The Curse of the Gift

Part 18

Tayana

I'm still standing with my back to him as the man slowly circles around me and faces me.

To my surprise, Robert looks completely normal. I don't know what I expected to see, but I thought that if he appeared to me as a monster from fairy tales, it would be easier for me to get rid of him.

But in front of me stands an ordinary man. A man who has killed a hundred, maybe more innocent people. His hair is already gripped by gray on the sides. But his face is still handsome, almost wrinkle-free. They look absolutely different with Marian's. If her features are crisper and even a little harsh, her brother's are soft and appealing. He is not much taller than I am, and the black cloak is tight around his lean body. He has dark brown eyes, almost black. A slight smirk lingered on his face. After a quick look around him, I notice he has no weapons on him. After all, he can kill with his own hands.

"I was waiting for you."

I don't have time to answer him before Joshua comes out from the right. So they're in this together? And just as I turn back to Robert, he walks right up to me, and it's like lightning strikes my body. My eyes go black, and then there's nothing but darkness.

***

As soon as I opened my eyes, a painful moan burst out of me. My whole body ached, and when I tried to move, I realized that I was tied up. Tied to a tree.

Everything was still swimming in my eyes, and I could only see two blurry figures. After a couple of seconds, the picture becomes clearer, and now I can distinguish them. It's Joshua and Robert. And they're arguing about something. But my ears are still buzzing, so I can only hear bits and pieces.

"...promised..." It's Joshua's voice.

"Don't get in my way, boy... I did..."

"But..."

"...didn't promise... alive."

When I tried to move again, a wave of pain ran through my body. The ropes gripped my arms and torso tightly, and, judging by the fact that the wounds had already begun to appear on my skin, I had been unconscious for a long time. But a moan burst out of me again, and the voices fell silent.

Joshua immediately appeared beside me. His face didn't look as confident and arrogant as it had when he'd spoken to me in the garden. There was fear all over his face now.

"Sis..." he mumbled something else, and looked back at me, but he didn't hurry to untie me. "It's going to be okay. We'll be together again soon."

"Then set me free," I leaned closer to him as much as I could, disregarding the pain of the ropes digging deeper into my skin, and I spoke so that only he could hear me.

I watched the expression on his face carefully. His eyes flickered left and right. And then he looked back at me every time. The guy looked like a hunted animal. I could see he was fighting with himself.

The image of the little boy being dragged away by huge male arms immediately came to mind. And now, looking at him, I can't even imagine what he went through. Perhaps the boy I met as a child has disappeared without a trace. But I can try to bring him back.

But then Joshua recoiled sharply from me, as if from fire, and began to shake his head in fear.

"No, no, no," there was an immediate change in his expression, a coldness and indifference instead of pity. "We're not done yet."

But then his eyes fell on my hands and forearms, where a small trickle of blood was already flowing, and his gaze changed again.

"When it's over, we'll leave. And it'll just be you and me. Just like when we were kids," he began to smile, but I could see that he was saying it more to himself than to me.