Jennifer Armentrout: Cursed

“Where’s Olivia?”

“You were asleep when she brought the juice up.” He motioned at the bed stand. There my juice sat.

My mouth watered. “She’s with Liz. Do you think you can sit up?”

With his careful help, I was able to sit up long enough. My throat burned, but I downed the entire glass before lying back down. “I feel… weird.”

“You were given some pain medication at the hospital, and again this morning. You don’t remember that?”

I frowned. “No.” All I remembered from the hospital was floating through the rafters. I must’ve been really high.

“I need to talk to you. Do you feel up to it?”

“Okay,” I said, but there was something about the hospital I thought I should remember. It was there, on the very edge of my memories, hazy and out of reach.

“Parker and Hayden filled me in on most of what happened. I can understand your distrust of me and my intentions, but I hope you have learned that’s not the case.”

I thought that was a very smooth way of asking if I’d learned my lesson. “Parker was in my head again?”

“We thought it would be easier than making you relive everything.”

I guess that made it okay—sort of. “So, you worked with his sister.”

Cromwell let out a soft breath and nodded. “It was a very long time ago, before Hayden and the others. Theo was a child, and I had no idea his gift was like Olivia’s. His sister had a remarkable gift.”

“Remarkable?”

“She was the first, Ember. No one before her had ever showed that type of gift, and no one after her—

until you. With what happened to her, I didn’t want to attempt the same thing.” He paused, a small smile appeared. “I never intended to send you to the Facility. I didn’t want you to have the same fate she did. I don’t expect you to believe me, but you have no idea how her death ate away at me. She was why I started searching for others, hoping to get to them before the gifts became too much to control.”

“But… you worked with her? In the program?”

“I did,” he admitted. “It was a long time ago, Ember.” And that was all he would say about that. His next words distracted me, anyway. “From what I could gather, it appears that Theo did tell you the truth about your father. He was going to transfer guardianship of Olivia to one of the doctors at the Facility. I’m sorry. I know that isn’t what you wanted to hear.”

No. It wasn’t. I didn’t even know how to deal with that—what to think or where to begin. All I could acknowledge right now was the sick twisting of my heart.

“I’m really sorry.”

It could’ve been the drugs, but he actually looked sympathetic. “Isn’t someone going to do something to stop them? They can’t do this to people, let parents sell their children.”

“The Facility never used to be like this, and trust me, something is being done about them,” Cromwell said, anger sparking deep in his eyes. “But it’s not something you need to worry about right now. I know it’s hard for you not to focus on it, but you need to get better.”

What I needed… I didn’t even know what I needed.

“There’s one other thing I want to talk to you about.” He took a deep breath. “I know you’ve been working with my son. We had a very long talk last night.”

“Oh,” I whispered.

“I always knew he wouldn’t listen to me when it came to you. I’m just surprised by how far he disobeyed my wishes.”

“He… he just wanted to help me.”

Cromwell raised one brow, and the bland expression on his face slipped a degree. “It appears Hayden had his own motives.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Ember, I know you and Hayden are… involved with one another. I’m going to be honest with you; I’m not thrilled. Among other concerns, you both live under my roof, but I suppose it’s a good thing he didn’t listen to me.”

“It is?”

“Kurt told me you grabbed him in the cellar, and that your touch didn’t hurt him. It seems I should’ve supported Hayden when he first asked to work with you.”

“I can’t touch… for a long period of time. Maybe a minute.”

“But that is miraculous, considering where you were before.”

That same word from Olivia’s file popped in my head, but I decided to let it go. “I guess so.”

Cromwell leaned forward and held out one hand. “I need to see if it’s true.”

“Are you serious?” The look that he gave me said he was. I sighed, too tired to argue. “If it doesn’t work, well, I guess you’ll know.” Then I touched my hand to his. His fingers felt smooth to me, like the man never used his hands for anything other than pushing a pen. A couple of seconds passed, maybe about thirty, when he seemed satisfied.

“Miraculous,” he murmured again. He stood. “We’ll talk more later. Get some rest.”

“Cromwell?”

He stepped at the door, twisting back. “Yes?”

“Is… is Theo dead?”

“Yes.”

I let out an unsteady breath. “I don’t know how to feel about that.”

Cromwell came back to the bed, studying me a moment. “Do not think for one second that Theo wasn’t going to kill you. He saw you as having the future his sister should’ve had. And you defended yourself, but you did more than that.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and smiled.

I think it was the first time he ever truly smiled at me like he meant it.

“Hayden may not be my biological son, but he means the world to me. If you hadn’t stopped Theo, he would’ve shot my son. You saved Hayden’s life.”

Something awful shifted in my stomach. “But I killed someone. Again.”

“The first was an accident, Ember. And this? Well, it’s not something you will ever get used to.

However, in time, you will come to accept what you have done. Get some rest, Ember.” He left without so much as a look back.

I thought he sounded like someone who knew what it felt like to kill. Then again, that could’ve been the pain meds. I couldn’t be sure.

Silence settled in around me and I shifted uncomfortably. That awful feeling kept worrying me. Yes, Theo had planned on putting a bullet in my head—Hayden’s, too—but I’d killed him. And I was pretty sure I’d smiled while doing it.

That couldn’t be good.

What would Olivia say if she knew? What would my mom say? I’d killed twice now, but this one—

this kill was different. I’d wanted to do it. I squeezed my eyes shut. I already knew what Hayden would think. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t checked in on me yet. He had once said I was good inside, better than all of them. I doubted he thought that now.

I lay there for a little while, trying not to think about anything, and eventually slipped back into sleep.

When I opened my eyes again, night had fallen.

“Ember.”

My heart skipped a beat or two at the sound of his voice. The bed dipped. Fingers brushed my hair back, lingering as long as possible. Hayden .

“Hey there,” I whispered.

“How are you feeling?”

I tested sitting up. “Not so woozy. Better.”

“Good. I’ve checked on you several times, but you’ve been sleeping. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“I wish you had.” Hayden smiled. “Miss my face?”

My eyes fell over him, checking for wounds. “Are you okay?”

“I’m a hundred percent.”

I stared at him, wanting to memorize every inch of his face. “You’re really here, right? I’m not having a drug-induced dream, am I?”

His brows furrowed. “No. I’m here.”

“I… I didn’t think you’d want to see me after everything.”

“Em, sometimes you think the weirdest crap.”

My lips twitched, but I sobered up pretty quickly. “I’m sorry for everything. For the thing with the files and… and what I did. I never wanted to kill someone. And I’ve done it twice.” I wiped under my eyes, feeling on the verge of coming apart. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want him to hurt you. I didn’t know what else to do.”