Page 38 of The Fate of Black Hearts

“No.” Swaying, she pressed a hand against her stomach. “Take me back. I need to stop it.”

“You couldn’t have stopped it. You also can’t help them get free if you had gotten cursed too.”

“What if I kill Willem?”

His shoulders lifted and dropped. “He deserves death. It won’t change what he’s done.”

“Damn it, I should’ve done it years ago,” she muttered. “Roman’s telegram…Willem lured them here by saying I was in trouble.”

“That didn’t mean you had to be there. You had to know it wasn’t safe.”

“They’re my kids, Dom.”

“I know.”

“How did you know to be here?”

His eyelids drifted shut. “The Fates talk to me. They direct me on terrible things about to happen. Like this.”

“Why couldn’t you have showed up about ten minutes earlier and done your thing?”

“It doesn’t always work out like we wish.”

She rushed him and pounded his hard chest. “Take me back to them. I’ll kill all those Brits for this.”

He caught her hands. “You do that, and the Brits might order them to fight you. Evie…” He pulled her in close. “If they’re ordered by whatever the hell this curse is to kill you, they won’t be able to fight the order. They’d have to live with your death on their hands for the rest of their lives.”

She stilled.

“This is ancient magic. It’s something designed before my time.” His chin dropped. “I know this will piss you off, but the Fates said this has to play out. The one thing I do know about those sons of yours is they’d want you out of it. They’re going to need you to be there for them in secret.”

“Will they live?” She gulped in a breath.

“I don’t know.”

“How can you be all-knowing and not know that?”

“I only know some things. I can’t see everything. Death isn’t something I can predict.”

“My sweet, faint-hearted son… Jonas can’t do this.” She stepped away from him and clasped her hands tight. “My baby’s not a fighter. He belongs in his studio, where he sees the world through his paintings. The others know this. I don’t know if he can survive if they make him kill.”

“All of them might not make it through this.” His lips compressed into a thin line. “I had to keep you free of that curse.” He gazed off into the horizon. “I had to.”

“Stop pretending you care about me. You’re here because some deity told you to be. You follow orders like a black-hearted robot.”

His irises shifted from brown to a pale blue as his dark lashes fell over his eyes. When he met her gaze, a myriad of emotions blasted her. His dark brows pulled together until the crease between them deepened. His voice cracked. “They didn’t ask me to save you from it.”

“I was supposed to get cursed too?” She swallowed, but it didn’t alleviate the dryness in herthroat.

“Even if it was supposed to happen, I couldn’t allow it.”

His eyes managed to scare her more than his soft words. They seemed to penetrate her soul. It left her unsettled…heated. She wasn’t used to this feeling. Ever since she’d gotten free of Willem’s hold on her, she hadn’t allowed herself to feel anything real for a male. Okay, maybe she felt a bit for Dom, but he was “safe” and off-limits since she only saw him when in her dream-like state. In reality…

Never again would she be powerless, at the mercy of another. Nothing made sense. She wanted to pulverize him for grabbing her before she could kill everyone threatening her sons. Yet, she also wanted him toseeher as attractive and as someone he would want to kiss for real.

“I see you,” he whispered hoarsely.

“Stop it.” She covered her eyes and backed away from him. “I can’t handle you. Not with that voice and reading my thoughts. You smell so bloody amazing. What the hell is that soap?”