Page 102 of These Vile Hearts

Maddox bites down on her lip, tracing her fingertip over my collarbone as a line appears between her brows. “So, for the curse to work…does the person have to speak the words aloud?”

“Not necessarily.” But for my pact to work, she does. It was part of Durian’s stipulation. She has to say the words.

“Has anyone said it aloud before?”

“Yes.”

“How long did it take for them to die after they said it?”

“The curse follows its own rules. Once, it happened within the evening. Once, it took nearly a week.”

“Did you love them too?”

I think of every phantom face. Cyperus. Laurel. Jace. Now Tam. And those are just the ones I’ve loved in return.

The tears spill as I dip my head in a nod. But for once I don’t feel ashamed.

We both know Tam said the words. He said them to Maddox, and again to me. He’s a ticking clock now. She will get to watch my curse work in real time. We both will.

Heaviness settles over me. I’m so tired.

Maddox slides off my lap to sit beside me, taking my hand in hers. I don’t feel any lighter.

“Tell me about them.” It isn’t a demand, but a request.

I fill my lungs with air and let it slowly out, numbness creeping in. “Cyperus was killed by a mortal man just after he spoke the words to me. When I was an eight-year-old sapling, Cyperus adopted me from the Nightshade orphan’s home in an attempt to continue the Sempervirens line. But the moment my heartwood was grafted to the Sovereign Tree, bad things started to happen. Anyone who got too close to me, who cared too much for me, began to die. Tutors, servants, even some of my new Crown District friends. They never told me they loved me out loud. And neither did Cyperus…not until the day before his death.”

“But he didn’t just die, right? He was killed by a mortal.”

“That’s right.”

“So, how do you know he died because of your curse?”

“That’s just how my curse works. They don’t die in one specific way. It’s…erratic and unpredictable. As fae magic is wont to be. And it’s why people fear me. Why Durian blames me for Cyperus’s death.”

Maddox’s face goes blank, her eyes staring unfixed at the bed. Locking down. “What about the others?”

I wonder if I’m scaring her, and I can’t decide if it’s a good or a bad thing. It’s probably best that she’s afraid.

“Laurel was an accident.” All my ugly secrets start to pile up around us. “She was a couple years older than me and started working in the kitchens when she turned sixteen. There was something about her that intimidated and intrigued me. I was quiet and awkward, and I wanted to learn how to be someone worthy of a crown.”

“Youwere quiet and awkward?”

“Shocking, I know.”

She snorts. “So Laurel taught you how to be cool and brooding?”

“Essentially. We started hanging out after all her duties were over with. Laurel is the one who introduced me to nepenthe and a few other vices. We weren’t lovers. Just friends. At least, that’s what Ithought we were, until she said the words, completely out of the blue. She had just lit some nepenthe, took a long drag, blew out the smoke, and said,I love you, Castor Sempervirens. The next morning, she was found lying in her bed, cold as stone, as if her heart just stopped in the night.”

“Oh…fuck.”

“Yes, exactly. Laurel’s death shook me pretty hard. But nothing was as excruciating as—” My voice cracks, and Maddox’s hand clasps my arm. “Jace.”

The original catalyst to my pact. The reason I’ve been seeking out a mortal to beguile for the past year.

“Jace was a mortal. For some foolish reason, I thought the curse couldn’t touch him, because at that point only dryads had died. I first saw him in that town I showed you.”

“Arborfell,” Maddox says in a hollow voice.