“Free. And in your freedom, I’d crawl to you, on my hands and fucking knees. I’d find you and beg you to accept this bond. Tell me how to prove myself?”
“You of all people have nothing to prove. If dreams of a future could exist, you would be mine. And I should not tell you this because dreamers die young. I need you to live.” Her eyes are not gentle like a woven blanket; they are chain mail, linked and unbreakable. “Speaking to me is only fueling this fire. Talk to your brother.”
“I did,” I confide. “He told me to run.” I kick one leg out, and she frowns. “Do you want me to go, Selene? To leave and never look back?”
Her eyes study Tristen as he guards the entrance. His hand is always on his sword, ready to kill for this secret. He keeps his magic filled to the brim in case he needs to use it.
“Fine, talk.” She rolls her eyes. Does she think I don’t notice the tears she shoved back inside?
Oh no, I’m not sweeping half the shit I just told you under a rug.
I’m going to make you trust me. Need me!
“A conversation with you is like gazing into dark waters. I never know what creature will emerge.”
Her lips thin into a pressed line. “That method keeps me alive.”
“I realize that, and I don’t blame you.” My heart turns to lead as it sinks. Her tongue is a sword that saves you, but haunts you with the memory of every kill you forced it to make.
“That's not a question.” She tips her chin up like a warrior raises a shield, ready to deflect my words if they intend to cause harm. “Just ask what you seek.”
“My questions destroy foundations. I have a suspicion you don’t want to build yourself up again, even if it’s with indestructible materials like a mate bond. You’re tired, and you wish to fall and be left alone.”
I don’t think you want my love, even though I crave yours.
No reply. There’s my answer. I convinced her to help me; I can’t persuade her to live for me.
Her lip eventually twitches, “Dig a grave far away from the lands Galen rules and bury your feelings, Titus. Blackthorn has no place for them.Ihave no home for them.”
Wow, how many years of suffering did she endure to be able to look me in the eye without wavering?
“We have a task at hand,” she stresses.
“I will bury them,” I bite, “alive. But that doesn’t mean you won’t be haunted by their screams as they suffocate.”
“Titus,” her voice is full of regret over her decision, but she doesn’t beg for forgiveness.
Rejection hurts like a motherfucker. “But be warned, over time, soil weathers away, revealing the bones of what once was.”
She looks down her nose at me, green eyes thick as foliage concealing a wounded beast. “If we both survive, perhaps wecan reexamine what we find. Until then, it is wise to keep this attraction dead in the water.”
I grind my teeth. “I shall try.”
“You’ve kept my brother’s magic hidden, so I have high hopes.”
“This is a string; it’s held by two hands, Selene.”How can you be so cold-hearted?
She crosses her arms. “My hand is not the one tugging on it, Titus.”
“You lured me into this conversation to wound my pride,” I grunt as I kick my boots out and scoot further away from her.
“Pride often causes one’s downfall. Consider this a lesson.” She leans back, faking ease, as she allows the sun to tan her face.
Fine. I can pretend our sparks don’t burn. “I was wondering if you had someone you trusted, someone we could send to The Great Library of Ishmor.”
Selene’s stony stare slides over the field until it lands on me. How can those eyes be so frigid yet inviting?
“What do you seek there?” She looks sharper than a fiddle in a master musician’s hands. I never know what tune she will play—one of sympathy or sinister appeal.
