“You agreed because you don’t think Icankill her.”
“For feck’s sake.Ican’t even kill the wench. Planning a murder isn’t as easy as all that. Not if you want to get away with it. Some people are stronger, so you have to choose your moment. And you can’t do it impulsively if it’ll lead to your capture. It can take years, especially when it’s someone in power.”
I sighed and rolled the necklace around in my palm. “I promise I won’t go after her. But if she accidentally slips into a bottomless hole in my presence, I’m not taking responsibility. You need to renegotiate.”
He gave me a crooked grin. “And why’s that?”
“Because she just guaranteed her death means your death. If someone else kills her and hides the body, am I supposed to worry that she’s gonna send someone after you? That’s hardly fair.”
“I see your point. I’ll let her know we won’t agree to the disappearance part.”
“You can tweak a favor?”
He draped himself over my lap, his fist propping up his head. “It’s part of the game.”
I ran my fingers through his tousled hair. “I think Viktor was starting to realize that his feelings for Lenore weren’t all that genuine. I feel shitty we had to manipulate his memories, but if she promises to stay away from him, I can live with it. But if this doesn’t work—if I can’t break the curse—then it was all for nothing.”
“No, not for nothing.” He held my other hand, pressing the necklace into my palm. “This will always be yours, Precious. Always. I’m yours, whether you break the curse or not. Should demons drag me to hell, I’ll claw my way back to find you.”
I continued stroking his hair. “That would be creepy as hell if you wrote it on a mirror in blood.”
“Now why would you go and say a thing like that?”
“Maybe we should put your sweet pillow talk on a greeting card.”
He tickled my sides and dragged me down to his level. I laughed and attempted to wiggle free as he playfully pretended to bite my neck.
“Stop it before I pee myself,” I pleaded.
“I’d like to see that given you haven’t gone to the toilet in days.”
I stilled and looked up at his handsome face. “The only perk.” Warm firelight softened his features, and I touched his beard. “Can we just stay like this forever?”
“Right after you save a hundred or so people from the dead.”
I groaned when he hauled me out of bed.
While Christian held me in his arms, he admired our reflection in the standing mirror in the corner. When I jokingly grabbed his ass, he hoisted me over his shoulder.
“Is this how you’re going to carry me over the threshold?” I quipped, staring down at the floor. “Like a love slave?”
He abruptly set me on my feet and canted his head to one side. “Is that a yes?”
“Is what a yes?”
“The banner.”
I recalled our mission to save Hunter when the plane flew by with a banner that said:Marry Me, Precious. “That was real funny. Wyatt’s idea?”
When I turned toward the door, he seized my arm and held me in his grasp. “I told Wyatt to write that for a reason.”
My heart skipped a beat, but then I remembered who I was talking to. “You’re not serious.”
He stepped closer, cupping his hand around my nape. “I’m dead serious. Though, to be fair, you’re the one who’s dead.”
A lump formed in my throat, and I got butterflies when he looked at me earnestly. My feelings for Christian were indescribable, but this seemed so conventional and not at all what we had agreed upon. “Since when are you cliché? You said you didn’t want to get married.”
“I’m not a man who bends the knee, and I’m not a man who gives a ring. But my heart belongs to no other. Dead or alive, you’re the only woman I desire. I spent a decade in a pine box staring into darkness, and I’ve carried that darkness with me ever since. The first time I saw you, it was as if someone struck a match and lit a fire in my soul. I’m a wicked man, Raven. I’ve done wicked things. You know everything about me, and yet here you are.” He tenderly stroked my cheek with his thumb. “If you think I’m not enough, then say no. If you’d rather be alone in life, say no. But if you can love a man like me for more than a short time, say yes. We don’t need a ceremony. We can exchange vows right here and now.”
