Chapter 28
Braxton
I should have known better. Her curiosity has been higher than I’ve ever seen it, and I swear with each year that passes she gets more and more clever. I didn’t think she’d be able to work so fast though. Stupid.
I glance back at Azalea. Her long, thin fingers are pressing into her temples as she gently rocks back and forth. Great. This time I’ve actually driven her to the brink of insanity.
I watch her luscious curls sway back and forth against her shoulders as she continues rocking, and I try to formulate my next words carefully.
“These are your journals—”
“Yeah, no shit!” she snaps at me. Dropping her hands away from her temples, she bounds to her feet and begins pacing back and forth, kicking some of the journals out of her way in the process.
I contemplate how much I should let her figure out for herself, and how much I should tell her.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” she all but whines.
I only continue to watch her as I’m not certain she’s talking to me. When she gives me a pointed glare, I realize she’s waiting for me to say something in response.
“It’s a complicated situation.”
“Can you uncomplicate it?”
I swallow heavily, trying to search for those right words again.
“You know, I find the truth is typically the least complicated path to take.” Her exasperation is evident in her words.
The laugh that rumbles out of me is humorless. “Funny enough, the truth is actually the most complicated of all.”
She crosses her arms over her chest, rubbing her palms up and down them.
“Braxton, please.” When I look at her, I can see the slightest hint of a mist coating her eyes. “I need to know. I feel like I’m going crazy.”
I wonder if I could coax her to the truth, without outright saying it. Maybe if I do that, and neither of us says it out loud we won’t have to start over again.
“Braxton,” she presses.
“What do you remember?”
She shakes her head. “Bits and pieces. But none of it makes sense. It’s like there’s a painful block, and I—” Her forehead scrunches as she closes her eyes tightly and concentrates. “I can’t work past it.”
My chest aches. I hate this part. The part before she figures it out. This part always seems to break her the most, and in breaking her, it shatters me.
“Braxton, what’s happening to me?”
“You’ve been here for a long time, and over that time, some of your memories have been pushed behind a wall inside your mind. Those memories are leaking through, and my best guess is they aren’t doing it in any kind of chronological order.”
“Did… did I love you?” Her words are hesitant.
I nod, a solemn expression taking over my face. “You did.”
“Did… did you love me?”
I grind my teeth to keep my composure from breaking. “I do.”
“Am… am I who you fell in love with? The woman you told me died when I first started asking you questions?”
I nod.
“What happened?”
I let out a weary sigh.
“Please, Braxton. I just want the truth. Am I really asking for that much?”
If she only knew that by asking for the truth, she’s actually asking me for the biggest sacrifice of all.
It’s too late now, though. I know that even if she doesn’t yet. The process of restarting the curse has already begun. If she’s starting to remember, then soon I’ll lose one more petal on the decaying flower that is this withering curse.
So, I give in, knowing that if I don’t tell her the truth, she’ll just torment herself until her memories fully come back, and I can’t watch her do that again. I’ve played this out a hundred different ways, and no matter what I do, I can’t make this part any less painful for her.
Every time she comes too close to the truth, everything starts over, and she believes it’s her first day in the castle all over again.
That is, she believes it’s her first day in the castle after I’ve come and snatched her from her home and family.
That’s the biggest fabrication of this entire curse.
I never dragged her to this castle as a prisoner.
I built this castle for her, as my wife.
“The truth is you weren’t the only person cursed. In fact, the magic that binds you to this castle isn’t your curse at all. It’s mine.”