Cursed Read online

  “I am,” Stav said although he knew that his Curse put his body under unnatural strain constantly. Still, the Goddess had sent him here for a reason. Surely she wouldn’t let him die before he completed it. Would she?

  He started to step into the pinkish-gold cylinder but Six reached out one manacled hand to him.

  “Stavros, wait. I feel I must talk to you before you offer yourself in this way.”

  “What is it?” Charlotte was looking worried. “Is this stuff going to hurt him?” She nodded at the plasma. “My hand is still numb and tingly from where I touched it. I don’t know about Stav getting all the way into it.”

  “It’s not just the plasma…it’s the prophesy,” Six said. “But I can reveal it only to Stavros—I am sorry.”

  Charlotte got a stubborn expression on her face.

  “Well, I’m his partner. If something affects his health and wellbeing, I’m entitled to know about it.”

  Six shook his head, looking every bit as stubborn as she did.

  “I am sorry but this is confidential information. I will speak only to Stavros.”

  “But—”

  “Charlotte, give me a moment.” Stav stepped to the side, drawing Six with him. The Dark Kindred was still manacled and he motioned to one of the remaining guards to unlock him and Mei-Li. After a nod from J’lorgan, the guard did so. They stepped outside the golden pillar and back into the outer room, Stavros trying not to see Charlotte’s angry, worried face as he went.

  “Good,” Six said, when they were out of earshot. “This message must be for you alone because you alone can decide what must be done.”

  “Tell me,” Stav said. “What about the prophesy?”

  “I know the rest of it,” Six said grimly. “And it does not bode well for you. Listen:

  For when the Dark is burned to ash

  Only then will danger pass

  But when it does, it steals his breath

  To seal Dark’s doom, the fate is…”

  “Is what?” Stav demanded.

  Six sighed heavily. “Death—the fate is death. Stavros, if you do this, you will surely die. The prophesy foretells it.”

  Stav took a deep breath. Death. He would be going to his death. But I’d be doing it to save Charlotte’s beloved home world, he thought. And what better way to go than that? Besides, it wasn’t like he was going to live past forty cycles anyway. His heart would give out long before then from the constant strain of his Curse. He might be cutting off a few years, but his life was already more than half over—he had never expected to live to a ripe old age anyway.

  “I’m going to do it,” he said, looking at Six. “I’m the only one who can. I can’t let Charlotte’s entire world die when I can do something about it.”

  “You…love her then?” Six spoke as though the idea of love was a slightly foreign concept—one which he had only recently become familiar with.

  “I do,” Stav said. “More than anything. More than life.”

  “You will be leaving her behind,” Six pointed out. “She will grieve you.”

  Stav shook his head.

  “I don’t think so. She doesn’t feel for me as I do for her. She has reasons to dislike our people.” He thought of her sister’s suicide. “Valid reasons.”

  “She worries for you,” Six said. “Concern is a sign of love—I have learned that recently.”

  “She doesn’t love me,” Stav said roughly. “But I love her. And that is why I must do this.”

  The Dark Kindred nodded gravely.

  “I understand and respect your decision.”

  “Good. Then I must ask for your absolute discretion in this matter,” Stav said seriously. “I do not want Charlotte to know this is going to kill me. She can know that it might be difficult and dangerous but she must not know that it will be fatal.”

  “Agreed.” Six nodded again.

  “Gods…” Stavros ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t even know what I’m doing. Once I absorb as much of the Heart’s emotion plasma as I can, what am I supposed to do with it? Where can I go with it that will negatively affect the Dark Kindred in any way—let alone completely incapacitate them?”

  “As to that,” Six said thoughtfully. “Since the last stanza of the prophesy was sent to me, I have been giving it much thought. I believe I have an idea of where you must go and what you must do. Listen carefully…”

  * * * * *

  “I don’t like this,” Charlie said to Mei-Li who was waiting with her in front of the vast pillar of pink plasma while Stavros and Six talked outside. J’lorgan had floated to the far side of his plasma tube and was quietly drifting with his eyes closed. “I don’t know what’s going on but something feels wrong…something feels off,” she said, tapping her bare foot nervously against the metal floor.

  Mei-Li bit her lip.

  “I…I don’t know what’s going on either, exactly.”

  “What are they talking about?” Charlie started pacing. “What the hell are they planning?”

  “Strategy, maybe?” the other girl suggested.

  “So why couldn’t they talk strategy in front of us? In front of me?” Charlie demanded. “I’m his partner—we trust each other with our lives. We’re not supposed to have secrets.”

  “So he’s just your partner?” Mei-Li murmured, raising one slim black eyebrow at her. “I mean, that’s all? You two…didn’t get, you know, any closer while you were here pretending to play house?”

  Charlie felt her cheeks getting hot.

  “Well, I mean…we did what we had to do, you know? But no, he’s my partner, that’s all,” she said firmly.

  “Oh, okay.” Mei-Li shrugged. “I just thought…but never mind. It’s probably for the best anyway. Forming relationships with coworkers is always messy.”

  “Exactly.” Charlie felt relieved that she understood. “Too messy. Especially when the stakes are so high. God…” She shook her head. “I just can’t believe Rome is gone. I was going to visit there someday, you know?”

  “I’ve been,” Mei-Li said quietly. “With my dad. It’s really loud and noisy and crowded. Well anyway, it used to be.” She stopped abruptly.

  “Well, when I get back home,” Charlie began but just then Stavros and Six came back in through the opening in the golden outer pillar.

  “We have a plan,” Stav announced. “J’lorgan, we need the Joined One to do something before you, uh, imprison it or whatever you’re planning to do.”

  “Of course, of course…” The old male’s eyes fluttered open and he drifted back through the plasma to look at them. “Tell me what you need.”

  Stavros took a deep breath.

  “We need them to call Two, the Commander of the Dark Kindred, and tell him they have a prisoner to hand over to him.”

  “What? So that’s the plan—just let the Dark Kindred take us?” Charlie demanded.

  “Not us—just me.” Stav stepped past her. “Now if you will excuse me, I have a plasma bath to take.”

  Chapter Thirty-three

  “I can’t believe we just let them take him,” Charlie whispered, staring out of the viewscreen of the ship which Six was piloting. It was a Dark Kindred craft, one he had taken from their home world of Zeaga Four when he and Mei-Li made their escape. This was good, according to him, because it had special technology which allowed them to fly in some kind of camouflage mode if they needed to.

  He and Mei-Li had only been captured by the Hossan guards in the first place because they were out of stealth mode and attempting to dock peacefully at the resort. But Six seemed confident they could get back to the Mother Ship without the Dark Kindred being the wiser as long as they were careful.

  Trouble was, Charlie didn’t want to go back to the Mother Ship. She didn’t want to go anywhere but after Stavros who was rapidly disappearing in the Dark Kindred battle cruiser which had just lifted off from the resort. She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking of the way they had parted…

  She’d be