“Let go of me,” I argued.
“No.”
“I saidlet go.” My voice cracked.
“And I saidno.”
“Dammit, Jessiah!” I attempted once more to break free, to thrash out of his solid arms, but it was no use. He only held me tighter. Steadfast. Unwavering.
“I can’t do this.” My words rushed out in a harsh whisper. “I can’t—I can’t—I don’t know what’s happening to me.”
Jessiah shifted on the bed, twisting until he was above me, staring down with his white wings blocking my eyesight of anything but him.
“We’re at an inn just outside Pericius. Your injuries were severe, but a healer came for you. She said you’ll be physically fine.”
He spoke, but all I could think about was the weight of his body pressing against me, and his knee shoved between both of my thighs, pinning me in place.
Until…
“Wait, she healed me?” The agonizing wound in my torso was now nothing but a dull throb, even with Jessiah’s belt pressing into my skin.
His ashy brows drew together, but his gaze softened just a few seconds later, any sign of what he was thinking long gone. “She said you would be physically fine.”
Seconds passed. My heart still raced from the all-too-vivid memories. Or maybe it was from the way Jessiah’s chest touched mine with every deep breath…
“Wait… Why do you keep sayingphysicallyfine? Did the healer say something else?”
He swallowed audibly, his eyes darting to one side…
“I’m going to ask you a question, Rummy, and I want you to tell me the truth.”
My senses ignited, but I forced myself to remain calm. He could probably hear how my heartbeat skyrocketed. He could likely hear my pulse, sense my thoughts. “Okay…”
“Have you ever tried to use your magic? Have you wielded it at all? Have you ever had even an inkling that you possess magic?”
I stiffened, and a pit opened up in my stomach, yawning wide.
He assessed me with those perfect, concerned eyes, seeing too much. He wouldn’t understand. He was pure light. He was a damn angel, for crying out loud.
And I was… My heart sank. I was nothing good. And any magic I did possess would be locked deep, deep down, too.
“Why are you asking me that?” I retorted. “Did the healer say something?”
His jaw tightened as he held my gaze. “She said there’s darkness inside you. A sickness. A disease or something. Then she saiddarkness becomes the chain that binds.”
Jessiah’s face was too close to mine. The room around us shrank, the air in my lungs fleeing. Face carefully blank, I stared back. “She was elderly? She was probably senile, then. Where did you find her? We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere, and you just so happened to find a healer? Don’t you know not to trust everything you hear?”
Where chaos reigns and hearts beat, through the veil of love and deceit.
Darkness becomes the chain that binds, love discovers the thread that unwinds.
I pushed those words away. How the likely insane woman knew those words was a mystery. She might have healed me, but she didn’t know me. She didn’t know my magic.
He took a long breath, his wings shifting a little. “So that means nothing to you? And you’re not the slightest bitconcerned that she was saying the same damn thing those caves whispered on our way through?”
I pursed my lips. “Nope.”
It was the first time in my life I’d ever felt bad for lying.
