Reckoning Read Online Free Page B

him. I could almost hear the words he’d say. It wouldn’t matter the exact words because they would all traffic-jam onto a single road. The I-don’t-want-you-anymore one. The one with the barest, ugliest scenery, the dystopian landscape that devoured smiles, laughter, and hope.
    I’d been desperately working on a way to save us all. Because he wanted peace among our people, King Faulk had cast a curse on the bloodline of any Supernatural who took the throne through bloodshed. The only way to end the curse was for that bloodline to die out. Riley and Ide were the last connection to the curse. They both had to die or we all would. While I didn’t care about my death and would gladly hand over my life to save Riley and everyone else, it wasn’t that simple.
    You don’t get to put your blinker on and exit the freeway called Your Life when it’s all planned out for you. Otherwise, I would have done it the moment I knew how my life would crash into Riley’s. When the wreck happened and the smoke from my actions cleared, I hoped desperately to be a hero and not a harbinger of death. It would be easier if I could tell Riley the stops on the tour destiny prearranged for me. Not for the first time, I cursed the Untolds. I wished I could change the truth. Turn it into what I wanted it to be instead of what it actually was. But truth is an absolute. Valid regardless of the parameters we try to force it to fit into.
    Riley returned with Stone and I pasted on a smile, pretending I was okay. I’d gotten good at almost convincing myself of that.
    I walked over to Stone and let him fold me into his arms. Kissing the side of my ear, he whispered, “I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”
    “You’re hurting. I understand.” When I held on longer than usual, he drew back to study my face. “That’s not a happy expression. What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing.” I couldn’t share my destiny with Stone, either. I’d seen what happened to Supernaturals who tried to thwart the Untolds. I shuddered and glanced at Riley.
    Stone followed the direction of my gaze and clicked his tongue. “Trouble between Romeo and Juliet?”
    “Don’t call us that.” Irritated, I moved away from him. We weren’t those fictional characters. Unless I missed the part where Juliet had an ugly secret that would cost Romeo his life.
    “That is his middle name and your first name. You have to admit it has ominous foreshadowing.”
    “Like what?”
    He shrugged, eyes wide, taken aback by my vehemence. “Like a tragedy waiting to unfold.” He grinned, the light of teasing in his eyes, but his smile faltered when I shot him a dark look.
    I whipped my head around to see if Riley had overhead. By the expression on his face, he had. I moved to sit on the end of the rock beside him, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Stop worrying,” he said, misunderstanding my silence. “I’ll find a way to get us out of here.” He tapped the end of my nose. “I promise. I’ll be your hero or die trying.”
    I bit down hard on the inside of my lip to keep from crying out his name. To keep from spilling what I was forbidden to speak. If I did, the curse placed by the Untolds would kill me. My death would bring on the end of human and Supernatural life. Bowing my head, I twisted my hands together and tried to take a calming breath.
    Riley gave me a gentle shoulder bump. “Is there something you need to talk about?”
    Yes! I desperately want to talk to you, but I can’t. “ No,” I could barely force the word through the tightness in my throat.
    Not satisfied with my answer, he took me by the shoulders to angle my body toward his. “I know you and I know something’s wrong.”
    “I want to get out of here and find Maisy. That’s all,” I lied, faking the best it’s-all-good smile that I could muster. I had to fight the urge to pull at my hair, to scream, to raise my fist upward and demand that fate give me another deal. In the depths of his eyes, a