With relief he recognized Drake’s number and answered the call. “Doc, what’s up?”
“I have an answer to your question.” The shrink’s voice was quiet.
Amaury’s chest tightened. Finally, an answer as to how he could beat the curse. “Tell me.”
“Not over the phone. I don’t want to be overheard. Meet me on the steps of Grace Cathedral in fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll be there.” The answer had better be good.
Amaury hailed a cab to take him up the hill. His hands felt clammy as anxiety spread in his body. Had the witch come up with some kind of brew he’d have to take, and that’s why Drake wanted to see him in person? Why did fifteen minutes suddenly feel like an eternity?
Would this be the night on which his ordeal ended? Hope rose in his chest. To always feel the kind of peace he only felt in those brief moments after sex—could it truly be within reach?
Amaury paid the driver and sauntered out of the taxi as it came to a stop outside the cathedral. The imposing building threw dark shadows over its neighbors, but he found the darkness comforting rather than intimidating. After more than four hundred years of living in the dark, it had become a trusted companion.
He was not alone. Without a doubt he could sense Drake standing off in the shadows.
“I like coming here. It’s a peaceful place.”
Amaury nodded and turned to him. “Yes, I know what you mean.”
Drake’s lanky figure separated from the wall behind him and approached. “Sorry I made you meet me here and not at my office. But I can’t be overheard talking to you about a witch, otherwise—”
Amaury grunted his understanding. “Let’s walk.”
Their footsteps echoed off the buildings as they fell in step.
“What have you got for me, Drake?”
There was a hesitation, a tensing in the doctor’s body. So the news was bad. He should have guessed. No wonder Drake wanted to talk to him in person.
“Go ahead, doc, give me the bad news already.”
“It’s not all bad, Amaury. It just doesn’t make a hell lot of sense at first.”
“Nothing really makes sense anyway.”
“Well, then you’ll appreciate this tidbit. The witch I spoke to, and believe me when I say that she’s entirely trustworthy and as knowledgeable as they come—she looked into your dilemma and did some research. She found a way of how you can reverse the curse. When she told me I immediately questioned her about it, but she insisted it was the only way. She was quite cryptic about it too.”
Amaury stopped and turned to the doctor. “Don’t beat about the bush.”
“Fine. I just wanted you to be prepared for it. There is a solution hidden in it.” The man was stalling, and Amaury felt the tight cords of his patience snap.
“Doc!”
“Okay. She said that if you fall in love the curse will be reversed and if the object of your love—”
“That’s ludicrous, and you know it.”
This wasn’t a solution to his problem. It couldn’t be, because he was incapable of love. It was part of his curse never to feel love in his own heart again. So how on earth could he ever fall in love?
“Listen, that’s not all of it, there are more pieces to it.”
“You can stop right here. I can’t even fulfill the first condition.”
“Wait, Amaury. I know there’s a solution hidden in here somewhere. Please listen. That witch said, the object of your affection, her love will be unknown.”
“Unknown? What the hell is that supposed to mean? What exactly did she say?”
“ ‘He must fall in love with a forgiving heart,’ ” Drake recited, “ ‘his control ineffective, her love unknown.’ ”
Amaury let the words sink in, but they didn’t resonate. There was no solution in them.
“Drake, I think you wasted your favor.”
Drake shook his head. “No, there’s something there. I just haven’t figured it out. Yes, there are two parts to your curse. One, that you sense everybody else’s emotions, and two, that you can’t feel love.”
“Have you ever heard of a circular reference? It’s a mathematical problem. That’s what this is. I can’t solve the problem, when solving one part depends on using the other unknown part.”
The doctor gave him a confused look. Mathematics were obviously not his strength. “Huh?”
“Forget it, Drake. The woman has no idea what she’s talking about.”