Page 85 of Divine Oaths

Kasem laughed. “Like everyone else. But it’s not like they can help it. The curse’s power is all-encompassing. Even with the disinheritance ritual—”

“A ritual I wouldn’t have done if I’d had a choice in the matter,” Jojo said, interrupting.

“Well, you already made your choice, didn’t you? You’ve been gone these last five years. You got out. So why come back? Why take the job? Why accept the Board’s offer?” On the other side of the line, Kasem’s voice hardened. “Just don’t come back, brother. I can handle the curse. And I already have a medium in mind for it—”

“Don’t involve others in this. Let alone Sianna. Don’t you dare.”

The vision jumped in time, to a hazy view of Pete and Jay cornering Jojo at his car, demanding he help them remove the marks that the curse had wrought on them. All of it played in my mind until I yanked myself out of the vision and my view of the present returned.

“You see now,” Jojo said.

Guilt tore at me.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “You were right. It was all Pete and Jay.”

But there had been a third figure, the one who had stabbed Kasem. And then there was the other fact, that I’d seen Pete’s and Jay’s futures and their untimely deaths. One, drowning. The other, burned alive.

“Do you understand why I didn’t want you to come to Westfield?” Jojo said. “Not only is it dangerous, but so is Kasem. He’s reckless, careless with his own life, and he’ll be careless with yours.”

“He’s not who you think he is,” I found myself saying. “Kasem is…” My heart stirred at the thought of him. “I would have come to Westfield anyway. But now that we’re all in this, you both don’t have to do this on your own.”

Jojo stood, not meeting my gaze.

“Kasem and I will never see eye to eye on this,” he said. “But he was right about one thing. We Saint Jameses, we’re not to be trusted. You’ve learned that about me. And you’ll learn eventually that Kasem’s no different. That’s why I renounced my claim to the inheritance a long time ago. And now, the curse is his to bear.”

Jojo stood at the curtain, his back facing me. “Just ask yourself this, Sianna—and you’re too smart not to know the answer—but… why you? Even with me out of the picture, Theta and Sigma are here. And so are Vivian and Angelica. So why would he go to you to help him break the curse? Why you, if not to punish me?”

“Arrogance doesn’t suit you, Jojo.”

“Neither does ignorance,” he said. “But you wear it well, Sianna. It’s why neither my brother nor I can bear to lift that veil from you.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

What’s past and what’s to come

“WERE YOU LISTENING TO ALL that?”

Angelica sat at my bedside, using a golden spoon to stir a cup of tea she’d made while Kasem and Jojo had visited.

“I’ve never had two men in love with me before,” she mused, answering my question even as she ignored it. “Not at the same time, at least, and not two brothers.”

“They’re not in love with me.” I don’t know if the denial was for her or for myself. But Kasem and Jojo already hated each other. I didn’t want to cause any more animosity between the two Saint James brothers, especially when a part of me was at war with the feelings both men stirred within me.

But Jojo’s words made me doubt Kasem. It was like, with every inch I gained with one of them, I lost ground with the other.

“But are you in love with them?” Angelica pressed.

I couldn’t meet her gaze. So instead, I changed the subject.

“What did Jojo mean when he said Kasem could have asked you and Vivian for help breaking the curse?”

“Jojo seems to think our society, the Ԑnhye, exists to help the Saint James family with their problems. But his younger brother is aware that our sisterhood’s oath binds us to one another, not to them.”

She handed me the cup, then poured another for herself and began to drink.

“Have you ever wondered if your migraines were a symptom of your abilities, or a manifestation of them?” she said, as if that simple question answered everything. “For example, when we exercise, our muscles throb. When we stretch, our joints strain. But being in deep thought doesn’t normally manifest into a migraine. Migraines are battle cries in the nerves that something is not quite as it should be. Why do you think this is?”

“You’re the doctor, not me,” I answered.