The Living Curse: Book One of The Living Curse series (10 page)

             
Max merely stood, frozen where he was.  He still didn’t betray any emotion, but Nameh was now sure that she had hit her mark.  “Let me guess,” she continued, “she’s beautiful and high class, but she’s doted on.  Daddy gives her everything she wants, and that’s what she expects of you.”  She began to stroll back and forth, fully enjoying the creation of her fantastic woman.  “She’s stiff and self-centered, and a nag.  She doesn’t understand your jokes, and would rather be taken prisoner and wait for you to save her than even think about fighting her own battle.  That’s when you gained the fascinating tendency of cutting out when things stop going your way, like now.  It’s better just to run, and trap yourself under the heat of battle than to try and fight yourself anymore.”  She paused now, meeting his gaze, and sharing a breath of understanding.  They weren’t so different.  “So you ran for good,” she said simply.  “You ran the only way a self-respecting upper class boy like yourself could.  You joined the Guardians; there, you wouldn’t disgrace your family, but you had a reason for putting off the wedding.  Have you told them that you’re not coming home?” she asked dangerously, raising an eyebrow.  There was a silence; she could hear nothing but distant traffic and the whispering of the wind.

             
“What do you think?  Have you?” he asked, now unexpectedly returning her challenging stare.  She gave him a surprised and approving look with a small nod of her head.

             
“Touché, I’m impressed.” She said simply. 

             
“You’ve run away too, but for a different reason.”

             
“Enlighten me,” she said dryly.

             
“My current theory is as follows:  your parents held impossibly high standards, though I don’t think you’re of extremely high class birth.”  He didn’t pause to see if this offended her, he didn’t need to.  “There wasn’t any way for you to make a name for yourself without marrying, and that wasn’t a bullet you were willing to take.  You can’t bear the thought of opening up to someone because you’ve buried your pain so many times you can barely tell where it ends and yourself begins.  I’d bet you think that you’re doing the world a favor, too, to keep your twisted soul inside.  I might even go so far as to say that you’ve sworn off love.”  He wore on his face the same pride that she had a moment ago.  Jokingly, he added “Or is there some strapping young man waiting patiently for you to return from monster slaying back home?”

             
She absorbed his words for a moment, measuring them against her own.  She had never heard such a raw analysis of herself, and had never felt someone relate to the turmoil burning inside her.  “Well,” she began carefully, “it’s not exactly that I’ve sworn off love, but it’s not really my thing; making relationships work and all, being tied down.”  She said these words in a playful tone in an attempt to lighten the mood, but they were true.  “So it seems we do have each other figured out… to a certain extent.”  Despite her nonchalant demeanor, she was relatively surprised at how much Max was able to infer about her.  It had always been a talent of hers to gather small amounts of information and make drastic assumptions which generally proved to be true; in fact, character judging was something she took a great deal of pride in, and finding someone who matched her blow for blow was intriguing.

             
In the same breath, they both laughed, shaking off the serious moment that had just taken place.  With the laugh, the fragile shell they had built around the two of them shattered like glass.  Not another word would be spoken about carefully guarded pain, about false fronts covering endless sorrow and angst.  Each now had a distant soul close at hand, silently mourning for the other, when no tears would be shed.  Their moment apart from time was over, and they resumed their masks like two people who met at a masquerade, and for just a moment, had shown their true faces.

             
Up ahead, there came the most horrifying screech of anger that Nameh had ever heard.  The sound pierced the night air and cut through the long distance between the pair and whatever monstrosity had begun its fearsome song.  She turned her dark eyes toward Max, but only found a knowing grin that ignited a thirst for battle stronger than she had felt in a long while.  She did not know where they were headed, but she was ready for a war.

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To be released early 2013:

The Frozen Moon, Book two of The Living Curse series

Flames
Among Ashes, Book three of The Living Curse series

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About the Author

J.D Swinn
is a young author who specializes in fantasy and science fiction.  In her free time, she loves to read both of these genres, as well as write short and long fiction.  With loving and supportive friends and family who encourage her every step of the way, she hopes to continue writing for as long as possible.  She hopes to inspire fantastically flawed worlds and characters who follow her readers even after the pages close, just as they do for her.