“We could leave now. Never return.” His voice is quiet, but leaves no room for misinterpretation. “Leave the beings of this world to continue their wars and petty disagreements. Start anew.”
He cups my cheek, and the feel of Julien’s intense heat combined with Kane’s soothing cold is invigorating.
“Say the word, and we’ll leave,” he murmurs, shadows kissing my skin.
“You’d leave everything behind?” I frown, not quite believing it. “Everything you’ve built here? The organisation? The people who rely on you—”
“You think we are righteous beings. We are not.” Kane’s voice lowers as his eyes darken into that beautiful storm—not a speck of light to be seen. “We are creatures of the dark. Every fibre of us. We want you. The rest of the world can burn.”
There was a time I would never have imagined those words from Kane’s mouth. Never. But now… here he is.
And he’s mine.
They’re all mine.
“Where would we go?” I whisper, caught up in the fantasy.
“There’s so many options, Red.” Sai’s fingers brush along my hip with a pleasant crackle.
“Countless.” Julien’s voice quietly rumbles at my back.
Ezekial moves towards us then, stripping off his glasses, dropping them on the desk, discarding his devices there, leaving everything behind as he comes to stand beside his brother.
“There’s nothing for us here,” he says simply.
How can he say that? He’s a council member. He controls everything in this district.
“This”—he gestures to the room, the desk, the district—“means nothing.”
“But… what about your own reasons?” I look at each of them. “Finding the people who did you wrong—your revenge?”
Kane’s shadows curl up my spine quickly, softly, silencing me with soothing cold.
“We’ll leave it all behind,” he murmurs. “We just need you.”
Everything in me softens as I look at him, listen to him, because he truly means it. They all do.
“I want that,” I whisper, and all their powers pulse. “I really do. But… I need some answers,” I say with a sad smile, leaning into Kane’s hand. “I’ve lost a hundred years; I’d like to try and get a few back.”
I touch his fingers, catching each of their eyes as my shadows slink around them. “But I need you all with me.”
“Mon âme, there is nowhere else,” Julien murmurs into my hair.
Before I can respond—either with words or by kissing them each hard and fast—a sharp buzz vibrates from Ezekial’s desk.
He sighs, a muscle ticking in his jaw as he moves towards it. With one quick glance, his eyes are back on us. Dark steel.
“They’re here.”
The fantasy fractures like glass. Tension locks the room into place, and not even Sai says a word.
Ezekial looks straight at me. “If you want this, to speak with them, we can do it now. Orion and Eury are prepared to flit them here.”
My thoughts scatter. My chest squeezes, aches, like my lungs are being wrung out.
This isn’t hypothetical anymore.
I want answers, I do—but right now?
