“She got pregnant. I didn’t even find out then though.”
Her small hand framed his bicep. He shuddered into her touch, because talking about his past was bringing up demons, reminding him why he’d locked his emotions away from others for so long. Why he hadn’t looked at another woman for years. Because he’d never wanted to open himself to that kind of pain or betrayal ever again.
“How?” she nudged him with her hip.
Brushing fingers through his hair, he exhaled. “The curse. My sands.”
She frowned. “You weren’t born that way?”
“No,” he snorted, “I wasn’t.”
Lissa didn’t say anything else after that. He knew she was curious, could almost feel the vibrations of it pulse through him like a wave. He’d known when he started telling her this story it wouldn’t be easy for him; it was why he’d never shared his tale with another. Not even Danika knew the full of it.
“Djinn’s are an arrogant bunch. They believe that because they are born in the stars they are gods. A half-breed is a bastard and something to be ashamed of. Rafa grew angry with Claudia and to hurt her in the same way she’d injured his pride, he told her the fate of all half-breed djinn’s.” He looked at her, at her innocent wide eyes, her smooth forehead and soft pink lips. Lissa looked as innocent to him as Claudia once had. Was he being stupid again? He’d sworn after the last time he’d never fall for a pretty face again. “Their child would be sand. Never able to talk with her. Hold her, love her, nothing. He then broke off their dalliance and left.”
It was easy to read the thoughts moving through her head. How could a child destined to be sand, become his curse instead? What had happened next?
“That is where Rumpel came into play. Djinn are pure magic, she believed in her heart their child would be at least half magic, she wanted to save him at all costs. Claudia ever only wanted one thing.”
“And that was?” She asked as they fazed through the trunk of a large floating elm tree.
“Everything. That was the allure of Rafa, and now that she had his child, she knew she could control that child, make its magic her own. She didn’t love the child, she loved what she felt the child could bring her. So she asked Rumpel what she could do to spare her babe. His answer was that someone would have to be willing to take on the curse instead.”
“Wait,” she pushed her hand against his chest. “You offered to take it? Why?”
“No,” he snorted, “I didn’t offer to take it. As innocent as that child was, I wouldn’t have accepted his or her curse. I know, that she knew, once I discovered there was an illegitimate bastard in her belly I would leave.”
“So how?”
The path they walked suddenly flipped upside down, causing her hair to float down around her eyes. She shoved it out of her face and nodded for him to continue.
“She tricked me. She asked me a question in bed that night.” He laughed; hindsight was always so easy to see the deception. His favorite meal she’d taken such lengths to make him, the love they’d made for many hours, she’d been working down his defenses. “She told me a story. About a woman who loved a man, but the man was not what he seemed and when the innocent young woman tried to escape the man punished her. Cursing her. Then she looked at me and asked me, if something like that ever happened to me, Aeric,” he could still hear the haunting echo of her voice even now, “would you take the curse instead?”
Lissa shook her head.
“I laughed. The question was foolish and I didn’t understand it, but I said what anyone in love would. I said yes.”
“And the moment you did—”
“I turned into this.” He spread his arms calling the sands to him. Her eyes never shifted from his and he didn’t keep the form long, but the moment he was solid again she rushed into his arms and hugged him hard.
“What did she owe Rumpel for the bargain?”
He curled his lips and gently pushed her back, because whether he wanted it to happen or not, Lissa was working her way beneath his skin, worming her way into his heart. And he was getting angry that he’d let it happen again.
“I’ll never know. I left her after that and I haven’t seen her since. My goal is to travel all of Kingdom and see everything I’ve not seen yet.”
After a moment, she asked, “Do you still love her?”
“I hate her.” His jaw clenched, and then he turned his gaze to the side.
They didn’t talk again for many hours after that. Just picking their way back through the winding trail, eventually making their way to a large maze of hedges. Hours had passed since they’d set out, the sky was now darkening and fireflies danced and zipped along the tree lines.