Shadow's Kiss (Monstrous Hearts: Fleur's Story)

Chapter Fourteen

Fleur didn't know what to say as they left Ben Reaper's house. Dario drove, finding the right highway without trouble. He acted calm and confident among the traffic as if he hadn't just been told his life was fucked, but his silence didn't feel like it was from concentration.

She blinked at the rugged terrain around them. Even that tiny movement felt exhausting. Dario's blood had taken away her injuries, but she remained drained, numb, and slightly sick from reeking of cheap cologne.

Still, she was fine. Nothing about her situation had changed. She couldn't imagine how Dario felt. Ignoring the spite in Adair's words only highlighted the grim revelations. At the very worst, she would escape the bond by dying of old age. Dario was completely trapped.

"He shouldn't have gone into what happened to you," she said, finally. "Not like that. This probably doesn't help to hear, but I won't bring it up or pry into things."

Dario glanced over, for once expressionless. "I know my past. The rest of his answer troubles me more."

"Do you think he's lying?" She thought the vargr seemed terrified enough to tell the truth.

"No. But he guessed well. I planned to shift the curse onto its caster once the bond was transferred to someone willing to work magic with me." Then his hand squeezed against the steering wheel, making the muscles in his arm flex. It was the only sign of anger he'd shown so far. "There's no use in avoiding what this news means. We're tied together."

When Fleur remained quiet, he added, "Greg Iaquinta's mind held nothing about your life, but I found indications that you'll live at a university."

"Sure. The dorms for the first year and probably campus apartments afterward. Only students are allowed to live in them."

"Then that gives us over two months to test the limits of this bond. It might be as simple as you ordering me to remain human, or ordering me to live away from you. Unless you're willing for the rest of your family to meet me. Your mother and father are both human, yes?"

Fleur stared at the semi in front of them. That morning, the idea of explaining Dario's presence to her mom would have been horrifying. Now, with Adair's words still ringing in her head, it wasn't even worth thinking about. Despite the string of dead ends in their attempt to break the bond, she was growing angry instead of discouraged. It had seemed simpler before, or maybe she had been willfully blind about what it meant to get him out of her life.

Yet now she was beginning to like him and better understood how the curse kept his existence a living hell. She couldn't just escape this mess anymore. She had to solve it and free him.

She sighed, feeling her shoulders slump, but when she spoke, her words were steady and certain. "Yeah, they are, and they're also gone for the summer on a cruise, so that gives us three months to work out this curse and break it."

There was a brief silence. "This isn't necessary for your own sense of peace."

She scratched at her snarled hair to hide her discomfort. She still didn't understand why she could look like a physical mess without caring at all, yet an honest conversation made her want to hide. "Prickly" was one of the gentler terms for her abrasive attitude, but she had to admit it was apt: stripping away her methods to repel human contact left her feeling like a stunted little creature squirming for safety. "I know, and I guess we should see what we can do to be apart just in case we're stuck together for good. But I'm not... interested in just getting you out of my life. I want to break the curse. There has to be a way. Adair didn't say it was impossible, only that he didn't know how to do it."

Then she pretended to focus on picking out the knot nearest to her fingers and muttered, "What happened to you wasn't fair. I can't ignore it."

Keeping her gaze on her hair felt like the hardest thing she'd ever done. She desperately wanted to look over and search for any hint of amusement or dismissal in his expression over her believing she could not only survive a world she barely understood but also find the answers needed. The weight of his attention was too intense, though, making her flush, and she just worked harder on the knot.