Page 72 of Cursed Evermore

“Why? Why would it curse me? I had nothing to do with whatever reason my father had it.”

“The ring cursed you because you’re supposed to help me find it. The ring works with blood magic, so it gave you a blood curse. Since your father was wearing it, it linked you to him so that you could find him, and find the ring, too.”

Blessed Mother, what was I truly hearing?

My grandmother’s words echoed in my mind.Find your father, break the curse. But it was so much more than that.

Blood.Blood bound me to Wolfe’s ring. “I?—”

“You have the memory loop curse. You are cursed, not only to remember the day your father disappeared but also to remember that specific moment in time. It was a marker. A clue for me to find. That’s why my wraith was able to find you. You performed a blood spell. You used blood magic. The moment you did, it tracked you.”

I was going to be sick and throw up my insides. I’d become a pawn. A piece on a chessboard, caught in a game I didn’t even know I was playing.

“How am I supposed to help you find this ring? I have no idea what to do. We’ve been searching for my father for the last five years, and we don’t know if he’s dead or alive. I’ve beencursedall that time.”

Something that looked like pity flashed in his eyes, but it was only present for a fleeting moment. “The path to finding the ring is what I need to figure out, but you are my lead. My tracker. I know not if your father is dead or alive, but I suspect the ring has taken your father to another plane of existence. That’s why no one can find him.”

My mouth fell open and I half expected it to hit the floor. “Another plane of existence? Is that even possible? I’ve never heard of that.”

“There are infinite numbers. I believe the ring is hiding on one of them.”

“Hiding?” I widened my eyes.

“Yes. It protected itself because it was in danger. It would have gone somewhere safe until I could find it.”

“You speak about it as though it’s a person. Alive.”

“It is alive. Alive with the spirits of every dragon from the realm of Ilynenyia who have lived in Vaelthorne throughout the ages. Its name is Halsilmêre, the Ring of the Kings.” He held my gaze and I couldn’t look away. Arielle had spoken that name in my vision. I didn’t know the impact of what she truly meant until now. “My family are bonded to dragon magic. Entrusted to be keepers of its essence. We do that through the ring.”

A chill rushed down my spine, a burning sensation that had me pressing my heels into the floor. “That sounds like the ring is…incrediblypowerful.”

“It is. And that is why only the king of Galaythia should wear and wield the ring’s magic.”

My nerves spiked and the burning over my skin flared. “King? But you said it was your ring.”

“Yes. The king’s ring ismine.” With his gaze still riveted to mine, he unlocked his fingers and drummed them on the table as if waiting for the other shoe to drop in my mind.

Itdid. “You? Um…who… who are you, really?”

That sinister smile returned. “I’m one of the princes of Galaythia. The next heir to the throne. I would already be king if your father hadn’t taken the ring. I need it back to take my reign of the kingdom and birthright.”

Oh. My. Gods.

The wedge in my throat sealed off my airways, forbidding me to breathe.

Wolfe was a…

Prince. Heir to the throne. The next king of Galaythia.

And my father took his ring?

Father, what did you do? And why?“How on earth did my father get that ring from you?”

His face… it hardened, and a spark of that metal darkness from earlier stirred in his eyes like lava. “He didn’t take it from me. He got it from the previous king—my father—when he was murdered. The only way your father could have taken the ring from mine was to kill him.”

I launched out of my chair so violently, it would have crashed to the floor if it weren’t magical. It righted itself with an unsettling grace while I stumbled backward, my legs threatening to give out beneath me.

Murder. He was accusing Father of murder. Not just any murder. The killing of a Fae king.