255
“Don’t die. I’m not done with you.”
Now, there was incentive.
Her tongue darted out. She tried to wet her lips, but
there was no moisture.
This was not supposed to happen.
She wasn’t supposed to be here on the forest floor,
bleeding, dying.
In her dreams, her nightmares, Dagan took her
heart. But it never ended like this. This was different.
For some warped reason, it bothered her that someone
other than him had gone rooting around in her chest.
In her dreams, it was always Dagan.
Why the hell had the other reaper turned on her?
Memory coalesced. Her mark. He’d seen her mark.
No, that wasn’t right. He’dlooked forher mark, like
he’d expected to find it.
Well, he’d found it. He’d seen her as the enemy, and
he’d acted.
A second of hard-edged clarity touched her
thoughts. If Aset’s Daughters were such an enemy, one
to be killed on sight, why hadn’t Dagan done the same?
He knew exactly what she was. Had known all
along. Why had he let her live eleven years ago? And
why was he now trying to stanch the flow of her blood
and save her life?
Questions that begged for answers. She tried to lift
her hand, to motion him closer, but managed only to
twitch her fingers. It was enough. He saw it and leaned
in, his pupils dilated, leaving his gray eyes dark and