Page 44 of WitchCurse
“Nick is pretty,” Toby agreed. I frowned at him, thinking I didn’t really want them in my head all the time. “Then keep us out.” He quirked a brow in my direction, waiting. I tried to gather a barrier, but Nick swatted it away like it was an annoying bug.
“Don’t keep us out, we need to examine these curses.” He paused, then said, “He thinks I’m pretty.” Nick sounded happy. Of course, I thought he was pretty. Who wouldn’t?
“Handsome,” Toby said, reaching for Nick, his fingers tracing Nick’s shoulder. “Strong.” He sucked in a deep breath. His gaze filled with affection, and interest clear on his face. I looked away, not wanting to get between them, even if they were forcing me into that place right then. Likely all of this was related to our bond, and that was fine. Once the bond was stable, they could find their place together.
I understood, as I had never been pretty. Desired by the court for a time due to a title, the prince I’d once been, mask long gone. A warrior, but a lot of that bulk and muscle I’d lost over the centuries. Fading, starving, and being eaten alive by the last remaining sidhe, never wanted for anything but the power I could give others.
Nick sighed. “Not true. You are mine. You will always be mine.”
“A forced bond,” I said.
“I have been willing since day one,” Nick said, his arms tightening again. “Don’t make a victim of me. I accepted your bond willingly. I knew exactly what I was signing up for. You were not a fate worse than death.”
“I agreed as well,” Toby added. “Does one of these curses make you lie to yourself, or are you that lost in delusion?”
Neither, I thought, but said nothing as was my usual way of staying out of trouble. Toby frowned and another moment of white-hot ripping pain coursed through me. I gasped, body straining, while Nick held me as the pain came and vanished that fast.
“This is going to be brutal,” Nick said. “As much as I want them gone, I don’t think we should do it all at once.”
“Liam said Sebastian’s kept coming back. Sebastian said the ice queen removed his curse. I doubt she’ll remove Kiran’s. But I don’t think they are the same either. These lines are jagged, like the spells are wild magic pressed into structure? Not subtle, nor pretty. I think not all that strong either, which was why they needed so many to bind him. I hope that cutting them out at the root will keep them from returning, but it likely adds to the pain.”
Toby’s face came back again, his grip firm on my chin. “I’d like to see if these few return.” His other hand traced a spot on my shoulder, the lines of a long cast curse, gone. Nick pressed the energy surrounding us from the sanctuary into healing. Toby’s touch cooled the heat, but reminded me they’d been there, even after the pain vanished. “I can’t feel any trace of them. If they don’t reappear, then we keep working through them. Only once they are gone can we truly feed him.”
“Do you know what I will become?” I asked. Fed and powerful, I was a monster. Had raged through the courts for years before my capture and binding.
Nick bowed forward, pressing himself to my back and resting his head on the back on mine. “I really want to remove more. See if we can get him to keep some of this energy rather than it constantly being drained.”
“I don’t think it will get any less painful,” Toby said, the two of them making decisions about me. I frowned at them, and tugged on Nick’s grip. I felt him smile into the side of my neck, where he pressed his lips a moment later. I froze under the kiss, unsure what to do.
“Does my touch hurt you?” Nick asked.
“When you’re ripping curses from me, yes,” I said through gritted teeth.
Nick kissed the side of my face. “Does that hurt? Don’t lie, and don’t go silent,” he demanded.
“No,” I said. “Your kiss doesn’t hurt.” Not physically. But anxiety rose at the idea of opening myself to him, or anyone. Would he be ripped away or leave on his own when he saw the true monster within?
“You. Are. Mine.” Nick growled in my ear. “If you think I don’t know much of the darkest pieces of you, you are truly lost in misconception.” His grip on me tightened. One hand going around my throat to hold my face in place, the other sliding lower, over my chest and between my thighs to cup my groin. Not enough healing there to awaken much sensation yet, but my hips jerked in response, as if begging for his touch. The warmth of his fingers stirred the edge of something, but not anything strong enough to pursue.
Nick huffed. “We need to remove more curses.”
“Let me check with Sebastian. I don’t want us doing this when we move. But once we are re-anchored, wards up, I plan to spend a lot of time exploring.” Toby looked at me with heat. His smile a bit wolfen as he ran his hands over my bare skin. “Beneath all these nightmares burned into your skin, is there anything left?” he asked.
I had no idea what he meant. This was all me, whatever remained of it. Rotting and dead for centuries, after millennia of abuse, what could possibly remain?
He sighed and pushed himself away. “Be right back.” He headed toward the door, closing it firmly behind him.
Nick’s grip loosened a little, but I felt like jelly and didn’t try to move. “You can have him,” I assured my first scion. “I would never get in your way.”
Nick snorted. “As if we need your permission? The question is, will you let him have you? His wolf wants to mark you. I’d like to watch that.”
I turned my head to meet Nick’s gaze, confused. Why would he want to mark me and not Nick? Was Nick angry with me about that?
“You were out of the world too long. All worlds,” Nick sighed. “You forget sometimes how to be human. That things aren’t always so black and white, right and wrong, and limited. Wasn’t it the Stag who said ‘you can have more than one’? Do you think he only meant scions?”
“I’m not human,” I said.
“You are. It’s why the sidhe hate you so much. Blood of this world runs through you as it does Sebastian. It’s what creates a kitsune. You are not the untouchable sidhe who are on their way to oblivion. They dug curses in you to weaken you, yet still you live. It drives them mad that you thwart their attempts to subvert you. It’s okay to feel, to want, and to dream.”