Thought i would be done but...yeah didn't happen. Part one here.
Living with Max is easy.
He doesn't whine when Daniel is taking care of his leg, he doesn't mind sleeping on some blankets on the floor, next to the fireplace, he offers to help around, and best of all he doesn't ask questions.
Well, not exactly. He asks so many questions. Once he gets over his initial bout of shyness and quiet, he asks questions about Daniel's vegetables, about his horse, about the woods, about the traps, about the animals. He offers his own opinions too, telling Daniel he's growing peas in too much shade and that he's cooking his meat for too long. And, much to Daniel's annoyance, he is often right too.
But he doesn't ask questions about Daniel. He doesn't know if it is because Max doesn't care or because he doesn't want to be asked questions back, but he appreciates being spared the trouble of telling him to mind his own business.
They also work surprisingly well together. Max is older than he initially seemed, dirt, hunger and exhaustion making him look younger, and he seems to know a little bit of everything. Even if he doesn't ask, Daniel is a little curious about what path in life brought him to have such a wide mix of knowledge. He seems to know how to move around the woods without scaring the prey, how to skin and cook animals, how to take care of the vegetables (better than Daniel), how to keep himself and the house clean.
It's nice to have a second pair of hands around, even if the pair of hands should sit down more often to let their leg heal. Not that Max ever listened to that.
And he's funny. Daniel hadn't realised how much he missed just sitting around the table after dinner, talking and laughing with someone else. How good it was to wake up and find the fire already stoked and the water pitch already filled. To have someone to say good morning to who would say it back.
Daniel hadn't been thinking of himself as lonely before, he was content with his choice of life, but he can admit that he likes this. He is glad Max decided to stay and he's glad Max seems to be having a good time too, at least from what Daniel could tell.
This is why, when about three weeks after Max's arrival he wakes up in the middle of the night to the sounds of him moving around the house, his first thought isn't Max is leaving, but something is wrong.
"Are you okay?" he asks, voice scratchy with sleep and way too loud in the quiet of the night.
He watches Max flinch, dropping something, before turning around to face Daniel.
"Go back to sleep," he whispers, too shaky to be a good order. There's something different in his voice, and it only takes Daniel's tired brain a few moments to realise that he had heard those notes before, in the woods about three weeks ago. Fear.
Daniel sits up, eyes finally adjusting to the silver darkness of the room, moonlight streaming through the open windows.
"What's wrong?" he asks again, voice lower, matching Max's whisper.
He listens to the sounds coming from outside, thinking that maybe the men Max was running from have come back, but he can't hear anything unusual in the late summer night.
Max is grabbing what he dropped on the floor, stuffing it into a bag that he must have taken from Daniel's things, but the moment, Daniel doesn't even care about the fact that he's very obviously stealing from him.
"Max, what is happening?" He's getting frustrated now, hates not knowing what is going on, worry and irritation growing together.
He stands up, taking a couple of steps towards Max, wanting to see him better, but he stops when Max flinches back.
"I need to leave," he finally says, voice raspy. It's not an explanation, and Daniel suddenly regrets never asking any questions.
"Why? Where?"
He doesn't want Max to leave. The knowledge of that settles like armor on his chest, safe but heavy. Living with Max isn't just easy, it's good. He doesn't want to go back to an empty house, not after the past weeks have been so nice.
"I...I need..." Max shudders, as if in pain, and Daniel's legs ache with the need of walking closer.
"Did something happen?" Did I do something wrong?
Max shakes his head, jerky and sharp. When he exhales, Daniel can hear him bite back a whine.
He doesn't want to scare Max, but he is confused, and he is worried, and he is not going to let him go without an explanation.
He steps between Max and the door.
"You owe me an explanation," he says, hating the way it makes Max stiffen, unwilling to take it back anyway.
"I don't owe you..." Max snaps, before interrupting himself with half a growl. "You haven't told me anything either!"
"That's different. I'm not running away in the middle of the night."
Max takes a step forward, back tense, and Daniel instinctively braces himself, eyes flying towards the table, where his knife always is, but Max doesn't attack him.
He shivers again, hands clenching around the bag and then letting it fall on the ground with a thump, shoulders slumping as all the fight seems to leave him.
"Please, Daniel, I need to leave. It's...it's not safe."
Max looks up, finally meeting Daniel's eyes, and he's suddenly reminded of what the man had said, so many days ago.
He's dangerous. Cursed.
Max's eyes look weird, blue brighter than ever, almost glowing in the moonlight. His face is twisted in pain and there's the glimmer of sweat gathering at his hairline. None of that would worry Daniel, but there's something...different in him. Something other.
Cursed.
The room seems too bright now. The moon is almost full tonight.
Cursed.
Max had said he hadn't killed anyone, but if this is what Daniel is thinking of...
Max closes his eyes, whole body shivering again, his edges almost blurring with it. Or maybe it's not just a trick of the light. Daniel doesn't know what to think anymore.
He doesn't want Max to go. He doesn't want this to happen.
He steps away from the door.
For a moment, they both stand still, looking at each other.
For a moment, Daniel hopes he'll wake up and it will be morning, and Max will be coming in with the last tomatoes from the garden.
Then Max whines, something low and pained, something animal, and bolts.
Daniel doesn't stop him.
He watches as his shadow changes even before he's fully reached the trees.
Then he sits on the doorstep and waits for the sunrise.
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Quotes from Kieran that straight-up sound like Shakespearean love poetry: a comprehensive list
‘None may touch me. None but you.’
‘What is left of my heart belongs to you. When you leave, it will shatter anew.’
‘Tell me I did not hurt you.’
‘How am I expected to pass another century without the taste of you on my tongue?’
‘After so many decades spent hating each sunset, knowing nightfall would take my freedom from me... I began to yearn for the moonrise instead of cursing it. Because dreams of you might be waiting on the other side.’
‘I would rather be cursed to roam the wilds as a beast every night than live endless lifetimes without you.’
‘Wherever it is that souls may go, you will find mine waiting for you at the end of all things.’
‘You shall pay dearly for every spilled drop of her blood.’
‘I was not lying. Were you?’
‘Just this once, beloved... I wish you could not lie.’
‘You hold all of my heart, beloved. Now, and always.’
‘I would make and unmake the world for you, beloved.’
‘Believe me when I say I want every part of you. Every version. Now and future.’
‘Look, beloved. Your skin is a canvas covered in stars.’
‘If I were you, I would begin by thanking her and throw yourself on her continued mercy. Because you’ll get none from me.’
‘What would be the point of immortality without you?’
‘No magic. Like an everyday mortal.’
‘Insult her again, and I will carve my refusal into your flesh, so that you may never forget it.’
‘I don’t care what your title is. Every breath, every beat of my heart belongs to you. You are mine for life.’
‘Thank you… for sharing the sky with me.’
‘If you lay a single hand on her, there will be nothing left of this place but a hole in the ground.’
‘Let us live in this moment long enough that I may love you the way you deserve.’
‘I will let nothing separate us… I shall always find you. Your heart calls to mine in a language beyond words.’
‘For you I would set worlds aflame, tear the sun and moon from the sky. I did not live before I met you.’
‘Perhaps you are the most courageous of all, for choosing to live among us. A mortal among gods.’
‘Welcome home, beloved.’
‘You helped me find peace in my grief. I will always help you find peace in yours.’
‘You sacrifice too much for me, beloved.’
‘I cannot give you my heart. It already belongs to someone else.’
‘There will always be tasks vying for our attention. But you are more important to me than any of them.’
‘I like being in here. I always want you to have the freedom of a place to call your own… and it means everything, that you welcome me in.’
(And finally, BONUS: Quotes from *other* characters in The Cursed Heart that straight-up sound like Shakespearean poetry, because the writers of this book just do. not. rest.)
‘I know you. I’m not afraid.’
‘I love him so terribly, it hurts.’
‘You are so much stronger than you know. And a love as strong as this is worth fighting for.’
‘Even if you kill me, I’m glad I met you. Because you deserve to be happy. You deserve to be loved. And I will love you until my very last breath.’
‘The world is rarely gentle to those who are so kind. It is you who must be the strongest of all.’
‘What do you want with that cursed thing?’ / ‘To cut the Sun and the Moon from the sky.’
‘Anything here that wishes to eat me had best prepare to choke.’
‘I know you. And I love you. Both your darkness and your light.’
‘You are everything I want. Just you. Just like this.’
‘If love could forestall death, we would all be immortal.’
‘All stories end. Even ours. That’s what makes them beautiful.’
‘I don’t care where I sleep, so long as it’s beside you.’
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