“You’re trying to push me away again?”

He shook his head. “No. I just want to make sure you realize the risks, because the smart thing would be to walk away, and I would understand if you did.”

She appeared offended. “I could never walk away, especially now.”

Relief eased from his exhale. “Then you have me, and I’ll do all I can to make you happy. I’d do anything for you, Elizabeth, because you’re everything to me.” He swallowed. “But I want to make one thing clear.”

A question lifted her brow.

“I’ll always protect you, even when you don’t think you need it. I know you said you don’t want it, but…now that the saving each other is accomplished, I think the time for protecting is at hand. Do we have a deal?”

“As long as you’ll let me protect you.”

He laughed, just barely. “And just what would I need protecting from?”

“I don’t know yet.” She searched his eyes and her gravity made him swallow hard. “But you’re not the only one who’d do anything.”

Chapter 25

Elizabeth admired Henry’s abdomen, his diaphragm lifting with each breath. A contentment she’d never experienced settled over her as she lay atop him, skin to skin. It was late in the morning, the sun high through the blinds she’d opened an hour before. They were both hungry, she could tell from the growling of his stomach, but neither had suggested rising from her bed. He kept his sturdy arm around her and his lips in her hair, and by his measured inhalations, she guessed he was asleep.

She traced her fingers along the narrow trail of hair that led from his navel to the blanket’s edge, then moved them to the wound on his side. It was hardly a wound anymore though, looking weeks past the healing process. Very gently, she felt the smooth, light pink skin, puckered together, and she had to admit her sewing job two nights before hadn’t been half bad for a nursing school dropout under stress.

“Ouch,” he breathed, and the sound of his voice almost startled her. It’d been a long while since either of them had spoken.

Pulling her fingers away, she looked up at him. “I’m sorry, I thought it was better.”

He smiled, running his hand into her disheveled hair.

“Not funny.” But, God, that smile…

“I was never good at jokes, remember?” Still he smiled the smile that left a kernel of joy turning in her heart.

Looking at his scar again, she ran her thumb over it as gently as before. “Does it hurt?”

“I guess I’m worse at jokes than I thought.”

“Not this.” She met his eyes. “When you…change?”

Tightening his fingers in her hair, he pulled her closer. “I’m used to it.”

“I’d give anything to take away your pain, Henry.”

“You already have,” he barely whispered. “I mean it when I say I’ve never been this happy. Not ever. I didn’t know I was allowed to be.” She kissed him, and her desire spiked along with her emotions. Swim in this joy while you can, instinct told her. Before it’s too late.

***

Elizabeth had just tied her robe, ready to search her kitchen, when Regina called. It was the fourth time that day, and convincing Regina that she was all right—just taking the day off to relax—was a grueling task, especially because Henry’s lips attacked hers every time she spoke into the phone. But eventually Regina let it go with Elizabeth’s promise that she would be back to work in the morning, bright and early.

Elizabeth threw her phone on the table, glowering at Henry, who smiled as he kept his arms snugly around her. And she would never tire of that feeling, his arms being around her. “If you keep that up, we have no hope of keeping this secret.”

His eyes sobered. “Maybe I don’t want to keep this secret.”

She pulled back in surprise, wondering if a time would come when this side of him wouldn’t so pleasantly catch her off guard. With a smile, she matched his squeeze, securing her arms around his neck.

A gurgle broke the silence. Then a growl, emerging from his stomach.

“Ignore it,” he said with a subtle roll of the eyes.

“I have an idea,” she chuckled. “I prepared a whole sheet of almond tarts last night, and they’re just waiting in the fridge at Jean’s.”

“Dessert for dinner?”

When his mouth lowered, she lifted on her tiptoes to meet it. If Henry’s kisses alone could sustain her, she would live indefinitely.

“But…” He hesitated, and she sank at the reluctant tone in his voice. “At sunset, you’re coming back.”

She folded her arms.

The way his sigh came with measure and control said he was trying to exercise patience.

“If you’re staying out, so am I.”

“Elizabeth, she might still be out there. I don’t feel good about it, not until she’s gone.”

“She will never be gone, as long as you live.”

The weight in his eyes nearly crushed her, and she felt it in the same way he did. “I know,” was all he managed.

“I thought you didn’t want to hide.”

“I don’t. But you…”

“I’m not hiding from her.”

“Dammit, Elizabeth, she could kill you faster than I could save you!”

“So what do you propose then, Henry? I live the rest of my life hiding away?”

“I—” He cut himself off, out of mere irritation it seemed. He sighed again, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. But remember what I said about protecting you? Well, that’s what I’m doing, and if it takes pissing you off to get you to stay inside, then I’ll sure as hell do it.”

His face darkened, his features stunning in anger, and she grasped his arms, looking into his chocolate caramel eyes. She wanted to tell him to have faith in her…in them. But the soaring of her own doubts left her speechless. Instead she asked, with fluttering anticipation, “Why is it she doesn’t want us together? How can your curse be broken, Henry?”

He shifted his jaw, but then pulled her to the couch and sat her down. He took the large book from the coffee table and opened to the section about Aglaé, his finger toying with the page’s edge. “I’m sure you know this, but only some are cursed as monsters.” He told her all of it, told her—with a hint of shame—more about his frequent escapades to the Heathman Hotel and the night Aglaé first came to him, how she tested him and he failed, a woman’s murder on his hands.

“Henry, surely you can’t blame yourself for that.” She raised her voice when he shook his head. “You were under a spell! No man would have been able to fight it.”

“Some can. I could have. I was aware of my logical side while it was happening, and all I had to do was listen to it. But it was beyond me. I didn’t want to, Elizabeth. Because of me, she died.”

Elizabeth took the book from his lap and searched the page, then pointed to the paragraph explaining Aglaé’s irrational and unpredictable nature. “See, right here. She’s unjust. It was an unfair test, Henry. She targets men like the one you were, and she will do anything to take complete control. That’s what she’s done. And everything that’s happened since then has been because of her, because of what she did to you.”

Still, he shook his head. “Now it’s you who’s being blind.”

“Not blind. Just refusing to look at it the way you do.” Her hand found his, hot and moist. “But none of that matters anyway.”

He gave a single nod, staring at their hands. “What’s done is done.”

“What’s done may be done, but there has to be a way out of every curse she inflicts. And it has to be something doable.”

Though his head remained bowed, he lifted his eyes. “Just because something is physically possible doesn’t make it doable.”

Her swallow was rough, her heart afraid of where this would go. “The Cursed and the Curse Breaker: can you…?”

“I can never have a Curse Breaker.”

Just as she thought. An antidote only he could provide. “Tell me what it is you have to do.”