Chapter 6: The Creature's Cruelty
Aurelia frowned. “What do you mean, creature? W-we did meet. You saved my life.”
He blinked. What the devil was the matter with her?
Why wasn’t it working? Hell, his hair was in the way.
“No, we didn’t meet,” he hissed. “Are you not hearing me?”
Sighing, she shuffled closer. “Wait, what about your promise to help me?”
His eyes narrowed.
“You don’t remember?” she asked, giving him a coy look. “We m-made a deal, didn’t we? I gave you… I gave you my body. In return, you must help me reclaim my throne. You must lend me your power.”
“I made no such promise,” he muttered bitterly. “How dare you try to lie to me? A worthless human like you.”
Her grey eyes filled with hurt, her lips twitching downward with sadness. The look made his chest tighten, and then he saw the tears fill her eyes.
Damn it. The brat was more trouble than he’d imagined.
“Fine,” she choked out. “I’m a worthless human. I’ll take it. But please help me. You witnessed how I was killed.”
“That’s your fate,” he said. “That’s the wheel of time bringing back to you the evil you dished out.”
Aurelia shook her head in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“And you never will. Now hold still and listen closely to my words.”
He needed to erase her memory quickly.
“But what am I going to do?” she softly cried. “My… my aunt. My only remaining family has betrayed me. She murdered my parents and killed me the same way. I have nothing and no one! How will I fight her alone?”
He was about to fire back a sharp retort, but then her warm hands suddenly grabbed his cold one. “Please, creature. I need you. Please, help me.”
He stared at her face, suddenly knocked out of focus by her touch.
He wrenched his hand away. “Don’t touch me.”
Biting her lip, Aurelia stepped back in shame. He made her feel like a worthless beggar on the street. “I’m sorry.”
Staggering back with a sudden dizzy spell, he caught himself against the wall. The amount of power he was using to resist both her blood and the binding pull toward her was leaving him weak.
Sighing, he looked at her, cursing when he saw her crestfallen expression.
Eyes dripping tears everywhere, nose soggy, and lips wobbling with pathetically unspoken pleas. She was a mess. He glared at her.
What a bitch karma was. This was his punishment for living in resentment and desiring revenge. If he’d just let it go as Seth had told him, he wouldn’t be in this mess. If he’d just let her die without wanting to further humiliate the last seed of the Dusk bloodline, he wouldn’t have made such a grave error.
Glancing away, he inwardly cursed himself. “Fine.”
Aurelia’s eyes brightened. “Really? You’re going to h-help me?”
“No,” he sternly said. “You’re going to help yourself.”
She looked baffled. “But… I can’t.”
“Figure it out. Your family betrayed you just yesterday, and you still think the world cares about your delicate feelings? Life is tough, princess. You want things done, do it yourself. Don’t be pathetic.”
His harsh words slashed at her with ruthless precision, leaving crimson streaks on her already crumbling spirit.
He saw how quickly his words had crushed her, but he didn’t care. There was no time.
“When you leave here,” he continued. “You will wake up in a different forest. You will probably be found and taken into a kingdom of magic. Or you’ll wander into one. Don’t tell them that you’re human.”
She wouldn’t have to tell them, he inwardly thought. The sorcerers would sense it instantly and probably kill her for a spell, as wizards were known to do. He was sending her to her ultimate death.
“When you’re there…” he continued, annoyed by how intently she was listening. “Ask to join the academy.”
She frowned. “The… academy?”
“The Carnelian Curse Academy,” he clarified absently. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like she’d make it. He would only pretend to help her so she could stop looking at him so tragically; it was digging an invisible knife into his soul. That damned soul tie.
The Kingdom of Cassius was the closest magic kingdom, and it was in the opposite direction from where he was going.
He wouldn’t be seeing her again. Sure, the academy was closer to his home kingdom than it was to Cassius, but she wouldn’t make it that far, would she? A mere human could never make the cut, could never actually be accepted into the Carnelian Curse Academy.
“If you join that academy,” he said. “And you survive. You gain allegiance to two powerful kingdoms. The kingdom of Cassius and the kingdom of Onyx. Gain that power and reclaim your throne.”
The information was overwhelming her. Lips trembling as she scrambled for words in the disaster that was her train of thought, she shuffled forward. “What w-will I have to do, creature? What do you mean, if I survive? Could I die? Are there other people—normal people… at this academy? And what if—”
“Too many questions,” he stated through gritted teeth. “What’s the big deal about dying? You’ve already done it once before anyway.”
“But—”
“Silence. Look into my eyes!”
Aurelia was snatched forward with a shriek. He gripped her shoulders tightly, and she wasn’t ready for what he did next.
In one smooth motion, he swept back his hair, revealing his face to her.
Struck, she stared dazedly up at him.
He was unbelievable. A dream. Or a hallucination? She didn’t know. He looked like a figment of her imagination.
It was the first time he was directly meeting her gaze, and he, too, was visibly stuck for a moment.
Snapping out of it, he sighed. “Look into my eyes.”
She already was. Lost in the emerald green of those orbs as though they could save her soul. They glowed suddenly, and she was captivated, unable to look away.
How could he be so beautiful?
“You…” he whispered tightly, equally lost in her. “You’ve never met me. From now on, you will not recognize me. You feel nothing for me; there is no bond. Even if Death catches up to you and demands what you owe… you will not. Seek. Me.”