Page 48 of Heir to a Curse

He shook his head. “I should leave. Not come back.” He looked away and then back, his eyes shiny with tears he tried to blink away. “I try to. Sometimes I was able to stay away a long time. Then you came. I keep reminding myself you always leave, but my heart says that I need to be near you, even though I know you’ll go again.”

“I’m not leaving,” I said. “This is my house now.” I brushed away the first tear to trail down his cheek. “Stay with me.”

“I can’t. They will come through.”

“Who? The monster? Was that one of the ancestors?”

He shook his head. “It’s the curse. I need to go.” He put his hands over mine. “I need to let you go.”

But I wasn’t letting him go. “Take me with you then. If you can’t stay here. Take me wherever you go.”

“It’s not safe.”

“Nothing is safe,” I said, feeling more than a little irritated by the entire world right now. “There’s insanity everywhere. The world sits on the brink of chaos all the time. We all walk the edge of it, praying not to fall in.” I leaned forward to press my lips to his again. This time I felt them, soft and warm, breath scented with an edge of some flower I couldn’t recall the name of. “Take me with you. I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

Those long raven-wing lashes fell over his cheeks again as he closed his eyes, like he was contemplating a thousand things.

“Xiang,” I whispered his name, praying I was saying it right, though feeling it fall from my lips like a caress. “Please.”

He trembled and let out a long breath, “Okay, but just for a while. It’s not safe.”

“If it’s not safe for me, it can’t be safe for you,” I said.

He reached for my hand and pulled me to my feet. “I have learned to survive. It’s all I ever do anymore.” He led me to the door, and I thought for a minute we’d go out to the shrine. But when he opened the door it was another world that lay beyond, not the new garden or the path to the house, but a stretch of darkness illuminated by giant glowing plants, and a dark purple sky.

I gasped at the suddenness of it, stepping with him into the space. The door closed behind us, leaving us in some sort of magical jungle.

“We’ll have to run,” he whispered. “They appear quickly at night.” He tugged me in the direction of a path. I followed, stumbling a little with my drunkenness and wondering what sort of wild dream I was lost in now. At least I hadn’t changed into my pajamas or even taken off my shoes. I could follow him through the dense vegetation and finally feel like a weight was off my chest. He was there and the ache of loneliness eased.