Deviant Descendants (Descendants Academy #2) - Belle Malory Page 0,41
definitely would have gone through with it.”
I don’t know why, but I didn’t reveal that she sent me the parchwyn, or that she agreed not to kill Riley for now. Whoever Petra Drakos was, she was no longer the person he once loved. I didn’t want to give him false hope.
“That may be the case, and if it is, I’m partly to blame.”
“How so?”
“Because I left her there,” he said simply. “Along with figuring out how to stop the curse, I must find a way to free her—to free them both.”
“Sounds impossible,” I sighed.
He shrugged one shoulder. “Impossible is a circumstance I’ve been dealing with for years.” Hope sparked in his hazel eyes. “It’s time we changed that.”
16
That night, I dreamt of the Curse Breaker. I was back on his wooden floor, surrounded by candles. Some of them burned orange, some black. He chanted loudly, his voice moving from every direction. The candle flames grew into towering waves of fire, hovering over me. Sweat dripped from my skin and I closed my eyes to prepare for my inevitable death.
Sheridan.
I awoke to someone shaking me. It instantly brought me back to the night Jett had me kidnapped by her creature goons, and I screamed.
A hand came over my mouth. “Sheridan, it’s me.” I blinked several times as Xander’s face took shape in the dark. After the way we left things on the training field, I wanted a clear head before I talked to him again. And I definitely didn’t want to have this conversation in my bed. If anyone caught us, we would be in all kinds of trouble.
He lifted his hand, and I immediately started questioning him. “Why are you—”
Xander’s eyes darted to Ione, who was asleep across the room. Ione was a deep sleeper though, and she usually had several glasses of wine in her system. She wouldn’t wake up.
“I’m sorr—”
“I want to apologize—”
Realizing what we were doing, we stopped. Xander breathed out through his nose, his mouth curving up on one side.
The awful things I said to him hadn’t left my mind. I realized he only made the oath with Selena because he was trying to escape imprisonment, and that’s about as forced as it got. I needed him to know I understood that. “I didn’t mean it,” I whispered, going first. “The things I said—”
He cut me off again, pressing a finger over my lips. “You were right though. I had a choice and you didn’t.”
“They held you captive and tortured you,” I said with a shaky breath. “I would have agreed to anything to escape, too. That’s not much of a choice.”
He reached for my hand and gently squeezed. “I didn’t mean the things I said either. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“I know.” I groaned, still ashamed for how badly I screwed things up. “I should’ve left when you told me to leave.”
He shook his head. “None of it was your fault.” He lightly traced the bracelet he’d given me. “The protection stone was no match for your sister’s amulet. I wish I could give you something better.”
“Don’t say that.” I held the little charm against my heart. “I could feel it warning me.”
“It failed to keep you safe.”
“I’m fine, Xander. Look at me.”
We both went quiet for several long seconds, simply taking in each other’s presence. His magic settled my frantic nerves, the fresh scent transporting me away from that awful dream and into a peaceful, warm place.
Xander leaned down and rested his head next to mine, slowly breathing out. “I don’t want to keep messing this up. You’re too important.” His words seemed to carry more meaning than I understood. “No matter what happens, you should know that.”
I pulled back, raising a brow. “What’s going to happen?”
“Nothing.” He raised himself up off the bed and carefully tucked my hair behind my ear. “I just wanted you to know. You mean everything to me, Sheridan.” He leaned down, brushing his lips against mine for the briefest of moments. Little sparks of heat tickled my lips, and I wanted to pull him back to make the feeling last longer.
But light flooded the hallway outside my door. Lately, the admins had been doing bed checks, magical ones, that would give away Xander’s presence. “I should go,” he whispered, glancing toward the balcony.
I swallowed, noticing the way his mouth pulled into a frown. There was more going on inside his head than he was telling me. He went to leave, but I caught his arm. “Wait.”