Page 36 of Cursed Lifeline (Eternal Love)
Thirty Five
Felix
songs: Secrets & lies | Ruelle
“Why are you just now telling me this?” Alfred demands.
Arms crossed over his chest, he stares down at me with contempt as I sit behind my desk and toy with a piece of paper in one hand.
The letter that Talon read and can now use to his advantage.
If I know my brother, he’ll run his mouth just like the slayer we sent him off to Ember’s with. Why we ever trusted the volatile pair is beyond me. As I glance up at Alfred, and then catch the eye of Silas over his shoulder, I’m reminded why.
Because Celeste’s watcher has the final say.
Because Silas thought she was ready, or worse, has a hidden motive to erase Celeste from the present, and the future, since Esme has made her return, and this served as the perfect opportunity to do so. As I hold Silas’s silent stare, I’m inclined to think his intent leans towards the latter than my first, hopeful inclination.
Silas cocks a threatening eyebrow my way, and I release a menacing growl.
Gaze drifting back to Alfred, I say, “Rumor has it, a pair of star-gazing souls found their way to the highest hill of my estate last night. Care to tell me what you and Evangeline were doing while you thought the rest of the world was sleeping?”
It’s been clear to me since day one that Alfred has an uncontainable attraction to the fae. I wasn’t going to crush his spirits until I sensed it was time he knew all the facts. His desire for her was good fuel to get him to put down the bottle and focus on more pressing matters. Until I got the inkling that she might feel the same, I vowed to let him keep his daydreams and fantasies at night as he lay awake hungrily obsessing over claiming her.
The other night, when the pair lay under the stars, the truth traveled to me on a predestined breeze. Evangeline now toes the same line the hopeful fool in front of me has been dancing around for nearly a hundred years. A piece of her guarded heart fell for him against her better judgment. Sudden changes like that tend to make even the most level-headed individuals impulsive. We’ve come too far to be ruled by repressed emotions now. Which means it’s time I reveal a truth only myself, my mother, Dimitri, and Talon now know, and I hope Alfred won’t tell Esme before I get a chance to explain.
“Esme’s a sacrifice,” Alfred chuckles sarcastically. “Damn it, Felix, she’s been a sacrifice since day one. Her passing a century ago didn’t bring your father, Draven, back from the dead. I get that you think that’s to do with some ritual that hasn’t been performed properly yet, but I fail to see how that changes things. As long as we keep Esme safe, we have no problem.”
Letting go of the letter, biting my tongue, and watching as the truth flutters despairingly to my desk, I say, “What do you know of your little pixie, Alfred?”
His stance stiffens. Eyes fixed on the letter and the inescapable horror that could be rapidly approaching all of us, Alfred fidgets on his feet in front of my desk and growls, “Enough. What do you know about the fae princess you’re not telling me, Felix?”
A light chuckle leaves my lips. Picking up the letter, I reach across my desk and grab a zippo lighter. Flipping the top, I hold the truth above the blaze and grin as the tip of the paper singes and starts to go up in flames.
“Enough,” I smile as my gaze rises and meets Alfred’s over the fire engulfing the knowledge he seeks. “Enough to understand she’s more of a threat than you think.”
“Threat?” Alfred laughs. “That’s funny, coming from you. Seeing as you’ve been intent on keeping your enemies close for over a century. Worked out well in your favor. Who are you to tell me it won’t work out in mine?”
“ This enemy,” I seethe, “Holds the power to bring back an entity that could ruin us all with a snap of his fingers. I don’t remember my father, but I’ve been told the horror stories of how he terrorized nations when he reigned. No one was safe. Not even my own mother. If he’s resurrected, they’ll be hell to pay. Starting with my mother’s life for taking his. I won’t let that happen. Regardless of whatever erotic fantasy you have in your sex-deprived mind about a fae princess that’s more responsible for all of this than you think.”
A contemptuous laugh falls from Alfred’s lips. “Responsible? I know all the ways Evangeline is responsible for this. Starting with the loophole you wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for her. Or how about how she changed us, against her better judgment, just so we can help you in the future when you undoubtedly fuck everything up again.”
“Or,” I sigh angrily, leaning back in my seat, “How about how she’s the only one alive capable of performing the ritual Ember undoubtedly seeks to bring my father back to life.”
Alfred glances over his shoulder at Silas, who gives his brother a curt nod letting him know I am telling the truth.Alfred’s startled gaze swings back my way.
“Didn’t she tell you?” I cheekily ask.
His jaw ticks with rage. Rising from my seat, I take slow calculated steps around my desk.
“I guess hopeful wishing on stars make important details slip your mind, like the fact that your little princess is still here because I’ve commanded her to be. She’s not here for you, Alfred. She doesn’t stick around hoping to one day fulfill your pornographic fantasies. She’s here because, if she weren’t, I’d have her hunted down. And if she dares to raise my father from the grave, I’ll take her out before she ever gets the chance, and nothing you could do or say would stop me.”
Taking a heated step forward, Alfred raises a finger and points it aggressively in my face. “Touch a hair on her head, and I’ll fucking kill you.”
Grinning, I debate telling him to try when the door to my office slams open. Alfred, Silas, and I look to the left in unison. Caelum leans against the doorframe attempting to catch his breath.
Stepping towards him, I demand, “What is it?”
If he’s fucked things up again, I swear I’ll find a way to lose these three watchers in Esme’s next life.
“We have a problem,” he wheezes as he stands upright.
“Problems seem to follow you everywhere you go, Caelum. What seems to be the issue now?”
“Evangeline,” he breathes out.
Alfred’s fearful strides match mine as we make our way to the door.
“What about the pixie?”
Shaking his head, Caelum coughs up, “Esme.”
Gripping Caelum by his throat, I back him against the door he’s just barged through.
“What about Esme?”
Tightening my grip, the watcher’s eyes bug out of his skull. His face turns red.
“Felix,” Alfred demands. “Release him before you kill him.”
But the mention of the woman’s names together makes it impossible not to inflict pain for the horror that rises in my chest as I suspect the worst.
“Felix!” Alfred shouts as Caelum’s eyes roll back in his head, and a ghostly pale shade creeps through the crimson staining his face.
I release my hold and the watcher falls to his knees. Taking a step back, he gasps for his life that was just slipping through my fingers on the floor at my feet. Impatient with the time it takes him to catch his breath, even though I’m solely responsible for stealing it, I start to pace.
“What about Evangeline and Esme, Caelum? Tell us, or so help me, I’ll…”
“They’re gone,” Caelum wheezes out clutching his throat and attempting to rise.
My fearful gaze snaps to Alfred and Silas. Paralyzed by the admission, Alfred and I stare at each other, terrified, as Silas rounds the three of us and quickly leaves the room. Clutching Caelum up by the lapel of his jacket, I shove him towards Alfred and stalk off after Silas.
Determination fills the silent watcher’s deliberate stride as he ascends down the corridor toward the women’s quarters. I follow close behind, annoyed at the heavy breathing Caelum can’t seem to get under control as Alfred helps his brother down the hallway after us.
Raising his leg, Silas kicks open the door to Evangeline’s room and stalks into the dark chamber as if he’s been there before. Opening doors to the closet, the fae’s lavatory, he eventually flings back the covers to her bed and scowls up at me as he’s greeted with a mound of pillows meant to emulate human form.
A feral growl leaves my lips as I turn and kick open the door of Esme’s room just the same. A lonely candle illuminates the space from a small table across the room. Hope fills me as a soft clatter from the bathroom across the way draws my attention to where I’m hopeful I’ll find Esme. The watchers gather at the door to the room and are smart not to enter. That is, not until I find her and demand she tell me what the hell is going on.
Knocking lightly on the door to the bathroom, I wait for her response. After several tense moments, I look up at the three men gathered in the doorway and frown. Alfred’s eyes fall to Esme’s bed and widen. I look down and see haphazardly formed mounds identical to the ones found in the room across the hall. Rage fuels me as I step away from the door and then plow into the wood with my left shoulder. The door shutters but doesn’t give way. Stunned, I look up at Alfred, Silas, and Caelum.
“Meddling fae,” Silas sighs. Alfred’s back stiffens. “Their trickster magic will get them in trouble one day.”
Eyes locked on Alfred’s, my jaw ticks with fury. “It already has,” I insist as I slam into the door a second time, challenging the pixie’s magic with my own.
The door gives way and I barrel into the bathroom to find an open window. Outside, a raven can be heard releasing an eager kraa into the night. The soft clink, clank, and rattle of the metal as the window swings on its hinges mimics the sound I heard when I first entered the room.
Stalking back into Esme’s chambers, her metallic scent calls to me, comforting me, as I start to make my way towards the watchers when the candle on her desk flickers and causes me to halt.
A scribbled note sits below a sharp, scarlet-stained dagger. As I approach the desk, I realize the note isn’t written in ink. It’s written in Esme’s blood.
Felix,
Evangeline knows a way to save us all.
If there’s a chance, I have to take it.
Because…
Three words.
That’s all it takes to crush my hope, raise my nightmares from the dead, and fuel the vengeance that’s been buried inside me for over a hundred years.
I. Choose. You.
“Alfred,” I shout. “I changed my mind. Your pixie dies. Tonight.”