Eternal Promise: (The Cursed Series, Book 5)

whatever you’re feeling now is real. Isach isn’t messing with you.”
“How do you know that?”
“He gave me his word, and I trust him,” I said, my voice steady and unflinching. “Look, when Isach first rescued me from Ivy’s, I was afraid of him, and I absolutely did not trust him. At all. But he’s kept my existence a secret from his coven. He has no reason to do that unless he’s telling the truth about wanting to change.”
Abby hugged herself and shivered.
“I’m not going to tell you what to do. If you decide you don’t want to be with Isach, then I’ll support you. If you want to forget everything you’ve learned the past few weeks, then I’ll ask Trent to wipe your memories again, and you can have a clean slate,” I said.
A gust of wind whipped through the trees, shaking the branches and causing clumps of snow to fall to the ground. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms. I’d give anything to go back inside where it was warm, but this was a conversation we needed to have privately.
“Back then, did Isach… did he ever hurt you?” I asked, my teeth now chattering.
“No,” Abby whispered. “Just the opposite, actually. He was so amazing. Always making me laugh, treating me like I was the most important thing in the world to him. The guy he was with me was not the same guy who could manipulate Hannah and try to kill you, and that’s why this hurts so much. I don’t know who he really is.”
I pulled the sleeves of my sweater down over my hands and crossed my arms tightly over my chest. “Then maybe it’s time to get to know the real Isach. No more lies and secrets. You know everything now.”
“The day you went missing, I called him,” she said, pacing in front of me. Either from agitation or to stay warm I wasn’t sure. “He didn’t answer any of my calls or texts. Now I know why, but back then, all I wanted was to talk to him. I was in town hanging up missing person posters when I saw him.”
I shifted on my feet, attempting to get some blood flowing in an effort to warm up.
“I was so relieved to see him. He kissed me, told me he was sorry I was hurting.” Abby stopped pacing and stared at me. “Then he said he would do whatever he could to make things better because he couldn’t stand to see me so upset. Hours later, you were found.”
Tears pooled in my eyes and slipped down my cheeks. I remembered the day I was found. “Isach was keeping me hidden with his magic. He dropped it, then told Trent and Jax where to find me.”
After he’d instructed Hannah to kill me, but I left that part out. No reason to make an already tense situation any worse. Though, now I was curious—why would Isach tell Hannah to kill me and then lead Trent and Jax to me? Surely, Isach had to know Hannah would kill me before Trent ever showed up.
Had he secretly hoped that would be the outcome? So he could then say he’d tried, that it wasn’t his fault that Trent and Jax didn’t get to me in time? That didn’t make much sense, because Isach wasn’t stupid—if he’d let Hannah kill me, Trent and Jax would have killed him. He must have alerted them to where I was before he instructed Hannah to kill me.
I shook the thoughts from my head. None of that mattered anymore. “Don’t you see?” I said, stepping up to her. “He did that because of you, Abby. Because he saw how much you were hurting, and he didn’t want to do that to you.”
“Then he never should’ve taken you in the first place,” she said.
“You’re absolutely right, but he did, and we can’t undo the past. But people can change, and I honestly believe Isach has,” I said. A shiver wracked my body. “Okay, I’m sorry, but I can’t stand out here a second longer. I’m freezing.”
I turned to head back inside, and thankfully, Abby fell into step beside me. She didn’t say anything else, and while I was curious as to what she’d decide to do, I wasn’t going to push her.
We climbed the porch, and Abby grabbed my arm, stopping me. Then she flung her arms around me in a suffocating hug. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve had to go through,” she mumbled.
“Thanks, but you know none of it is your fault, right?”
She nodded but still didn’t release me. “I’m just going to need some time,” she said.
“Of course.” I pulled away from her hug. “And I’m sure Isach will understand that.”
Abby wiped her eyes, opened the door, and walked inside. I followed her in and was blasted with warm air. Trent must have turned up the heat.
When Isach saw us, he stood. His eyes were red and puffy. Had he been crying? “Abby, I’m so sorry,” he said.
She held up her hand to silence him, and he snapped his mouth shut. If the situation wasn’t so severe, I would’ve laughed. I never thought I’d see the day a human girl could bring the all-powerful Isach Zoya to his knees, but I fully expected him to do just that any second.
“It’s your choice,” I said to Abby.
“I want to talk to Isach,” she said, glancing at me. “Alone.”
“We’ll give you two some privacy,” Trent said, taking my hand and leading me upstairs.

CHAPTER EIGHT:
Right or Wrong
I STEPPED INSIDE THE BEDROOM TRENT and I had shared over the summer, and I was hit with a tidal wave of memories. I blinked, trying to force them away, but they only flashed harder and faster before my eyes. I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly.
“Everything okay?” Trent asked. He stood next to me, hands shoved into his pockets.
I nodded. “Yeah, just… a lot happened in this room,” I said with a nervous laugh.
Trent smiled