The Curse Catcher (The Complex Book 0) Page 8
A shudder runs through me, because I know what I must do, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to live with myself afterwards.
I close my eyes and let my magic stretch out, reaching for the curse’s last stronghold—his heart. It latches onto each of the final tendrils. The curse is so deeply embedded …
Black dots are beginning to cloud my vision. Beyond us I can hear voices as the door hisses open. Shouting. None of it matters.
I’m running out of the air, I have seconds left to do this.
In desperation, a huge burst of my magic surges from me into Asterion, enshrouding the curse completely.
Time seems to come to a standstill. My eyes snap open, and I stare deep into Asterion’s dark, pained ones. The man, not the monster, is watching from those eyes.
Love you, I mouth.
And then I rip the last of his curse out.
Chapter 16
A faint beeping sound wakes me.
I blink my eyes open, trying to remember where I am. I look around at the sterile room I lay in. My narrow bed is fitted with sheets that are completely intact, and the room itself is orderly, a roll of gauze and a jar of lozenges resting on the counter across the room.
I push myself up, my eyes moving to the beeping screen, where my vitals are listed.
Am I dreaming?
Just then a woman dressed in white scrubs comes in.
“Ah, you’re awake,” she says, moving over to my readout. “And doing much better. You might even be able to be discharged today.”
Discharged?
“Where am I?” I ask, my voice rough.
She gives me an indulgent smile. “You’re at Lorn’s Meta hospital.”
I furrow my brows. The last thing I remember is …
Couldn’t breathe. Hands on my neck. His life or mine.
I touch the column of my throat. “How did I get here?”
Her expression darkens. “The Intra found you just in time.”
“The Intra?” I say, aghast. They were the ones that put me in the labyrinth in the first place.
I try to wrap my mind around that, but before I can, my mind jumps to another, more important matter.
Asterion.
I can still recall the horrible sensation of ripping the last of his curse away with my magic, shredding through muscle, destroying his heart.
Suddenly, I can’t breathe. I doomed him to death.
“Where is Asterion?” My voice rises even as I feel a crushing pain in my chest.
In that instant before I blacked out, I tasted the curse, with all its murderous, savage rage and despoiled love. I’d eaten the heart of his curse and destroyed it, but I might’ve destroyed Asterion along with it.
The nurse’s eyes drop to my neck. “There’s no need to worry. He’s far away.”
I search her face, not comprehending. “Is he alive?” The curse should’ve destroyed whatever feelings it stoked in me, but I’m just as emotionally invested as ever. And this woman’s next words have the ability to ruin me.
The nurse hesitates. Finally, looking grim, she nods.
I feel my whole body relax. He’s alive. Alive. Before I can stop it, I feel a tear slip out. I cover my mouth with my hand.
“How did he survive … ?” How did he survive my magic? I can’t voice the full sentence. It’s too frightening.
The nurse comes over to me. “That’s a question for the Intra, but I promise you, your attacker won’t come anywhere near you. He’s under observation in another wing of the hospital.”
Won’t come anywhere near me … ?
My eyes widen when I realize her meaning. I grab her hands. “I want to see him.”
She gives me a disapproving look, and I shake my head. “I’m a curse catcher, and Asterion—he was cursed.”
Her expression doesn’t change. In fact, nothing I say convinces her to release more information on Asterion. It’s not until an Intra officer visits me that I’m granted visitation rights.
The Intra knocks on the door to my hospital room, even though it’s open. I eye him as he stands in the doorway. I can tell just by this man’s good looks and his presence that he’s a Meta.
“May I come in?” he asks.
I have half a mind to reject him just out of spite, but after hesitating for several seconds, I nod.
He takes a seat next to my bed, clasping his hands between his legs. When his eyes meet mine, there’s genuine care in them. “Our force owes you an apology.”
I still.
“It’s been brought to our attention that a group of Intra were paid off to deliver you to the Minotaur.”
“His name is Asterion,” I interrupt. I find now that I’ve lived with Asterion and gotten to know him, I hate that people might only know him as the beast that plagued Metas for eons.
The Intra gives me a warm smile. “I want you to know that we are prosecuting those Intra involved to the fullest extent of the law.”
A week ago, I might’ve cared about this sort of justice. Now, after so much has happened, I can’t summon any real reaction to the news.
I nod, my thoughts distracted.
“I’d just like to take your statement—for the sake of the trial,” the Intra says. So that’s why this officer is here.
I exhale. I suppose this part’s inevitable. So for the next several hours, I go over my capture and imprisonment in the labyrinth, and then I go over it again, and again. At the end of it all, I’m weary and my heart is sore.
“Thank you very much, Skylar Curiel, for your time,” the Intra says, getting up to leave. He’s almost to the door when he pauses.
“Oh, and I believe the room you’ll want to visit is room three seventeen.”
Room 317? What is he—?
Asterion.
He gives me a knowing look then, rapping on the doorframe once, he leaves.
The Intra is barely out of the room when I scramble out of my hospital bed. I pad barefoot through the hospital like a crazy person, the maze of hallways reminding me of the labyrinth.
I immediately recognize Asterion’s room by the Intra stationed outside of it. The officer that visited me must’ve notified them that I’d be coming by because they readily step aside to let me in.
Asterion’s room is a mirror of my own—small and sterile. And lying in the center of it on a narrow hospital bed is Asterion.
My breath catches at the sight of him, even as my heart speeds up.
He’s alive. We’re both alive. It should’ve been impossible, but here we both are.
I hurry to his side, where he sleeps, his face peaceful. For several moments I simply stare down at him. He’s so painfully handsome.
I brush a lock of hair away from his forehead. I almost killed him, not to mention that I almost died. Both of us nearly didn’t make it. I close my eyes, my magic reaching out.
Just as I suspected, no trace of the curse remains. It finally, finally relinquished its grip on his heart.
Absently, I trace the line of his cheek. Beneath my touch, he stirs. Ever so slowly, he opens his eyes.
“Skylar?” He blinks several times. Then, all at once, he sits up. Immediately the monitors begin to beep like mad. “You’re alive. I was so afraid. They wouldn’t let me leave the room to come see you.”
I laugh a little, even as tears begin to well in my eyes. “Apparently that’s what happens when someone breaks your heart.”
“Break my heart?” he says, his brows knitting. “You healed it. You healed me.” And then he leans in and kisses me.
I’m reborn a little with that kiss, which has all the promise it did nights ago, when Asterion held me in his arms. But now, the curse is gone. He’s free, we both are.
“So what are
you going to do now that the curse is gone?” I ask when I finally break away. I don’t mean for my question to sound all sorts of vulnerable, but it comes out that way regardless.
Asterion’s gaze finds mine, and I swear he understands everything I’m not saying. That I still have feelings for him. That I want him in my life if only he’ll give this a chance.
“There’s this brave, brave woman that saved me when no one else could,” he says. “A woman who has every reason to hate me. A woman that I shouldn’t love, but I do.”
My breath catches at his words.
“I’m hoping that she’ll still have me in her life.”
A little grin slips out, and I lean forward, kissing him lightly on the lips. “I think she will.”
He smiles and it’s blindingly bright. “You gave me a second chance at life—real life—and I think I’d like to start it right here. With you.”
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my novella from The Complex!
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The Complex Website
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Rhapsodic
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Be sure to check out Laura Thalassa’s young adult paranormal romance series
The Unearthly
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Be sure to check out Laura Thalassa’s new adult post-apocalyptic romance series
The Queen of All that Dies
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Other books by Laura Thalassa
The Unearthly Series:
The Unearthly
The Coveted
The Cursed
The Forsaken
The Damned
The Fallen World Series:
The Queen of All that Dies
The Queen of Traitors
The Queen of All That Lives
The Vanishing Girl Series:
The Vanishing Girl
The Decaying Empire
The Bargainer Series:
Rhapsodic
Novellas:
Reaping Angels
Born and raised in Fresno, California, Laura Thalassa spent her childhood reading and creating fantastic tales. She now spends her days penning everything from young adult paranormal romance to new-adult dystopian novels. Thalassa lives with her husband and partner in crime, Dan Rix, in Oakhurst, California. For more information, please visit laurathalassa.com.