Chapter 3 Faster than your Curse

Ryn POV

I give up on sleep somewhere around the fourth hour of staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. I get dressed, start walking, and that's how I find the garden.

I step in and crouch next to a climbing vine, pressing my fingers into the soil. It looks exactly like home and I don't know I'm crying until drops of something cold hit my arm.

That's when I see him.

Zevran. On his knees in the far corner. His hands are in the soil, shoving into the dirt and pulling out while the vein at the side of his head gets bigger and bigger.

I shouldn't have turned back. I was already leaving when something pulled me closer and I caught the plant tucked into the corner. The leaves were already going brown and I could see several small holes he had dug around it.

"What's wrong with it?" I whisper.

He looked up and something moved in his face when he saw me but it was gone too fast.

"Everything," he said. "I've tried everything."

I crouched next to it, checked the soil and the roots. "It needs to be in the coldest part of the garden. It's suffocating here."

He looked at me for a moment but he moved it without a word.

I touched the leaves and something left my hand and went into that plant causing the leaves to straighten. Not dramatically, but they didn't look as dead as they were just seconds ago.

Zevran went very still.

"How did you..." He looked at the plant then back at me. "I have been trying to save this plant for a long time now. That was her favourite plant," he said.

I looked at him. "Who?"

"My wife," he whispered. "She died because she couldn't handle the Embrace and I haven't tried again. This plant is the only thing that reminds me of her."

I reached out and held his face although I don't know why I did it. He went completely still but didn't pull back.

"It can't be that bad," I said. "At least you're not dying like I am. Right?"

His expression shifted and I could have sworn I saw him smile but it was gone before I knew it.

I didn't know when the distance between us vanished all I felt was his breath on my face.

His lips were almost touching mine when we heard someone clear his throat.

"My lord?" The guard's eyes slid to me briefly. "Your attention is needed. The families of your fiancée are waiting."

Zevran pulled back and just like that the walls were back up. He left without looking at me.

I stood there for a moment then followed him because apparently I hadn't done enough damage yet.

I pressed my ear against the first door I heard voices behind.

"We need to start the preparations for the wedding in two weeks," someone said.

"How about the human?" another voice asked.

"What human?" I knew that voice even without wanting to. Seraphina.

I pushed the door open before I could talk myself out of it.

Three pairs of eyes looked at me. The court official. Someone in very expensive clothes and Seraphina, standing slightly behind them with an expression that was trying very hard not to be satisfied and failing completely.

"Can I help you," the official said.

"Sorry, wrong door," I replied.

By the time I got back to my room to pack, he was already there.

"You're leaving?"

"One cycle of seasons," I replied. "That's what you promised right?"

"Yes, but the cycle hasn't ended."

"You almost kissed me in that garden." I shove another shirt into the bag. "Was that part of the plan too? Kiss the human before the real bride shows up?"

"There is no plan, Ryn." he sighs

"Then what am I here for? Really? Because I thought I was here to serve a contract but now it feels like I walked into someone else's love story and nobody told me I was the extra."

"You're not an extra."

"So tell me why does your fiancée know exactly who I am and I didn't even know she existed until ten minutes ago?"

He doesn't flinch but I can see my words land.

"What I said in that room had nothing to do with what happened in the garden." He didn't look away. "Saying your name in there would have made you a target before you already are one."

I didn't answer even as he watched my face for the slightest reaction.

"The real reason you are here is because my Renewal comes in six months," he said. "And I need to feed three times a day. I haven't tried because I didn't want to scare you." A pause. "But I need blood or I go mad with rage."

I looked at him. "Ok, how does it work? Does it hurt? How many litres are we talking about?"

He crossed the room, stood above me as his face dropped to my neck and I felt his breath there warm and slow.

"Don't worry," he whispered. "I'll try to be gentle."

His teeth sink in and my first instinct is to push him off. Then the pain disappears and what replaces it is something I wasn't prepared for.

Heat spreading from my neck down through my chest, my fingers going numb, my knees almost giving out. I grab his arm to keep myself upright and I feel his whole body tense under my grip.

His skin starts to glow. Soft at first then it got brighter and brighter until the whole room lit up.

He pulls away like I am suddenly hot.

"Who are you?"

"Excuse me Mister Vampire King," I arch my brow. "You just drank from me, how are you asking... Is this some kind of sick joke?"

"No." He looks at me differently now. "I just haven't tasted anyone like you before. There's something about you. Something I can't..." He sighs.

"Look, I know what you heard in there would make you not trust me," he said moving close to me. "But if you leave before my cycle ends I will die faster than your curse kills you."

"Why?" I blurt out.

"Because I also have six months to live."