What?
His heart plummeted to his feet, and there was a gaping hole where his stomach used to be. His magic whirled in his veins, and he just… stared at her.
She pulled her hand out of his, reaching behind her neck.
“Wait, River….”
His voice trailed off, and his blood chilled as she unclasped the necklace around her throat.Hisnecklace, the one he’d given her.
Disbelief was a coiled rope unfurling in his gut as a tear slid down her cheek. What was she doing? Why was she crying?
River gathered the necklace in her palm and stared at it for a long moment before she extended her hand towards him. As if she wanted him to take it. As if she wanted to give it back.
“No,” he breathed, shaking his head. “I don’t want it back.” Like his heart, it was hers. He didn’t want her to return either of them. Reaching out, he curled her fingers around the necklace. “It was a gift. I gave it to you.”
He probably should’ve pulled back his hand, but he couldn’t. Not even if this… if she was…
Her eyes squeezed shut, and she shook her head.
“I’m cursed, Nik.” The words were barely more than a hushed murmur, but they were filled with years of conviction. They stole his breath. “I always have been.”
What? No. She couldn’t be cursed. He didn’t even know if curses werereal, but even if they were, there was no way she was afflicted with one. He wouldknow, wouldn’t he?
Tears slid down her cheeks, each silver drop a blade digging beneath his skin. A reminder that he was failing to protect her from harm.
“What are you talking about, River? You’re not cursed.”
Her eyes opened, and there was so much devastation in those lovely brown orbs, he could drown in it.
“I am,” she whispered brokenly. “I’ve been star-crossed since the day of my birth.”
She believed this, he realized as horror crashed through his veins, taking a wrecking ball to his happiness. It had vanished, replaced by red-hot anger. River—hisRiver—truly thought she bore a curse. How could this be?
This was madness. Fucking insanity.
“No,” he protested. “You aren’t.”
“I am.” River sat up straighter, drawing in a deep breath. As if she were preparing herself for something. As if that wasn’t the worst of what she planned to say. “I’m going to tell you a story, and when I’m done…” Squeezing her eyes shut, she seemed to steel herself for something before she met his gaze once more. “When I’m done, you’ll understand why you need to stay away from me.”
“Never,” he said fiercely, gripping her hand tightly. “I will never leave you.”
He would sooner bind his magic with prohiberis shackles and never hear the wind again than walk away from her.
“Yes, you will,” she replied sadly. “I’m fated to bear the burden of my destiny on my own.”
“No. I don’t believe that.”
“You will,” she whispered.
There was an ache in his chest, and it took a moment for him to realize that his heart was breaking. How much had River suffered in her life in orderfor her to believe this?
“Princess…”
She turned away from him, her legs no longer touching his. Every inch between them felt like too much, and that ache in his heart grew.
Why couldn’t she see that her place was by his side, forever?
She pressed herself into the corner of the settee, and her eyes found a far point on the wall. They glazed over as she started talking, and with every word, his heart broke further.