For the first time, Christian couldn’t hear my heart beating erratically against my chest like a snare drum. But he must have felt it. I wasn’t the marrying kind. Neither of us wanted children, and yet as I gazed into his rapturous eyes, my heart saidyes. I knew it in my bones that there was no other who could understand me like Christian—no other who would move the heavens for me. We were partners, and neither of us held each other back when it came to our ambitions and potential.
Still, I had reservations. “Why marriage? Isn’t what we have enough?”
“I’m not asking you to sign a document or change your name. I don’t require a witness or a priest even though that would make my poor mother roll over in her grave. I just… I just want to know that you feel the same about me as I do you. I’ve made mistakes, and I can’t promise there won’t be more. But I want something between us that’s more than just a dalliance. I want to imagine a future together. I want to exchange vows and know that it’s not just me feeling this way. I’ve been led on more than once, and maybe this is what I need to assure me that it’s not a one-sided relationship. I just want proof that you’d rather marry me than bury me.” He shrugged. “You wanted honesty, so there it is.”
I threw my arms around his neck and stood on my tiptoes to face him. “I don’t go around saying how much I love you all the time because people don’t always mean it. My father taught me that actions speak louder than words, and you’ve proven your devotion to me so many times. You got a big fucking tattoo on your body for me. I just wish that there was something I could have done—something big to show how much of my heart you own. I’m not like Lenore. I’d never string you along and play with your emotions. This is real. What I feel for you is real, but I’ve given you reason to doubt. Maybe that’s why you had to write what you did on the banner.”
He nestled his face in my hair. “The banner was a weak gesture.”
I leaned back. “It just wasn’t you. That’s why I didn’t take it seriously.”
His lips touched mine. “Tell me a better way to ask. Set a challenge.”
I kissed him and fell back on my heels. “Ask my father for my hand. When he says yes, I’ll say yes.”
Christian gave me a thorny look.
“You asked for a challenge.”
“Aye. A challenge that’s not impossible. You might as well be asking me to turn water into wine.”
“If I gave you an easy challenge, would it mean as much?”
“Something tells me I’m going to regret this.”
I chuckled softly. “And to think when we first met, I almost cut off your balls. Anyhow, you know how much Crush means to me. He doesn’t have the final say over the decisions I make in life, but it wouldn’t be right to make anything official without his approval. That would mean more to me than anything else.”
“And if he suddenly keels over from cardiac arrest? Is the challenge null and void?”
“Yes. But if I don’t see you putting in the effort, I’ll feel a certain way about it. And no charming him. I’ll know if you do anything sneaky.”
Christian stepped back and made a sweeping bow. “Anything for my Precious.”
“Maybe we can go downstairs sometime and steal Viktor’s crown. Do a little role-playing.”
He winked and led me to the door. “I’ll hold you to that.”
“I’m counting on it.”
* * *
There wasno time to rest. Sparrow’s power would only remain inside me for a short while longer. Viktor ordered everyone to remain inside while I experimented with my first piece of jewelry out back. Viktor set lanterns along the table where Gem had neatly laid out all the pieces after sorting through everything and tagging each item with the owner’s name. After Christian returned with Lenore’s guest list, Wyatt and Shepherd called everyone to find out which items were theirs and to instruct them to come over immediately and remain in their cars out front. Claude and Niko lined up the traffic on the road outside the gate and agreed to be the runners. Blue guarded the gate to be sure no one exited their vehicles, especially if this didn’t work and we wound up with an angry mob. Aside from that, we were still burning bodies in the distance, and the grounds were covered in blood.
I stood outside alone, staring at a table of souls. “Don’t overthink it.”
As I ran my hand over the jewelry, my energy buzzed. No, not my energy. Sparrow’s energy was reacting to its own light. Each piece I touched, I felt something familiar and something different. After a few minutes, I could identify Sparrow’s energy apart from the others. His encapsulated theirs, but I could still differentiate the layers.
I picked up a bracelet that belonged to one of our captives. I remembered Sparrow waving his hand over the trays of jewelry like a magician. I hadn’t thought anything about it then, but that must have been when he sealed their energy to the stones.
I peered over my shoulder at the faces in the windows. Viktor and Christian watched from inside, just in case I blew myself up. I didn’t see Gem or Wyatt, so I figured Viktor had assigned them to guard the workout room.
“External shell,” I grumbled. “I suck at cracking eggs.” I waved my hand over the bracelet and gingerly released a minute amount of energy. A terrifying blue light pulsed between my hands, burning my skin. Something was very wrong. The bracelet crackled, and I realized that I was strengthening the shell even more. But worse, the power weakened the energy beneath it as if snuffing it out like a fire. Panicked, I immediately flipped the channel in reverse.
The blue turned a golden shade of amber. I’d thought I had to push out Sparrow’s light in order to crack the shell, but it only responded when I meticulously pulled it apart. Sparrow’s light shattered into particles at my fingertips and returned to my body like a river flowing into an ocean. Mage light had flavors, and when I tasted a sampling of light that was different, I immediately closed the channel.
Claude sprinted over from the side of the house.
I handed him the bracelet. “Take this downstairs.” I looked at the sheet of paper on the table to compare with the tag to make sure there weren’t more pieces in this woman’s collection. “It belongs to Miss Cain. Ask her if she feels anything when she puts it on. Be sure she doesn’t remove it. They have to keep it on for a full day. Give her the instructions.”
