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*Theo*
Chapter 19: Who Lifted the Curse?
“Mom… Mama….”
The girl kept crying out in her sleep, sometimes for her mother, other times for her father. I thought it was
a good thing that she was at least speaking, even if she seemed to be having nightmares while she
rested.
go?
It was a long night, but I stayed with her.
After all, she was asleep in my bed. Where else would I
Sitting next to her, I did my best to keep her calm, but it was difficult, and as the night wore on, I began to
grow rather weary myself.
“Daddy!” she shouted, flinging both arms up into the air. “Daddy-no!”
“It’s all right, Ciana,” I said, smoothing her hair back and trying to get her to stop moving her arms so
wildly. “It’s just a dream. You’re okay.”
“Daddy, please! No!”
The way she was crying out, I thought perhaps her father or her mother had done something awful to her
at some point in time. But other times, the things she said made it seem like someone was hurting her
parents.
I knew it had to all be just dreams, but it was all very dis- turbing, even for me.
I didn’t know how to explain what I was feeling. When she was awake, the things that she did, the words
that she said just made me want to throw her out of the window some- times, so shouldn’t I be happy
that she wasn’t able to bother me at this moment?
Yet, I didn’t like to see her so upset. I didn’t like hearing her cry out like that. Perhaps it was because she
was still too noisy. So… I smoothed her hair and whispered to her, “Hey, it’s all right….”
Her lips were chapped, probably because she hadn’t had anything to eat or drink for a while. I didn’t want
her to get sick. I did need her blood after all. I took a glass of water and slowly dripped it into her mouth,
being careful not to choke her.
She seemed to be awake enough to swallow at least. I managed to get a little bit of water down her,
which helped her fall back to sleep for a short while until she started wig- gling again in her nightmares.
After a few rounds of this, even I was exhausted. I sat down on the edge of my bed next to her and
closed my eyes. just to get a few minutes of rest.
But my mind was busy with thoughts of everything that had gone on that night. Luther… or whoever the
hell that was- what did he want?
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And Ciana. What could I do to wake her up?
“Mama?” Ciana’s voice brought me out of my attempt to
sleep. I leaned over and looked at her. Moonlight steamed over her face, her hair reflecting the light and
creating a soft glow around her.
Now that I had the chance to actually appreciate her fa- cial features, I had to say, she really was
strikingly gorgeous. Even through my gloves, I could tell her skin was smooth like porcelain, and it went
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really well with her bright blue eyes… when they were open.
Perhaps what made her even more appealing was the fact that she didn’t seem stuck up about how
pretty she was at all,
unlike most of the other candidates.
“No, no…” Ciana moaned again. “Somebody, help!”
I hated to see her this way. Because… I was worried about her blood, of course.
I smoothed her hair away from her face. “It’s all right. You’ re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She turned on her side so that she was facing me, and when she did so, she bit down on her pink lips,
the ones that I had kissed… I remembered they were soft and warm…
I felt my heart rate speed up. This was wrong… I needed to back away from her.
I should have done so immediately.
But… this was the girl who had hugged me voluntarily. Did she do that simply because she was putting
on a show? Or maybe she didn’t loathe me as much as I thought she would.
Maybe it was because of the berry she’d eaten that she
felt guilty toward me. Or maybe she truly was… foolish. She had no idea how dangerous that was!
Her eyes were damp with tears that had slid out at some point while she was thrashing. I gently wiped
them.
her.
“I’ll find a way for you to wake again. Soon,” I promised
“Water…” she muttered.
Without putting too much thought into it, I took a sip from the cup, and leaned down to gently press my
lips to hers. They were warm and soft and I wanted more…
My eyes widened and I forced myself to sit up again. After pushing the water into her mouth, I jerked
myself away from
her.
What the fuck was I thinking?!
*Ciana*
Something was different….
Yet again, I was opening my eyes in a room I shouldn’t have been in. My head ached, and my body felt
stiff as I turned around to try to figure out where I was.
The bed linens were familiar to me, and someone else was laying next to me.
His slightly disheveled dark hair laid over his forehead. His perfectly sculptured face was so close that I
could feel his warm breath gently blowing on me.
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Even with the light crease in between his brow, I couldn’t deny how strikingly handsome he was. If only
he could smile…
Wait, wait, wait!
This was… Prince Theo!
I was struck awake immediately, and everything came
back to me.
Brook had been kidnapped. I’d chased after her. Theo had come to help us. I’d fainted….
Now, I was here. In his bed. Next to him. What happened between us after I fainted?! Did we…
Lifting up the blanket, I checked to make sure I was still dressed and was thankful to see I had the same
clothes on as I’d been wearing when I chased after Brook.
All right… at least nothing like that had happened. I let out a breath of relief and immediately felt my face
heated from even having that kind of concern.
It wasn’t like Theo liked me or something.
I slowly and quietly moved out from the bed. Finally, I was able to breathe freely without worrying about
waking up the royal prince.
Then I noticed that his body was stiff. Obviously, this wasn’t a comfortable position for him to sleep in,
and the only blanket was covering me.
Did he look after me the whole night when I was uncon- scious?
The grumpy, impatient, cold-hearted royal actually took care of a lowly commoner like me the entire
night? I wanted to deny it, but based on the exhausted look on his face, it had to be the case.
But why? He could have asked someone else to do that… oh, right. It must be because of my blood.
But even though I knew the answer, I still felt a flow of warmth run through my heart. Maybe he wasn’t
really as bad as he appeared to be….
After hesitating for a moment, I grabbed the blanket to cover him. As I leaned down, his eyes snapped
open, and I al- most jumped.
“I… I’m sorry! Your Highness, I wasn’t trying to touch any of your belongings!” I explained, remembering
the last time. when he was mad when I picked up his gloves.
But he didn’t say anything. Instead, he was gazing at me, a shocked look on his handsome face.
“Your Highness?”
He scooted away from me but then leaned up so that he was resting on one arm. His brow furrowed as if
he was puz- zled. “Are you… awake?” he asked.
“I think so,” I replied, wondering why it was so difficult for him to tell. “Either that or this is a very strange
dream.”
He shook his head. “Yes, I know you’re awake. That’s not what I meant. How are you awake?”
“Um… am I not supposed to be?” I didn’t know the
specifics of what had happened to me.
“You had a curse cast on you. The healer said you wouldn’ t be able to wake up on your own without
lifting it.”
My eyes widened. I thought I just had a bad headache, but obviously, it was way more dangerous than
that. The good news was that I seemed fine now, although I had no idea how that might’ve come to pass.
“I don’t know,” was the best I could say.
It was awkwardly silent for a short moment before he said in his usual flat tone, “You didn’t sleep well last
night. Go get some more rest if you want.”
I should’ve just bowed and excused myself, but I felt the need to confirm something. “You… were here…
the whole time?”
He shrugged and looked away from me before he said, “Well, you were asleep in my bed. What else was
I going to do? Sleep on the couch?”
Again, I thought it better not to say what I thought. He could’ve slept in any other number of bedrooms.
But he’d chosen to stay here with me.
A whisper in the back of my head said, ‘He needs to look after your blood, stupid.’
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmRight. He was supposed to be protecting me until the next Blood Moon.
“I’ll get the pack healer in here to look you over.” He got out of bed. His clothing was wrinkled, but even in
his di- sheveled state, he still looked like a regal prince.
A few moments later, a middle aged woman who looked very motherly walked into the room with a black
bag. “I hear you are awake,” she said with a bright smile, although she looked just as shocked as Theo
had been when he saw me awake.
My eyes didn’t stay focused on her, though. Over her shoulder, I saw another familiar face that had me
hiding a grin.
Prince Warren.
“Good morning, Ciana,” he said. “I was so relieved to hear that you’re feeling better.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” I said, hoping he couldn’t tell I was blushing.
The healer set about doing an examination. “Well, I don’t know,” she said. “I honestly have no
explanation for how this can be possible. Unless-”
Abruptly, she stopped speaking, her eyes wide and her lips clamped together tightly.
I wanted to know what she thought might be the reason I woke up.
Prince Warren must’ve thought her abrupt conclusion was odd as well. “Unless… what?” he asked her.
“Oh, uh…” the healer stammered. “Unless… the curse didn’t take all the way. That must be it. She must
not have taken the full brunt of the curse.”
I looked at Prince Warren, and he shrugged.
On the other hand, Theo, who was sitting in a chair across the room, looked disinterested. He certainly
wasn’t paying me any mind.
But… the healer’s reasoning made no sense to me.
If the curse hadn’t been fully taken, I wouldn’t have faint- ed the night before-would I? I was fairly certain
that curses were either complete or didn’t work at all, not somewhere in
between.
“All I can say is, you seem pretty healthy to me, miss. I suggest that you take it easy for the rest of today,
and proba- bly for a few more days after that. Don’t do too much moving around until you feel completely
well again, all right?”
I nodded, though I wasn’t sure whether I would be able to follow her instructions. Staying still was always
difficult for me. And, more importantly, I wanted to get out of Prince Theo’s bed.
“If you need anything, have someone come and fetch me, dear,” the healer said. She patted me lovingly
on the arms and then got up to leave.
She seemed nice enough, but it was clear to me that she had more thoughts about what had happened
that she wasn’t telling me.
“You should get some more rest,” Prince Warren told me with a friendly smile.
I nodded. When he made the recommendation, it seemed a lot more acceptable to me than when Theo
had said exactly the same thing.
He turned to walk away but then stopped and swiveled back to look at me. “I am so very happy to hear
that you are feeling better, Ciana,” he said, his tone warm and soft. I felt every word that he spoke in my
heart.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
After Prince Warren left, I still had a big smile on my face, but then I felt a bit uneasy again.
Prince Theo-he was scowling at me.
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