“Right again.”
“That’s so weird.”
Slipping my marble back into his pocket, he rocks on his heels. “Are you still willing to be my guide?”
“As long as you don’t call me peasant.”
“Deal.” He offers me his elbow.
Closing the distance between us, I notice how much more attractive he’s gotten. His cheekbones are higher, his jaw a little wider, and I feel a muscular forearm when I hook my hand around it.
We start walking in the direction of the field.
“How did you go blind?” As soon as the question flies from my mouth, I regret it. Freaking nerves. Being around Kirian very easily turns me into a bumbling idiot. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. It’s just, you said it wasn’t that long ago, and if you weren’t born that way, I’m just wondering.”
Much to my surprise, Kirian chuckles at my rambling. “It was a witch’s curse. A whole coven of them, actually.”
“Well, that’s the last thing I was expecting you to say,” I tell him honestly.
He pats my hand, and the gesture is a bit patronizing. His fingers are warm again, even though he isn’t wearing a coat.
“There’s been turmoil in my world for generations. The rival kingdoms constantly fight,” he explains. “Day Realm soldiers are particularly cruel. Some of them came upon a witch’s village, and the soldiers wanted retribution for a plague they caused years ago. Instead of slaughtering them, the soldiers cut out their eyes to teach them a lesson.”
I gasp. The thought of an act so terrible is hard to comprehend. I don’t even want to imagine it.
“That’s seriously awful. How could any king allow that to happen?” I glance at Kirian’s face to find a haunted expression.
“All the kingdoms regret what happened. See, the witches were more powerful than anyone knew. They retaliated, and it wasn’t just the Day Realm they went after—they cursed us all. Every king and queen’s firstborn child went blind, and I’ve been living in darkness ever since.”
“How do you reverse the curse? Can it be broken? Is that a thing?”
“Yes, that’s a thing, young one.”
“Young one?” I don’t point out that just two days ago, he was my age. Because if I’m being honest, I kind of like the nickname. “So, you have to break the curse,” I conclude. “You’ll get your sight back if you do.”
“It’s not that easy. The only way I’ll ever see again is if I find my fated mate.”
“What’s a faded mate?”
“Fated. Meaning, soul mate. If I so much as kiss someone else, the spell will be permanent. Forever.” He shrugs. “And so I wait.”
“How do you know when you’ve found her?”
“That’s the kicker. The clue the coven gave me doesn’t help much. She is marked by the sky at night, you’ll know her by love at first sight,” he recites the lines as if he’s said them many times. “Sight. A tricky loophole. The eyes are the window to the soul. When recognizing one’s fated mate, eye contact is required. I can’t see her until I get my sight back, but I can’t be free of the curse until I can see. It’s impossible.”
“Maybe when you meet her, it’ll just happen.”
“It’s not enough to meet her. I have to consummate the bond.”
“Consummate…? Ohh. Sex.”
Awkward. My parents gave me ‘the talk’ a year ago, and it was seriously uncomfortable. My dad got all red, and my mom stuttered a whole bunch. I’m glad they told me, though. It’s not like I have any friends to talk about it with.
“Yeah,” Kirian sighs. “So I need to be really sure it’s her.”
“I’d say,” I agree with an uncomfortable laugh. “But you haven’t lost hope. There’s a chance.”
“Yes, there’s a chance.”
I’m quiet as I process his story. If he’s telling the truth—and at this point, I’m just going with it—then he shouldn’t be here with me. He should be out searching for his soul mate every waking minute.
A selfish part of me doesn’t want that. I’m too young to be thinking about marriage and babies, but the thought of Kirian having that with someone else makes me want to hurl.
And that’s just nuts. I’ve spent less than an hour with the guy. I should probably get to know him better before I go all Fatal Attraction on his ass.
“What do you miss most about being able to see?” I ask as we pass my treehouse, thinking I should see if Kirian wants to hang out up there sometime. The place is pretty awesome. It’s about twenty feet up, built onto an old maple.
“I miss the stars,” he replies, pausing to let out a wistful sigh. “The sky in the Night Realm is beautiful. According to our astrologists, there are eight times more constellations than what you have here, and we have three moons.”
“That does sound pretty great. I’m sorry you don’t get to see it anymore.”
“It’s not all bad. Some good came from it, at least. For the first time in thousands of years, Night and Day are actually working together. Well, sort of. We’ve joined forces to hunt down the witches.”
“To kill them?” I squeak out.
He shakes his head. “To offer them riches—anything they want, if they’ll reverse the curse. But so far, there’s no trace of them. We’re pretty sure they’re hiding somewhere between Dawn and Dusk.”
I nod like I understand, even though sometimes the things he says don’t make sense.
When we get to the bridge, I guide us to the right.
“There’s a small step here. That’s it,” I encourage as Kirian’s boot lands on the wood. “Once we get to the other side, the clearing isn’t far. So, the kingdoms… what do they fight over?”
“Lots of things. Most recently, grudges over past wrongs and political disagreements. Historically, the land of Dawn and Dusk has been a great source of contention.”
“Dawn and Dusk. What is that, exactly?”
“It’s unclaimed territory. An enchanted strip of land between Night and Day.”
He’s talking about time as if it’s a location.
I glance at the sky and try to imagine
