Page 10

Nine

Aunt protectiveness looked fiercely beautiful on his Lexa.

And he would be lying if he said his heart didn’t give a slight jump nonetheless. He sighed in defeat and put her on speaker before turning the phone to the other girl. He met her baffled glance and said, “This is my Alexa; she’d like to tell you something.”

“Oh.” The girl looked at Alexa, her eyes narrowing. “Hi.”

“Hello,” Alexa said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “What’s your name?”

“Pierson?” The girl looked uncertain. She was probably wondering what Alexa had to tell her.

“Well, Pierson, I advise you to stay away from my Tristan. He’s quite attached—to me, if you can’t tell yet—and we are getting engaged in the coming week. I believe you’re a clever girl, so stop chasing after boys whose hearts are engaged elsewhere.” She paused for a moment, sighed, and added, “I don’t want to come off as sounding like a mean American girl, but you’re worth more than this . I never knew my worth either, until Tristan came into my life and loved me like I was the most precious thing in the world. There is a chance at love for all of us.”

Tristan felt the breath leave his lungs. She started out sounding like a lioness and finished her words like a dove. She never ceased to amaze him.

“It was nice talking with you, Pierson. I hope you find true love too.” Then to Tristan, she added, “You can turn me back over, Trist.” When he did and connected her back to his AirPod, she smiled at him. “Thank you for trusting me.”

“Always,” he vowed and looked up at the girl.

She was staring at the table with a thunderstruck expression. When she caught Tristan’s glance, she glared and stomped away.

“I’m sure that’ll keep her away from me for the duration of my stay, and perhaps her friends as well, if she tells them.”

“I hope.”

Tristan looked back at Alexa and exhaled. “My lioness, my dove, my Alexandra…” He shook his head. “I may have fallen more in love with you just now.”

Alexa dropped her gaze with a shy smile. “Well, you had better get used to it.” She winked.

“I already have.”

Her smile widened. “So, did Merissa say when the curse-lifting is going to be? I miss you badly.”

“I miss you terribly,” he confessed. “But like I promised, I’ll be back in the next two days as a free man and propose to you. The curse-lifting is tomorrow night.”

* * *

The next evening, Hermis drove Merissa, Tristan, and Jude to the outskirts of the city. It was a long drive.

Tristan watched as the opulence of the city lessened into small houses and less-developed towns. They passed through some streets, the surroundings becoming more of a wooded area before Hermis maneuvered the car onto a road that led into the subtle-looking woods.

But there was no road. It was simply a forest path through the trees.

Merissa did mention they were going to her cabin in the woods, but being actually here didn’t help calm Tristan’s racing heart. He had every reason to still doubt her intentions, after all.

But he tried to stay calm. He had come this far.

The night had fallen by the time the car came to a clearing, and stopped in front of a cabin lit from the inside with yellow light. Merissa stepped out; Tristan and Jude did the same. Merissa smiled at Tristan and gestured toward the cabin before walking to it.

Tristan followed her. When he entered, he stopped in his tracks, seeing some of the people from last night’s party already there. They sat in armchairs and sofas, dressed in black, this time wearing odd-looking, long necklaces around their necks.

They regarded him with the same strange look in their eyes, despite giving him a nod of acknowledgment or a smile.

He returned the silent greeting, gulping down the sudden hardness in his throat.

Merissa walked further inside before turning to him. “They’re here to help me. Curse-lifting is a very powerful spell, and I couldn’t do it alone. And yes, they know our history, unlike my girls and Hermis.”

Tristan nodded.

“So shall we start?” she asked, looking around at her friends.

They all grunted their agreement and rose from their seats. Then, with a wave of his hand and muttering in a strange language, one of them sent all the furniture back against the walls.

Tristan watched in amazement. He had only read this stuff in books and seen it in movies. But seeing it with his own eyes, he was impressed. Hope built inside him; they could help him, after all.

The next few minutes were spent in preparation.

Merissa drew a large, white circle in the center of the room. Tristan immediately had the impression he was supposed to stand there. One burned a strange incense that smelled close to something rotting, another lit large candles outside the circle, while another sprinkled some herbs inside.

At last, Merissa turned to Tristan. Her expression was somber, and she now wore a similar necklace to her friends. “We are ready, nephew,” she said in a reverent voice. “Can you step inside this circle?”

“Sure.” Tristan nodded. He fished out his phone and shot a quick text to Alexa and his dad, saying they were starting the ritual.

“Oh, and you might need to put away your phone or any electrical items you carry. Including your watch,” Merissa added.

He arched an eyebrow at her.

Merissa sighed. “Your body is partly electrical, Tristan. When the curse lifts, it will react. It’s just a safety precaution.”

“You know if this goes wrong or if this is anything else, my dad won’t let you live, right?”

“And you know I’m doing this because I repented, right?” She arched an eyebrow back at him.

Tristan exhaled. He took off his new watch, fished out his phone and AirPods, and looked around for a place to keep them.

“Here.” Jude stepped forward, stretching out his hand. He had been exceptionally quiet today, and this was the first time Tristan heard him talk.

Tristan hesitated at first, then handed them over.

“Good luck, cousin.”

Tristan hid his surprise with a neutral expression and nodded his thanks before turning and walking to the middle of the room. As everyone in the room watched, Tristan stepped inside the circle.

“Now, give me your bracelet,” Merissa said.

Tristan turned to her. “Why?”

“You can’t wear it during the ritual; it conceals the curse in you,” she explained calmly.

That made sense, and it was only because of that he took off the bracelet and tossed it to her without arguing.

Merissa fumbled to catch it, and the bracelet fell to the wooden floor with a light thud. She bent down to take it and, upon straightening, held it between her palms and closed her eyes.

However, Tristan had no time to wonder what she was doing with it. He was focused on something else entirely—a strange feeling that left him the moment the bracelet had come off.

A rush of thoughts and emotions flooded him. Guilt was the strongest of them all, regret being the second one.

His conversation with Alexa the night they fought flooded his mind, followed by an emotional stab in the gut and then in the heart.

Then, he realized it.

What had he done?

All these months, he’d been trying to become more and more deserving of the girl he loved, and now he had fallen behind. Far, far behind. He had never felt more undeserving of her.

What had he done?!

He had hurt her, made her cry, disrespected her beliefs, depressed her, and made her choose between him and her God.

What kind of lover did that?

Tristan couldn’t believe he had pulled her through some sort of hell. He couldn’t even believe he’d made her cry when he had made it his life’s mission to make her smile.

He couldn’t believe he had spoken so harshly about her faith; something he had never done despite their different viewpoints before. He had respected her faith, just as much as he respected her.

Above all, Tristan couldn’t believe he had forced her to choose between him and her God. And she had chosen him. Somehow… despite his grudge against God, it felt wrong .

He would’ve dated her for the rest of his life if he couldn’t marry her. He’d rather that than break up with her. He wouldn’t even have thought of breaking up with her just because her Bible forbade her from marrying him.

No. Their relationship would’ve only been over if she broke up with him. Because he wouldn’t have left her—he couldn’t —unless by death.

Guilt and regret flooded him, and Tristan sank to the floor. Someone called his name, but he couldn’t focus on anything except his thoughts and the worst memories of his life.

Tristan Knight would never do such things; never on his own, at least, because there was no denying that it was he who had acted that way. He, who was now yearning to apologize to Alexa on his knees, to beg her to forgive him, and to take him back after everything he had broken—even though he was the most undeserving man.

Tristan raised his bloodshot eyes to Merissa. “What did you do to me?”