Page 272 of Cursed Evermore

I hissed and summoned a ball of black fire, ready to hurl it at the wall, but then I turned and saw the distress on Elariya’s face, and I forgot my own pain.

Tears streamed down her cheeks and the sight broke me. I reached out to her, but she stepped away and rushed out of the room.

I moved past everyone and went after her.

She ran into the garden, over to the willow tree, where she threw her arms around the base and broke down.

Her shoulders shook as she sobbed. She’d been strong this whole time. Even before I took her from Stormfell.

She’d possessed a strength I’d rarely seen in others. It was the kind of strength you had when you refused to stop trying.

I walked up to her and pulled her into my arms. She pressed her head against my chest and cried. I let her.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered against her ear. “I wanted it to work for you.”

“It’s too much. Everything is just… too much.” She sobbed. “My heart can’t take any more, Wolfe. It’s just too much. Every time I get my hopes up, I fail. I keep thinking maybe this time, it will work. But it doesn’t.”

I held her closer. “I know, Ziyka.”

“I was so terrified that first night of the Phantom Moon, venturing into Griffyn Forest on my own.” She gripped my shirt as if she needed my strength to keep her from fading away. “Nothing happened with that spell. Nothing happened when we tried the first tracking spell. Nothing happened just now. Maybe this is it. We’ll be destined to fail, and I’ll be cursed evermore.”

I pulled back to cup her face, my thumbs brushing away her tears. "No. I refuse to believe that will happen to you. It just can't."

"Maybe it will."

"Never." My voice turned fierce. "Because I won't let it. I will keep trying, Elariya. I won't stop even if it takes forever. Even if it kills me. I won't stop trying. For you. Forus."

"I won't remember you, Wolfe," she whispered, her voice shattering.

"Youwillremember me." I pressed my forehead against hers. "Some things are stronger than curses. Some love is too deep to erase. Like ours.”

Her eyes held mine, raw and unguarded as she drank in every word I'd spoken. Through her tears, hope flickered back to life, breaking through the despair. Then, as the fear melted away, she stared at me as if she was seeing me—truly seeing me—for the first time.

The way she looked at me, like I was her salvation, nearly broke me all over again. Then I felt it. That spark of faith that pushed you to keep going when you had a reason to fight.

Shewas my reason.

"Wolfe…" She reached up and touched my cheek.

"The Phantom Moon brought you to me. Maybe that was all that was supposed to happen for now. And it's enough."

"You really think so?"

I pressed her hand to my heart and nodded. "I had to wait three hundred years to find you. I knew from the first moment I saw you that there was no one else for me but you, so, yes, it'senough. We just have to figure out what we're supposed to do next. You and me."

"You and me." Although her smile was weak, her eyes shone with renewed hope and a deep strength that came from her soul.

I pulled her in for a kiss.

Her lips barely touched mine when the air beside us screamed and split apart with a sound like tearing silk. Dark energy crackled around us, emitting smoke.

Quickly, I pushed Elariya behind me and drew my sword, ready for battle.

A ragged portal tore at the air and expelled a broken body covered in blood and bruises.

Fuck, it was one of my guards.

He tumbled onto the ground and lay there sprawled, his armor slick with black liquid. I'd seen that substance before.