EIGHT

“You’ve been cursed.”

Roman Vayne towers over me. Red eyes watching my every move. No hint of a joke in his expression.

“No I haven’t…” I laugh. “I was born with a weak constitution.” I recite a line from the fake life of Eldon Thorne.

“Don’t try to deceive me. I know what I’m talking about.”

I get up, dusting off my joggers as I face him. “I don’t know what you mean.” I stare off at him. He watches me for a moment then something crosses his expression.

“Wait… do you not know?!” He seems shocked.

“I haven’t been cursed.” I sigh. “Look Roman, I only came here out of curiosity to find out if the sender of the card had something I could use to keep my spot in school but since you’ve decided to spew nonsense, I’ll be on my way.” I head for the exit.

“I can prove it.” He calls.

When I turn, I see him draw some weird symbols on his phone camera. He approaches me and abruptly takes a picture. The flashlight momentarily blinds me.

“Look here.” He shows me his phone screen and to my horror there is a sinister dark green flame alight at my chest.

“What is that?!” I pull the phone from his hand, examining it closely. Did he somehow edit this quickly? There is no way that thing is on me, right?

“That is a curse.” He gently takes his phone from me. “They aren’t usually seen by regular people but my eyes are not compatible with curses so I can easily spot them.”

“W-what is it doing to me?”

“That’s what I'd like to know too. I’ve been watching you since orientation day and so far it seems like it just makes you weak. Have you noticed anything wrong with your wolf? Your regeneration doesn’t seem like it’s being affected too much but I can’t be sure about other parts.”

I barely register the words he’s saying. What do you mean I’ve been cursed? When? Who? How?

A million and one questions pop up in my head before I have a chance to say anything. Suddenly my chest feels tight.

Is it the curse? Is it taking a toll on me because I know about it? I struggle to breathe.

“Eldon! Eldon!” Roman is trying to get my attention.

“I- I can’t breathe.” I fall forward but he catches me, arranging me so I’m sitting down. “What is happening?”

“You’re hyperventilating. You need to calm down.”

“I- I… can’t.” My head is full. I cannot remember how to breathe. What should I do? What should I do? I’m still struggling when all of a sudden, Roman lifts up my chin so that our faces are inches away from each other and the only place I can look at is his eyes.

Big. Ruby. Red. Glow…

I lose consciousness.

This morning I woke up in my room with no recollection of how I got there. It’s Sunday so we get the day off. I texted Phineas to cancel our sparring session for today. I want to be alone.

“A curse… is this why my past self and current me are so miserable? I’ve been cursed?” I ponder.

Does that mean it wasn’t the accident that caused me to lose my werewolf side? Who could have done this to me? Enemies of my Father? Friends? Were they trying to get to him through me?

‘Who did you piss off to be so brutally cursed?’ Roman’s words ring in my head.

I was seven! What could I have possibly done to deserve this?! Angry tears spill from my eyes but I furiously wipe it away.

My gaze falls on his card from last night. ‘…I can help you get stronger.’

Does he know a way to get rid of the curse?

I have to take my chances.

I grab my sneakers and head for his room. It’s on the first floor of the dormitory wing in the part of the castle.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

My knuckles move rapidly against the thick dark wooden door.

There is silence before I hear shuffling around on the other side of the door. Roman pulls the door open, eyes flickering to my chest momentarily. “Took you long enough. I was getting bored.”

“Can you help me?” I sound winded and desperate. Roman on the other hand is calm, gears spinning around in his head.

“Are you going to lie to me again?”

“No!” My answer is firm. I’ve resolved myself to accept help from him no matter the cost.

Father and my certificate aside… I’m doing this for me.

Roman doesn’t say anything at first.

After he decides, he invites me in. “Let’s talk inside.”

-

His room looks just like what I imagined.

It’s neat, books arranged evenly in the iron shelf on the left next to his full length mirror. His bed is on the opposite side of the room, draped in white and three different shades of blue.

For some reason, I assumed there would be a lot of red but I can count how many red things are in sight including his eyes.

There is a massive bean bag at a corner which looks like a relaxing area. He motions for me to sit there while he pulls the chair at the reading table close.

“Do you want anything? Water? Soda?”

“Umm water is fine. Thank you.”

He nods.

After handing me the water, he patiently waits for me to take a drink. Hands folded, eyes on me. I clear my throat. I can’t maintain eye contact. “Is there anything you want to know?”

“How about you start by telling me the truth about how you got that?”

He’s asking about the accident. I can tell him that without exposing myself as a girl, right? I will just answer without saying anything unnecessary. “It’s true that I wasn’t born like this. When I was seven, I fell out of the balcony of the pack house. Three stories down, I hit my head and since then I’ve gradually become like this.”

“What do you mean by ‘like this?’ What else have you experienced apart from weakness and slow regeneration?”

Can I be honest with him? Won't it make me look weak? I’ll be exposing myself here. Can I trust him?

Roman’s watchful gaze remains on me waiting for an answer to his question.

I trusted Fredrick and I was killed for it. Is this the right decision? What if he…

No! Roman has nothing to gain from me. He is going out of his way to find out what is wrong with me, the least I can do is put a little faith in him.

“To be honest,” I fidget on my seat. “I’ve lost 90% of my werewolf side.” I drop my gaze to the grey and white marble floor. I can’t face him. “Only my family knows this. I’m not strong, I can’t communicate telepathically, I can’t shift and I don’t have any connection to my wolf.” I let out a shaky breath before meeting his eyes. “It’s been this way since I was seven.” I feel like crying.

I thought I was just unlucky to have a weak mind that couldn’t handle a little trauma from my fall but… was all this done to me by someone else?

“Hmm… Seven?” Roman swerves on his chair from side to side. It’s obvious that he’s thinking about something. It’s refreshing to see that he doesn’t pity me. Maybe I would have cried if he tried to comfort me. “How old are you now?” He pulls me from my thoughts.

“I’m turning 22 soon.” I regressed when I was 19, turned 20 not too long after. A year has passed since then. Mentally though, I’m around 27, both lives combined.

“Wait… this doesn’t make any sense.” He stands, pacing in front of me. He looks so casual compared to when he is in our uniform. A black suit with intricate golden embroidery around the wrists and neckline, down the chest. We usually pair it with a white shirt but people like Darien wear hoodies inside sometimes.

“I’m not lying.” I register what he says.

“I’m not saying you are.” His eyes fall on me again. I feel all tingly whenever that happens, like I’m supposed to know something I don’t. “The problem is that the thing in your chest is bigger than what it’s supposed to be. If I don’t know what I do now, I’d assume it has been alive for an extra six or seven years.”

My heart skips a beat as chills run down my spine.

Isn’t that the amount of time I’ve been alive in my past life and the time I’ve spent here.

Did the curse regress with me?

“Eldon, I don’t think you’ll make it through the year if that thing keeps growing as fast as it is.”

“W-what?…”

His expression is flat and cold. With no hint of emotion, he rephrases himself. “I’m saying you will die before the year ends.”