Page 30 of Cursed Evermore

I read the signature laced into the spell and tasted her grandmother’s essence in it.

Fucking mage. She was smart.

Twilight shielding was also subtle enough that it couldn’t be detected in the human realm.That’s why I hadn’t seen it until now.

The barrier wasn’t meant for me specifically, but it worked against me all the same. Because thanks to this fucking curse, I carried the stench of wraiths. And this ward had been designed to keep wraiths out.

The worst part was Icouldbreak it. I could shatter it into pieces. But the backlash it would cause with the rip through the magic and the sound of the shattering barrier would draw every guard in this place to her door. And worse, it would alert the sentinels at the Veil between realms.

Fuck. I was the fool. It was naive of me to think that the grandmother wouldn’t find a way to protect her granddaughter.

Damn it.

I couldn’t take her tonight.

She’d have to be awake for me to even try.

I watched the soft rise and fall of her chest, steady as the tide.

I needed another way in. One that didn’t require force.

Perhaps… trust.

It wasn’t just me who felt that pull back at the tavern. Elariya had felt it, too. The tension between us had been as real as the stone walls surrounding us.

She felt it the moment she first looked at me. And even when she knew what I was, she didn’t run. She came after me. That wasn’t solely from curiosity.

I gave her a hard look.

Lust. Attraction.I could work with that.

I couldn’t detect any other shield protecting her, so that opened another door for me to walk through. If I played this right, she might follow me.Willingly.

The shadows embraced me as I returned to them. Then I was gone, slipping back into the night, leaving nothing but the whisper of my promise in my wake.

Until next time, then, mage.

I couldn’t wait.

Chapter 6

Elariya

“A Daughter of the Hourglass”

Igazed through my bedroom window at the light rain falling outside, a shower of tears from the sky. The dreariness suited my mood, inside and out.

I was perched on the window bay like a little bird, my head resting against the wall, my hands limp in my lap.

The confusion from last night still coiled tightly in my stomach, a vise made of too many questions and not enough answers. I didn’t even know how I fell asleep last night without shattering to pieces. I must have been so drained I succumbed to tiredness.

I didn’t sleep for long, though. I was up before dawn and watched the sun rise. Foolishly, I’d hoped to leave my worries in the dark. It didn’t happen.

There was already so much to worry about as it was, but after what happened last night, my troubles had multiplied a hundredfold.

Seeing those silver threads would have been enough to rattle my brain.

But the Fae male?