The Keeper's Curse (41 page)

Rozelyn
inhaled unevenly. Emmy heard footsteps padding across the linoleum,
probably heading over to Breckin’s side.

“
Don’t you ever do that to me again,” she murmured fiercely.
“Those hours nearly killed me, not knowing where you were. Please,
next time, even if you can’t take me with you, just let me
know.”

“
You wouldn’t let me go.”

“
No, probably not. Just do it anyway.” She sighed, and Emmy
heard their clothes ruffling; they were probably hugging now. “I
never had to worry about you before. That Keeper thing always
calmed me down, but she’s here now. I’m going to have to worry
about you dying the rest of my life.”

“
Everyone has to worry about the people they care about
dying.”

“
It’s not the same, and you know it.”

“
I know. Sometimes I still can’t believe she’s here. Before I
met her I remember being freaked out knowing that I could drop dead
at any moment if she got in an accident, or got a disease or
something, but this is worse. I’m responsible if anything happens
to her, Roz.” Emmy felt the tips of his fingers brush her forehead.
“I’d send her away, if it would keep her safer. But she’s best off
here. She’s going to hate me one day.”

“
She doesn’t hate you,” Rozelyn said. Another awkward silence.
“Breckin? Can I ask you something?”

“
Anything.”

“
Do you .... I mean .... are you going to leave
me?”

Breckin
laughed nervously. “That was direct.”

“
I’m serious. I mean, she – Emmy – she holds your soul, and
you can talk to each other in your heads and you spend an awful lot
of time together –”

Breckin
cut her off, and the deep intake of breath indicated he had pulled
her in to kiss him.

It was
Emmy’s anger that did it. Its zealous jolt pulled her to the
surface of consciousness, and she became fully awake. But she
didn’t dare move: she wanted to know the answer to this question
more than Rozelyn did.

“
Rozelyn, listen to me.” His voice was so gentle, so
vulnerable – Emmy had never heard him talk like that before. Or at
least, not around her. “When Thoreoux pulled that knife out and
raised it to plunge through Lana’s heart, the only thing I could
think of was you. I thought of Noah, and Mom and Becca and even
Gabe but the last face I saw was yours, and I didn’t understand
why.” His breathing was very uneven. “And I think it’s because I
never ... I never told you that –”

“
I love you,” Rozelyn said breathlessly.

“
I – what! No! You can’t do that, you just stole my
thunder!”

Rozelyn
let out a peal of harmonious laughter. “Isn’t that funny, I was
thinking the exact same thing when you disappeared.”

“
Really?”

“
Yes. But you love me?”

“
Yes. I love you. I want you to understand Lana and me. I care
about her a lot. She saved my life tonight, and she did it just as
much for me as she did for her. I would do the same. But she isn’t
you. Roz honestly, you’ve been this security blanket for me for
years now, and I can’t imagine my life without you anymore. I need
you so much it scares me.”

“
Damn it, Breckin, I’ve told you every single day since we’ve
gotten together that I’m
not leaving
you.
”

“
Good. Because you keep me sane. You never get mad at me, you
never look at me like everyone else does, either waiting for me to
fail or expecting so much I know I
will
fail. You’re one of the only
people I believe when you say I’m not what Thoreoux makes me out to
be. You keep me grounded.”

“
I do believe it. And I’ll keep on saying it until you believe
it too.”

“
Lana doesn’t do that. I feel about her almost the exact same
way I did with Becca. And since she’s apparently dating Cyrus, I’m
sure she feels the same way about me. You’ve got nothing to worry
about.”

Keep your face still,
Emmy ordered
herself.
Keep it still until they
leave.

Rozelyn
let out a sigh of relief. “You’re amazing.”

“
Please keep on thinking that.”

The two
of them shared a small laugh right before Emmy heard a clacking of
footsteps and somebody else entered the room. The voice sounded
like Noah’s.

“
Hey, Breckin? There’s some Ministrialians downstairs that
need to ask you a few more questions. Apparently there are some
missing bodies.”

He didn’t
sound pleased about the interruption. “Alright, I’m
coming.”

Emmy
counted in a steady rhythm to one hundred, keeping her breathing
regular, but when the time came, she broke.

It was ridiculous; she had almost died that day, people were
probably dead, and she had no idea whether or not Thoreoux had
gotten away.
That
was important. Not this.

“
Don’t,” she told herself, but she was crying before she got
it out. She rolled over into the pillow, muffling the weeping
noises to avoid drawing attention from the hall. The crying helped;
some of her anger and frustration poured out of her, but it didn’t
stop the misery. She tried to stop thinking about him, but how
could she? She could, at that very moment, tangibly feel how happy
he was.

She
hugged herself around the middle, wondering if that was where his
soul was. It was there, inside her, she was the bearer of his life,
and he didn’t care. She wished she could open herself up, tear it
out, and get some peace that she hadn’t gotten since the second she
had met him. But it was there, and she wouldn’t get relief from him
until she died.

She
lifted her head.

Or could
she?

Underneath the white dress Thoreoux had provided for her, the
incantation ruffled against her skin.

***

Emmy was
woken up the next morning by Circlet, not in the least bit
interested in her healing process. She reluctantly rolled on her
back to face the governor, who looked as grim as ever. Jade and
Persephone were standing in the doorway, with a vague look of
trepidation, as if they weren’t sure how Emmy would be when she
woke up.

“
What happened?” Emmy’s mouth was so parched the question came
out raspy.

“
You fainted,” Circlet said unhelpfully.

“
Where’s Thoreoux?”

Circlet’s
dejected expression said it all. “He – he got away. I’m so sorry,
Miss Rathers, we did everything we could. We found a stack of
portals in his mansion after they retreated. He and his allies
could have gone anywhere.”

Hopelessness engulfed her. After all that, they had
accomplished nothing.

Circlet
must have sensed her distress. “This will never happen again. It
can’t. He can’t hide in his secret orbs anymore. He’s in our world
now, and we will find him.”

“
You do realize that means someone is hiding him?”

“
Unfortunately, yes. But the word is out now – everyone in
both Methelwood and Ministrial know that you are the Eldoir’s
Keeper. We have no choice but to protect you at all costs. He will
never be in an orb’s distance of you.”

This
comforted her somewhat, but she didn’t let Circlet fool her into
believing that everything was suddenly okay again. If Thoreoux had
all those portals to all those different orbs in the first place,
that meant he had friends in all of them. He would never stop
hunting her.

Which means you’ll always have to stay with
Breckin.

A dull
throb inside her chest pulsed. She literally couldn’t stay away
from him. She wanted to cry again.

“
So you’re telling me,” Emmy said. “That you nearly got me
killed, keeping my curse in the dark, for nothing?”

“
I was hoping to catch Thoreoux.”

“
Well you didn’t.” It was unbelievable; Emmy’s mother had
known about the curse and hadn’t told her because she was worried
she would stay, and Circlet had known about the curse and hadn’t
told her because she was worried she would leave.

Circlet
was suddenly interested in a flock of birds outside the hospital
window. “You have no idea how sorry I am, Miss Rathers. You’re a
part of Methelwood, one of my citizens, and my foolishness nearly
got you killed.”

“
I’m not a citizen, remember?”

“
Yes you are,” Circlet said. She snapped her eyes back onto
Emmy’s. “You think I don’t know? That you lied to me the first day
we met? Annalise would have never trained you in the real world,
not in a million years. I felt sorry for you and wanted to give you
a fair chance.”

Emmy
stiffened, trying to put on a mask of bravado. “What’s that got to
do with anything?”

“
We’re talking about your citizenship, aren’t we? I owe you a
debt of gratitude for finding Thoreoux’s secret orb and saving our
Eldoir. Don’t fret the procedures – you are going to pass your
admission exam.” Emmy went to protest, and then understood. She
would take the exam, but it would just to keep up appearances. She
would pass whether she was good enough or not. “Your grades are not
the best, but considering the circumstances, you shouldn’t even be
passing.”

“
I’m doing my best.”

“
You are. And,” she sighed, “since I made you a promise that
if you passed your exam, your mother would be set free, so I
suppose I should get that in order as well.” Circlet had a hint of
a smile on her face. “I can certainly milk this Keeper situation
with a judge – how you need a mother, how Annalise had good reason
to keep you from Methelwood considering what just happened to
you... and all that.”

Emmy was
so happy she nearly burst into tears. It was the best news she had
gotten in a very long time. “Milk away.”

“
I’ll leave you to your friends,” Circlet said, strutting out
of the room in that dramatic manner she always did.

Her arms
were around Jade and Persephone an instant later.

“
You’re okay!”

“
Of course we are,” Persephone grinned. “You should have seen
us last night, we were fantastic! Cyrus too –”

Emmy
gasped. “I forgot Cyrus! Is he okay, too?”

“
Better than ever,” Jade said.

“
Well, now maybe not so much,” Persephone said. “When we
brought you into the hospital unconscious, Cyrus punched Breckin in
the face. His hand is fractured now.”

Emmy was
sorrier for Cyrus, but maybe that was because she wouldn’t mind
punching Breckin in the face at the moment either.

“
And the two of us talked,” Jade said, breaking Emmy out of
that dangerous trail of thought. She hit Persephone in the arm.
“About no secrets from each other.”

The mirth
seeped out of the room. Persephone’s smile fell. “I don’t blame
you,” she said, looking down. “If you two never want to speak to me
again.”

“
I already told you,” Emmy said. “I don’t care what Cyrus’s
last name is, and I don’t care about yours.”

“
It took me a few hours to get it out of her,” Jade said. “But
apparently she lived with Rathbone a kid, before her mother took
her away.”

Persephone didn’t look up; she was picking at the hem of her
sleeve. “I still see him once in a while,” she said. “He’ll send a
letter, and Mom’ll make me go meet him, just to not make him angry.
We usually meet up in Delvynmore.”

Emmy was
glad Persephone’s head was lowered so she wouldn’t see her’s and
Jade’s shock. Persy was clearly very ashamed of this part of her,
and Emmy could understand why. Considering how Cyrus was treated
after he was outed as Rhoan’s son, she could understand why
Persephone would rather have a guard follow her than tell the
truth. And still Emmy trusted her with all her heart.

“
Did Cyrus know?” she couldn’t help but wonder. “Who you
were?”

At this
Persephone did raise her head. The expression was mingled with
worry and amusement. “Yeah, he knew. We played together as
children. With swords, of course. I thought if I ignored him he’d
leave me alone, and he did. I couldn’t believe he didn’t tell
anyone.”

Although
Emmy was hurt Cyrus hadn’t told her, she understood. Cyrus was
strangely loyal in his own way, and if he thought it wasn’t his
secret to tell, especially for an old friend, he would keep his
mouth shut.

Emmy
gripped Persephone’s hand. “We won’t tell anyone either,” she
promised. “Your secret’s safe with us.”

Jade
imitated the gesture. “Nothing has changed. Just please, don’t ever
keep anything like this from us ever again.”

Jade and
Emmy smiled at her, but Persephone’s shock still hadn’t dissipated.
She didn’t fully believe them, Emmy realized.

An unsure smile crawled up Persephone’s face, mostly for
their sake. “Okay, I promise.” Her eyes concentrated on Emmy. “That
goes for
all
of
us.”

Emmy
chuckled, and the three of them took a vow. Even though this was
for Persephone’s sake, Emmy felt better as well, knowing these two
girls would be there for her, would love her, always. They had
proven that last night. She didn’t need Breckin at all.