Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
Silas wipes the dried blood from cutting his hand earlier onto his pants, obviously not caring about ruining the poor suit. “We were arguing, and then she collapsed outside the Matched Ball. It happened out of nowhere.”
I reach out and feel the back of Maven’s hand. It doesn’t feel warm to me, which is how I know she must be freezing cold. “Baelfire. Warm her up.”
He gives me a testy look, smacking my hand away from our keeper before he walks to the other side of the bed.
“Hold her without permission, and your mate will be down to three matches,” Crypt warns.
Baelfire shakes his head, mumbling something about being stuck with a bunch of psychopaths as he gently adjusts Maven to one side of the mattress, grabs an extra blanket from a nearby bed, and tosses it over both of them. At least now his obnoxiously excessive body heat will transfer to her, though it looks like half his ass is hanging off the bed. I guess it’s his fault for being roughly the size of an ox with basically the equivalent in brain power.
I catch Crypt staring at me again, but now one side of his mouth is pulled up into a smirk.
“What? Why are you making that face at me?” I demand. “Stop. You’re fucking creepy.”
“You’re just as far gone for her as the rest of us. Aren’t you.”
It’s not a question. He’s stating this accusation, and I immediately shake my head.
“The gods assigned her as my keeper, so it’s not like I want her to fucking die, but I don’t care about her. Not like that.”
“Bullshit,” Silas snorts. “Look how red his face is.”
I resist the urge to cover my cheeks, which have always been annoyingly blush-prone, and feign aloofness once more. “You three can believe whatever you want, but Maven is nothing to me. I don’t feel?—“
I cut off when Crypt’s hand is suddenly wrapped around my throat, bruising me as he pins me to the nearest wall. His eyes gleam with malicious threat.
“Your feelings don’t interest me, Frost. But that prophetess insinuated that you believe your curse could hurt Maven. Anything that concerns her concerns me, so spit it out.”
I’m getting really fucking tired of these jerks going for my throat. My anger quickly turns into ice crackling up the wall behind me. When I focus my power, Crypt lurches away just as fatally sharp ice spikes explode into existence, surrounding me like a shield.
I allow them to melt instantly and snap, “Leave me the fuck alone.”
But Silas is a persistent asshole and takes a defensive stance, his bloodied crystal in hand. “Much as I hate admitting it, he’s right. We need to know if you’re a risk to Maven. Don’t share all of your curse if you don’t need to, but tell us any way it could hurt her.”
I rub my face. Godsdamn it. They’re not going to let this go.
And maybe they’re right not to. After all…I have been putting her at risk. No matter what Pia thinks, I know it’s my fault she’s been bedridden twice within the space of twenty-four hours. It correlates too much with how spectacularly I’ve been failing at fighting my emotions.
“Fine,” I mutter, breathing out a puff of frigid air before I regard all three of them. “But you can’t kill me.”
Baelfire snorts derisively. “Is that a challenge? Because I definitely could if I wanted to.”
“Shut up, dragon. I’ll tell you three about it, but there better not be any more trips to Limbo,” I say pointedly, glaring at Crypt.
“As if I’d kill you in such a mundane way. Spit it out already.”
I swallow and look back down at Maven. She looks so peaceful in her sleep, with her hair sprawled across the pillow and her dark lashes settled on her cheeks. My chest aches as I imagine seeing her like this every morning, safe and warm in silk sheets with the promise of nothing but pleasure and comfort ahead for her.
Cherishing her would be as easy as breathing.
But…
“My curse will kill anyone I fall in love with,” I confess quietly.
They all absorb that for a moment. Then Baelfire opens his big, fat mouth.
“Damn. That sucks ass. Especially for your past girlfriends.”
I just sigh. Fucking idiot.
He blinks. “Wait.
Have you had any past girlfriends? Or boyfriends? Casual flings or one-night stands?
Anything?
“
“If he knows he’ll be the death of anyone he accidentally catches feelings for, even from a one-night stand, then willingly putting someone in that position would be akin to secondhand murder,” Silas muses.
My thoughts exactly.
Baelfire props himself up slightly, his mouth hanging open like he just unearthed treasure. “Hold the fucking phone. Don’t tell me no one has ever hopped on your popsicle before. You’re a virgin?”
Even though I’m sure my bright red face gives away the answer, I decide now’s the perfect time to move this conversation along.
“
Anyway, I’ve tried keeping my distance from Maven. I worried that if I was too obvious about pushing her away, it would make her pursue me out of curiosity, or you guys would pick another fight. But honestly, I never should’ve gone to the inn with the rest of you because no matter how much I try to ignore it, Maven makes it so…it’s impossible to not…”
I’m struggling so much with my words that Silas finishes for me. “To not care for her.”
My shoulders slump. I expect another wise-ass comment from Baelfire, but to my utter shock, he looks almost…
sympathetic.
“I’m guessing that’s why you decided to be an even bigger asshole than usual and tell her about the bet,” the dragon sighs.
I start fidgeting with both cufflinks before stopping myself. My parents always hated that I had compulsive, nervous ticks growing up. These days, they only reappear when I’m anxious or when I’m stressed as hell.
Like right now.
“When we found her in the headmaster’s office, I thought…I thought I’d killed her.” My voice is dangerously close to breaking, so I clear my throat. “And when she passed out tonight, it’s because I got close to her at the Matched Ball. It’s my fault—my curse. I can’t let anything like this happen again. Maybe you three can help me stay away from her as much as possible. At least until we can break our curses.”
Silas says nothing as he considers everything I just said. Crypt’s face is unreadable. Baelfire doesn’t look at me, instead reaching out to adjust Maven’s pillow slightly.
“Are you sure that’s your curse, Snowflake?” he prods. “If you had a long track record of dead ex-lovers, I’d get it, but how do you know for certain if you’ve never…you know?
Fallen for someone and all that gooey shit.”
I rub my neck. “When they couldn’t figure out what my curse was by the time I turned four, my parents took me to Arati’s temple.”
Arati is the goddess of passion, fire, wrath, war, and love. She’s also the queen of the gods and the sister of Galene, the goddess of prophecies.
“The high prophet there divined a personal prophecy for me and revealed my curse. That’s how I know for sure.”
Once again, they’re all quiet for a while before Silas sighs.
“I’ll help you maintain distance from Maven.”
Baelfire nods. “Never thought I’d feel bad for a fucking Frost, but yep. I’ll help cockblock your heart or whatever.”
I really hate him.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.