The Complete Cursed Key Trilogy by Miranda Brock & Rebecca

Author:Miranda Brock & Rebecca [Brock, Miranda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Evershade Publishing

Chapter 18

Our second trek through the African wilderness was a bit more enjoyable. Likely it had something to do with the fact I was no longer racing toward my death bed with demon poison in my veins. The sky was overcast, and though it was still hot, my skin wasn’t sizzling. There was more wildlife to watch this time. Kael laughed when I waved at a herd of elephants, and I told him it was just in case they knew Bibi.

As we walked, I fingered the tiny elephant tusk earring in my pocket that the prophetess had given me. What would happen if I were to wear it? Kael strode beside me, and as I glanced at him, I tried to picture him wearing the earring in his pocket that was twin to the one I carried. I giggled.

Kael smiled as he peered down at me, though his eyebrows were raised. “What’s so funny?”

“Have you ever had your ears pierced?” I asked.

“Not in this lifetime,” he said. He shook his head with a laugh.

I pulled my hand out of my pocket to adjust the strap of my bag biting into my shoulder. “This lifetime?”

“Well, apparently this isn’t the first time I’ve been alive, is it? I’m some sort of reborn warrior destined to protect you.”

The light-hearted question had taken a turn toward a conversation I wasn’t sure I wanted to partake in. I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “How do you feel about that?”

The shifter paused, and I hesitated beside him in the tall brown and yellow grass. “About protecting you?”

“About not really having a choice about it.” I shrugged a shoulder. “I mean, it’s like you had no choice but to be there at the ruins in the Amazon and ever since, you’ve been stuck with me. You're risking your job, risking your life, for something and someone you had no choice but to encounter.”

Kael stepped closer to me, and his hand lifted to curl around my bicep. “I don’t think of it like that. I want to be here to protect you.”

“I can take care of myself, though. I don’t need protecting.”

“Everyone needs protecting sometimes, Livvie.” A crooked grin twisted his lips. “Even strong, intelligent, independent archaeologists need a hand now and then.”

I smiled back, even if my heart wasn’t quite in it. I still couldn’t shake the feeling I was nothing more than a reborn obligation to Kael. He accompanied me and protected me because he was meant to, not because it had really been a choice for him.

“Besides,” he said. “If you hadn’t wandered into those ruins in that deep, dangerous jungle in the first place, I would have never had the privilege of meeting you.”

When had his hands trapped my shoulders? I lifted my face to find myself suddenly trapped in Kael’s intense gaze.

“I want to support and protect you, not because it’s my job, or because something is telling me to, but because you’ve grown to mean a lot to me, Livvie.”

The air seemed to press in around us.

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