Remember the curse,River chided herself.Remember why you can’t let yourself love anyone.
She knew all the reasons she had to stay away from him, so why was it getting harder and harder to remember them?
“The day we met is ingrained in my memory.” Nikhail’s quiet rumble filled the solarium, and her heart crashed against her chest.
Were the four walls closing in on them, or was it just in her mind?
“Oh?” The word was a strangled gasp as it slipped from her lips.
He ran his thumb across the back of her gloved hand, and by the gods, that one touch sent electricity running through her. She’d forgotten that they were touching—it had slipped her mind in all her panic over the little black box.
Her mind raced as she tried to think of a way out of this. She never should’ve let him go first, never should’ve let him take her out here at all.
Nikhail’s fingers tightened around hers, and his voice deepened. “When I first saw you, my soul sang.”
Oh, no.
No, no, no. This was not good. Not fucking good at all.
The beats of River’s heart were as loud as waves crashing against a shore. Could he hear it over his sweet words?
“Meeting you changed my life, River,” he said.
Rubber bands wrapped around her chest and squeezed tighter and tighter.
Was this… was he…
“Nik.” The word was a strangled whisper. A cry for help. A plea. “What are you…”
He popped open the lid, angling the box so she could see inside.
Oh. Oh, thank all the gods and everything that was holy. It wasn’t a ring.
Relief was a cool, swift current running through her, and she exhaled. She wasn’t entirely sure what she would’ve done if therehadbeen a ring in there—probably told Nikhail he was crazy and run away before he could do something incredibly stupid and life-changing like propose—but now she didn’t need to find out.
Only then did River realize the box wasn’t empty. That made sense, she supposed. Who would carry around an empty box?
Untangling his fingers from hers, Nikhail reached inside the small container. He pulled out a delicate silver chain, the necklace laughably small compared to the size of his fingers. Dangling at the end, glittering as if it contained moonlight, was a single silver water drop.
“Oh, Nik,” she breathed. “Is this…”
“It’s for you.” His voice was soft, and his tone… Gods, she’d never heard this one from him before. It sparked tiny embers within her, warming her from the inside out. “Call it a Winter Solstice present.”
River couldn’t look away from the gift. Equally understated and elegant, it called to her. She had plenty of jewelry, but no one had ever given her anything so beautiful or so perfectlyherbefore.
She should leave. Sands save her, she should’ve already left. Staying here with Nikhail was playing withfire in more ways than one.
But even though River knew her magic was unsafe, that her very presence was a hazard to Nikhail, her legs didn’t seem capable of moving. They refused to get her out of this situation.
“I don’t know what to say,” she whispered, the words pained. “I… I don’t…”
Her tongue was tied in knots. She could truthfully say this had never happened to her. In all her years of learning how proper young ladies behaved, no one had ever covered what to do in a situation like this. Not her mother, her various nannies, or the teachers at her prestigious school.
“You don’t have to say anything,” Nikhail murmured, calm in the face of her panic. “Just accept the gift. I saw it, and I knew it was perfect for you.”
“It is,” she whispered.
It was perhaps the most perfect piece of jewelry she’d ever seen. It looked like it had been made for her, and Nikhail had procured it. How did he do that? How did heseeher so well?