Chapter 22
MAX
Lorde’s admission was like a mirror shattering, and each shard tore into my heart, ripping it apart.
Broken heart? No. Destroyed, imploded, roadkill.
Those fit a little better. This hurt so much more than the guy in college, someone I’d known for months.
Lorde had been in my life for a matter of days.
My parents and everything else was forgotten when I heard Lorde’s admission.
At that moment, I had to get out of there.
I had to leave, and I ran away as my MO dictated.
It had become my get out of jail free card and my go-to mode of dealing with things I’d rather not.
Maybe, if I were lucky, Lorde would be gone before I got back.
Running through the trees with nothing to light my way except the moon and stars, I didn’t worry about hitting anything. I knew this place, my swan knew this place, and when I reached the clearing where the small pond sat, I stripped out of my clothes and shifted.
My own mate had come to kill me. The mate I didn’t want or need, the one I didn’t ask for.
Hell, I didn’t even know he was my mate until my parents told me.
Suddenly, it was like I knew nothing about dating or sex.
I was clueless. A mate. Me? Oh, and let’s not forget the minor detail that he is a descendant of the woman who cursed my family forever, sent here to do what she couldn’t.
I floated on the water, staring at my reflection in the still surface. Had a swan ever appeared sad before? This one looked as if he was about to cry…and I was.
“Max!”
I snapped my head up and found Lorde standing at the edge of the pond.
The swan wanted to go to him, to rub my head against him, swim with him because he was our mate, regardless of why he was here in the first place.
I fought it, yet, the more I did, the closer we got, stopping only about five feet away from him.
“Max, I know you don’t want to hear anything I have to say, but I need you to listen.
I can’t leave until I’ve told you everything.
My whole life has been spent honing my magic and learning to harness my power so I could destroy you.
My mother said I was the only one who would do it.
I was told the king asked my ancestor to get rid of his children, but they couldn’t be murdered because then they would be found.
So, she turned them into swans and gave the princess a way to break the curse. ”
I tilted my head to the side.
“I know it didn’t work,” he rushed. “I don’t know why.
I got curious one day and found the spell which was supposedly used, but according to that, it should have worn off within one blue moon.
It didn’t, and the fix only changed it so you could transform at will.
I have no idea what happened. Maybe the princess did something wrong or didn’t follow everything perfectly.
Aunt Pat thinks it has to do with the translation.
The original spell was written in a different language.
” He stopped and shook his head, waving arms in front of him. “That doesn’t matter.”
Dunking my head into the water, I willed him to be gone before I re-surfaced. He was still there, and without realizing it, I had floated closer.
“Mila, the person who cast the spell, had a daughter named Gretchen. Gretchen watched her mother get tortured and killed. She saw it all happen. She was saved by her aunt, who happened to be the princess’s mother-in-law, Isla.
When Isla knew what was going to happen, she put the girl in a safe place and instructed her to remember everything.
She did. The hate and need for revenge have been passed down from generation to generation.
But it’s more than that. Mila and anyone related to her were hunted down like animals.
They were beaten and tortured before they were finally, blessedly allowed to die. ”
I shook my head. No, this couldn’t be true.
Yes, Mila died for what she did, and I found out about Gretchen recently, but the rest?
No. Why would we hunt the innocent? His family wasn’t the only one hunted.
My family had their own crosses to bear thanks to his ancestor.
We were accused of witchcraft and killed after we were tortured, too. When was enough blood going to be shed?
“The night I arrived in Chicago,” he paused to clear his throat, “I went out to a secluded part of the lake and performed a locator spell. I didn’t know your name or what you looked like.
I’d only been told that it was my duty to wreak revenge for generations past. It was beaten into my bloody head!
” Lorde tapped the side of his head and dropped to his knees.
“The spell, it showed me your image, your eyes. Something about your eyes flipped my whole world on its axis. I was second-guessing everything. My aunt tried to tell me I didn’t need to seek retribution for the sins of the past, but my mother’s voice was still there, telling me that you were my destiny.
Funny thing is, you are, but not in the way she intended. ”
I swam to the edge of the pond. If he genuinely wanted to hurt me, he could. It wouldn’t take much.
He glanced up, meeting my gaze. “I think I fell in love with you that night. I couldn’t get you out of my head.
You were all I thought about, and your eyes haunted me.
They held a sadness and a desire for more, but I didn’t understand what more you could possibly want.
I saw you at a restaurant. I think my aunt knew you were going to be there.
When she wishes, she can see into the future.
I can too, but I never saw you coming. Mine are merely impressions, while hers are actual visions of events.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of you that night, and then at the party, I didn’t want the night to end.
It’s why I ran away. At the time, I was trying to stay focused and get through this mission, so I could live my own life.
I was absolutely convinced, if I killed you, my mom would have no other use for me, and I could find love or move to Greece or do whatever the bloody hell I wanted with my life.
But I can’t. Trying to imagine a world without you in it,” he shook his head, “I can’t do it.
I don’t want to imagine it. You do so much good, even when you’d rather hide in a corner away from the crowds.
And you have a passion for life. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have spent a month in Fira, or any time backpacking around Greece.
Your face lit up when you talked about it.
The thought of killing you turns my stomach, but it’s more than that.
I can’t. I cannot kill you because it would be like killing myself.
I fell in love with you, Max, and you can choose to believe me or not, but it’s the truth. ”
This man was my mate. Mine. And even though we hadn’t known each other long, I did love him.
It was one of the things that terrified me.
Too much, too fast. We were practically strangers, but I found myself drawn to him like no other, and I wondered how long it would have taken for me to figure it out if my parents hadn’t shared. Probably a while.
Lorde got to his feet and looked around.
“Maybe the universe brought us together because we were meant to heal the hurts of the past. A new beginning of sorts. Both sides were wronged and hurt. Either that or the universe just has a sick sense of humor. If you really want me to leave, I will, but I needed to tell you the whole truth.”
He left me in the pond after that. The urge to shift and ask him to stay was strong, but I resisted because even if I wanted him, I had to think about what he said. This man, who was sent to kill me, fell in love. It seemed something out of a bad romance novel…or a fairy tale.
LORDE
I never understood when someone walked away in a movie or book, they were in pain or had a difficult time doing it. I understood it all now. This may sound like a cliché, and excuse me for that, but it felt like I ripped out my heart and left it at the side of the pond.
And I thought hearing him run out had been bad. When I’d looked up and found him truly gone, I noticed a side door next to the out of place coffee table and ran after him. I had to try. Now, I could only hope, pray, wish, cross my fingers, and everything else that he heard me.
Instead of leaving immediately, I decided to give him time to think about what I said.
It was a lot to take in, and he wasn’t exactly able to dispute or argue with me.
In the morning, I would go. At least by then, I would be able to see the bloody road and hopefully preserve my life a little longer.
Stretching out on the couch, I used the plush arm as a pillow, and my body sank comfortably into the soft leather.
I couldn’t sleep. I scanned the room, picking up bits and pieces of Max in everything.
The thing I found that shocked me the most were the swans.
He’d been so vehement in his request for me to lift the curse, and yet, above the fireplace hung a painting of a bevy of swans in flight, a triangle of white soaring high in the sky.
There was also a swan figurine on the bookshelf near the door. Maybe I’d misunderstood?
I got up and approached the shelves. The figurine was a mated pair, their heads together, making a perfect heart, and next to it, a picture of Max when he was younger.
“I was sixteen.”
Whirling around, I stumbled and grabbed the bookcase, jarring it. Thankfully, nothing was broken. “Max!” I was more than a little surprised to see him so soon—or at all.