Scarlet shook her head again. “He’s been without love all these years and now I’m alive and he has a shot at true love, or whatever but…would it even be real? If he has no other option, are his feelings for me even…honest?”
Nate smiled. “Okay. I think you’re over-thinking the curse, Scarlet. It’s not like that. Gabriel was crazy about you even before he was cursed. You guys were engaged, remember?”
“That was like five hundred years ago, though. Things change.”
“Ha.” Nate took another bite of cereal. “You would think things change but trust me, when it comes to the Archer brothers and their love interests, nothing changes. Ever.” He looked up, caught her eyes, and immediately shut his mouth.
Scarlet ran a hand through her hair. “This is all just such a mess.” Her eyes grew in realization. “If I die again, does that mean Gabriel won’t be able to love anyone for years? Decades even?”
“Uh, no. He’d have to wait until you came back to life. Again.”
Scarlet turned her palms up, angry. “And all because his ex-girlfriend was jealous? How did one girl manage to cast such an awful curse?”
“Well, she was a powerful girl. And she had no idea Gabriel was immortal and would be trapped without love for centuries. Although, if she were alive today, I’m sure she’d get a kick out of that.”
Scarlet bit her lip. “But how come the curse wasn’t broken when I came back to life the first time? I mean, I wasn’t dead anymore. The curse should have been lifted.”
“It probably would have been, except Tristan got in the way. The cursed arrow was coated in Tristan’s blood—so, in essence, the curse was sealed with immortal blood when it pierced your heart. And immortal blood never dies so…neither does Gabriel’s curse.”
Scarlet walked to the far end of the kitchen and leaned against the counter. Part of her wanted to cry for Gabriel’s loneliness. The other part of her wanted to go back in time and strangle the Raven chick for being so petty and malicious.
“So, Gabriel’s never fallen in love?”
Nate chewed for a moment. “Just with you.”
Scarlet closed her eyes in discouragement.
“But, hey! We’re going to find the fountain of youth, so everything will be fine.” Nate’s voice was cheery.
Scarlet shook her head and opened her eyes. “No, Nate. Everything will not be fine. The fountain of youth might keep me alive, but it still doesn’t give Gabriel the freedom to love whomever he wants.”
Which is what he deserved.
“First of all, Gabriel wants you. No question. Second, the fountain will totally fix everything. It will completely undo Gabriel’s curse.”
Scarlet perked up. “How?”
“The curse was sealed with immortal blood, right? So, all we have to do is make the immortal blood inside your heart go away, and the curse will be undone. The fountain can do exactly that.”
“It can take away the immortal blood inside me?”
“Yep. Short of Tristan dying, it’s the only way to kill the blood inside you. The fountain is what gave Tristan, Gabriel, and me immortal life, right? So, the fountain water can counteract any immortal elements it gave life to. Meaning, it can neutralize the immortal effects of Tristan’s blood inside your body, essentially making it the same as your own. Tristan’s blood would die inside you, and the curse would be lifted, releasing Gabriel from the curse allowing you to live, and freeing Tristan of the curse’s effects.”
“Okay.” Scarlet said, letting herself fill up with a tiny bit of hope. “So, if we find the fountain, I won’t die and Gabriel will be free to love whomever he wants.”
Nate nodded. “And Tristan won’t be in pain anymore.”
“Wait, what?” Scarlet pushed back from the counter. “Why is Tristan in pain?”
Nate rolled his eyes and dropped his spoon into the almost-empty cereal bowl. “Did they not tell you anything?”
Scarlet pursed her lips. “Apparently not. What’s wrong with Tristan?”
Nate sighed. “Because Tristan’s blood is inside you, he’s not whole. His body is constantly craving the missing piece of himself that lives in your heart. That’s how he’s connected to you. But that connection is physically painful for him. When he’s away from you, it hurts him. The more distance that’s between the two of you, the more pain he’s in.”
Scarlet sucked in a silent breath.
Great, so I cause him physical pain? No wonder he hates me.
“Is that why he couldn’t go to New York to find you? Because he couldn’t leave me?”
“Yep. Even if he tried to stay away from you, the pain would eventually become too much and he would end up tracking you down just so he could be close enough to not go crazy with pain.”
“But why would he try to stay away from me in the first place?”
Because he hates me?
“Because he doesn’t want you to die. The closer he is to you, the harder your heart beats for him. Part of your blood belongs to his body, and the piece of him living inside you is desperate to find him. So, your heart beats out of control as his immortal blood tries to tear free of your heart and jump back into his. Over time, your heart tears itself in half. When Tristan’s near you, that process speeds up. Essentially, his presence…kills you.”
Scarlet’s voice was barely above a whisper. “He makes me worse?”
Nate nodded. “In your earlier lives, it wasn’t such a problem, but lately…it’s seems the two of you are…more connected.” He paused and looked at Scarlet.
She couldn’t speak. Her chest felt tight…and sad.
Tristan was in pain when he was away from her, but hurt her heart when he was near her?
One brother suffered without love when she was dead. The other suffered in pain when she was alive.
Worst. Curse. Ever.
“Oh, by the way,” Nate pulled a small shiny object from the pocket of his pants, “I have something for you. I was going to just mail it to you but since I’m here….” He got up from the table and placed the small trinket in Scarlet’s hand.
It was a ring—but too large to fit on a finger. On one spot there was a tiny design but, aside from that, it was just a circle.
Scarlet stared at it for a moment. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” Nate said, frowning. “I thought maybe you would remember. You gave it to me in your last life and told me to keep it safe until you returned.”
Scarlet shook her head, completely confused. “But I didn’t tell you what it was?”
“Nope. I asked, but you said it was safer if I didn’t know.”
Scarlet scrunched her face. “Safer? Were we in danger or something?”
“Not that I know of. Although, you did seem freaked out. But, then again, you were really sick, so I just assumed you were worried about, you know, dying.”
Scarlet took in a shaky breath. It was crazy to think she’d lived several lives awaiting death. Planning for it, even.
But it was even crazier to think she could live several more lives the same way.
“Well…thanks for giving it back to me…I guess.” Scarlet looked at the shiny ring with puckered lips. She had no idea what it was.
“No problem.”
She looked at the immortal boy standing in front of her and tried to imagine living for five hundred years. It sounded exciting, but it also sounded…lonely. Maybe even empty.
Especially if you weren’t free to love whomever you wanted, or if a piece of your soul was trapped in a reincarnating girl.