I down the potion Silver’s friend made for me and feel the curse reacting inside of my body.
After that, there’s nothing but pain.
At least it distracts me so that I miss the moment Seb does his thing. And the look on Silver’s face when she realizes exactly what I’ve done.
31
What just happened?
If I’m not mistaken, the same guy that just kissed the shit out of me not half an hour ago just got his brother to wipe his memories. Of me.
The first guy I could see myself getting genuinely close to in... well, ever. Who I actually liked. Who I was starting to fall for.
Who am I kidding? I’d already fallen down the well for him.
But that can’t be right, can it? Why would he have gotten Seb to do that? Why would he get me to trust him, kiss me, and then forget me all in one fell swoop?
That’d be fucked up. Cruel. Assholish. And Fabian’s none of those things. Or at least, the Fabian I was growing to know wasn’t. But maybe that guy’s an illusion and I didn’t really know him at all.
I stare at his crumpled body where he’s still on his knees in the center of the rune circle. He’s breathing and I swallow hard a few times before pulling my socks up and checking his blood.
Where there was that thick, tarry substance taking over his body, his blood is running clean like there was never anything wrong with him.
He’s... clear.
The curse is gone.
“Is he going to be okay?” Seb asks from beside me. I quickly realize that I’m still clutching his hand in mine and I’m pretty sure all the feeling will have gone out of his fingers by now. I’d apologize, but it seems like he’s holding me back just as tightly.
Looks like I’m not the only one shaken up by all of this.
“It’s messed up what he asked me to do,” he blurts out, looking suspiciously glassy-eyed. “I’m so sorry, I—”
“Not your fault, buddy,” I tell him. Seb’s not that much younger than me, there are fewer than ten years between us. But right now, I feelancient. An old crone that’s lived a long life and seen some shit in her time.
“This entire situation is messed up,” I mutter to myself. Seriously, what the fucking fuck?
