starting to dread the hours of solitude in my room with nothing but the curse’s torture to keep me company.
“Yeah. Okay, yes,” I said, sounding as surprised as Jack looked over my response.
“Oh shit, really?” he asked.
I shrugged and he beamed, starting to move from foot to foot like a damn excited Labrador.
“That’s great. See you at seven?” he confirmed and I nodded stiffly.
He swept past me and I glanced back at him with a frown as he bounded off to his shift like he was having the best fucking day of his life. I didn’t know why the kid gave a shit about spending time with me. He’d made plenty of friends with the other guards by now. It wasn’t like I was good company. I didn’t even like hanging out with myself, so why would someone else?
I shook my head, walking on and heading into my room. I kicked the door shut behind me, dropping down at the desk at the foot of my bed and placing down the package from the hospital. I’d sent the enquiry over to them more than a month ago and part of me had figured they weren’t going to respond. But now they had, I was kind of unnerved about unveiling the secrets that lay within that package.
I pushed it aside and picked up the book I’d received this morning, taking in the hardback cover with the picture of the moon etched into the silver surface. I turned over the first page and started reading. It was all about the moon and its powers so I was going to have to wade through it all to find the part on curses.
It was over an hour before I found some useful information and my heart lurched as I discovered a picture of a similar marking to mine drawn on the inside of someone’s arm. Though this one was of a lily.
A moon curse can only be given by a Fae who is intrinsically linked to the moon. All Orders of the night have rare breeds that hold deeper ties to this celestial body. But their powers vary greatly between them.
Moon curses have been documented for hundreds of years, despite their rarity. They hold some common attributes. The bearer of the curse will be marked by a flower – the symbolism of which is most likely pertaining to the crime of the bearer* - and they will suffer through nightmares and visions of their darkest memories. With these visions comes intense pain, described as a sharp and agonising burn which travels through the veins and can cause loss of vision and strength. It is unknown exactly what makes the flower grow, but in all recorded cases of the mark covering the entirety of the curse bearer’s body, an excruciating death occurs where they bleed from every orifice in their body. A bleeding which no healer can stem.
*See page 156 for flower interpretations.
I will not die bleeding out of my star-damned eyes and asshole thank you very much.
I started rifling through the pages, hunting for any reference to a cure, a way to stop this fucking shit before it was too late. How long did I have? There was no timescale given that I could find. Fuck. Fuck it. Fucking fuck.
I made it to the page marking out each flower and my gaze fell on the one for the rose.
The lovers mark.
A lump grew in my throat as I read the words beneath the image of the rose that was so similar to the one on my arm, it couldn’t be mistaken.
A moon-gifted Fae may curse their lover for their wrong-doings and have them face the wrath of the moon in penance for their crimes against them. There are only a few recorded cases of the lovers mark and all resulted in death. It is unknown what breaks this curse, but two opposing theories have risen between scientists. The first, that the curse could be broken by righting the wrongs of the lovers’ relationship, similar to the familial moon curse, while others maintain that matters of the heart are so fierce, that a lovers mark will always result in death no matter what the curse bearer does to counteract their crimes.
My breathing grew heavy and I slammed the book shut, pressing my fingers into my eyes as the mark started to ache once more.
No. this can’t be happening. This can’t be fucking happening.
Why did I have to mix it with that girl? Why couldn’t I