His fingers, which had been a bruising collar around my neck, didn't loosen, but they grew stiff, like cold marble.
"Be very careful, Irene," he whispered, almost gritting out. His voice was no longer a growl. We stayed there in that position for a few moments before his expression changed to a darker tone. The corner of his lips lifted, giving a deadly smug.
"Do you really think I would fall for your trick? If you are using a lie to buy yourself a few more seconds of breath, I will make sure those seconds are the most painful of your life. So, stop playing." His voice grew louder with every word.
I swallowed, the rough skin of his palm rubbing against my bruised throat. He was right, I was playing with him because I myself was not sure, but if this could help me get to live more, then so be it.
I coughed as I tried to maintain my voice, cold and genuine at the same time. "You think...this is a game, but for me it's more than that. The thing you are looking for..."
I gasped as his grip tightened on my neck. He was a few seconds away from snapping my neck in half, yet I finished my sentence, "...I have it."
As those words came out of my mouth, my eyes shut as my lungs burned with lack of oxygen, and everything went dark in an instant.
The abyss of silence and nothingness didn't just consume me; it started to get inside me. The suffocation choked me from getting any oxygen, that's when I saw a flicker of spark engulfing the darkness in it.
I lunged forward to move in its direction, but felt as if I were stuck in the air, unable to move my body.
That bright light started to fade as the force dropped to almost zero. I sighed in relief and squinched my eyes to figure out what was behind it, and my whole body froze at the scene. It was a car on high beam, and it was coming in my direction.
Acting on instinct, I started to run in the opposite direction, but seeing it speeding, I screamed. Turning my direction, I tried to run as fast as I could, but before I could know, it hit me from behind. I flew away in the air, as the same pain shot through my body, when I fell, with warm blood seeping out from my body. Drop by drop.
The cold stone floor was beneath my palms, biting into my skin.
I saw my family standing a few meters away from me. Mother, father, and Lyla were standing there watching me, but none of them stepped forward. They were not crying or showing any kind of care or mercy, but stood with a smile on their faces.
"You deserved this." Lyla's cold voice echoed in the air, followed by their laughter.
I was dead. Again. The realization hit me with the force of a physical blow. No, no, it can't be. I cannot be dead, not yet.
"Look at me." The words started to echo in my mind, as my eyes started to close again, and darkness started to engulf me. I tried hard to stay awake as the words kept repeating in my mind. Then I felt a strong jerk as the voice again echoed in my mind, louder, "Irene, I said, look at me!"
The command was like a whip because the next moment I jerked right up, gasping for breath, my throat feeling like I had swallowed hot coals. I could see someone's boots in my blurred vision. Someone was standing there, watching me struggle for life with a detached expression on their face.
Slowly, I lifted my head, seeing the man in front of me, on his knees. Xander was no longer that smug predator who had pinned me to the wall. He looked... haunted. His chest still heaved with heavy breathing as if he had run a mile, but it was his skin that caught my eye.
High on his neck, just above the collar, a thin, obsidian line was pulsing. It looked like a vein, but it moved like a living thing. My eyes widened, but words got stuck in my throat.
So, it was actually true. The realization struck me like lightning. The curse was no imagination but the actual truth. Xander was the cursed prince. Before I could think of anything else, his low yet serious voice fell into my ear.
"Explain," he rasped. The room was so cold now that my trembling hands were turning blue. His expression also changed from a haunting one to a dark, cold one, as that caring part never existed, "And if you value your tongue, you will not speak in riddles."
I sat back on my heels, my hand instinctively flying to the dark bruises I knew were forming on my neck. I need to say something, but I cannot reveal everything because this might make him think of silencing me forever in order to keep his secret, which I think he was more than capable of doing.
I licked my dry lips, arranging the series of words in my mind.
"The medicines have been failing lately, haven't they?" I croaked, the word coming out like a broken shard of glass.
Xander's eyes flared, a violent violet hue swirling within the darkness of his pupils. He didn't move, but the air around him seemed to sharpen, threatening to cut. I saw his hand twitch, a reflex of a man used to eliminating anyone who saw too much. I was scared to death, but could I go back on my words?
Definitely not. So, the only option left was to carefully blackmail him. So, I could take his help to complete my task.
"Name your price," he gritted out the words.
"What you have been looking for, I might have it, but gold can't buy a cure for something that wasn't made by man, can it ?" I said it out, pushing through the searing pain in my throat.