"Yes, I'm fine. It's nothing," he said, calming himself, clearly feeling the presence of that cursed marking pressing against the edges of his mind like a cold, jagged shard of ice.
It still sealed away a particularly cruel portion of his mental trauma—hadn't even let him recall his mother's name, let alone the event that occurred that day. He could feel the phantom weight of it, a heavy shackle on his subconscious that throbbed with every heartbeat.
He knew exactly how to cure it. He simply lacked the power to act on it—his maternal family was the source, and lifting the curse would send them a signal. Make him their target.
So. Removal was out.
Refusing to be driven by emotion, he focused. Logical. Forward.
'Then why didn't you reveal yourself until now? Were you waiting for me to acquire something powerful enough to be worth bonding with?'
