. But then I was met with the dreamlike scenery before us. A vision that redefined the wordbeautiful. It instantly stole my breath.

The endless cerulean sky above was just as vast as the sea, but it looked different to what I was used to in the mortal realm. The blue was bluer, infused with purer hues that reminded me of the first colors of spring after a dreary winter.

Slices of silvery clouds were dotted across the vast expanse like threads of magic weaving through the air. The illustrious golden sun gleamed in the background, rich with color that looked like someone had painted it to perfection. Then I saw…the moon?