“Why are you so sad?” I place my hand on the open wound on his chest, our blood already starting to clot, as his sadness washes over me.
“You were supposed to take over the Raven Hands, to revolutionise them,” he says.
This thought takes hold. Like the big scoop I’ve been waiting for all these years, I know this is the moment my life is set to change. It feels right, warranted, as if Ed is here now, telling me that this was my destiny all along. Fate may have sent us down the rocky road, the one that makes you bleed, makes you cry, and brings nothing but pain. But it’s worth it to reach the end, to the place where you’re supposed to be, where you’ve been destined to be.
“And we still will. Together,” I tell him.
He puts his hand over mine, securing it to his heart.
“I hope you’re ready for this.”His lips don’t move, yet I hear his voice.
“What the fuck?” I pull back, searching his face for signs of trickery.
“The telepathy is part of the Blood Oath.”
“How are you doing that?” I ask.
“You can do it too. Just relax and think of what you want to say to me, and I’ll hear you.”
I inhale deeply, clearing my mind before thinking of something to say to him.
“Boo!”
He raises an eyebrow.
“Oh my God, can you turn it off?” I ask.
He smirks. “In time, you’ll learn to block me.But for now, hear me.”
“Was this what it was like with Ed?”
“When you swear the Blood Oath to a friend, it feels like a loyalty bond, a comradery that you’re united for a common purpose. This feels different,”he explains.
“Why?”
“Why? I think it’s because of the way I feel about you. It changes the bond to something deeper, something primal that I’m going to have a hard time getting used to.”
“How so?”There’s so much to learn, so much to take in. My heart races in my chest.
“Like if someone even looks at you in the wrong way, I’m going to want to rip their fucking throat out.”
“Better keep me locked away, then.”
“That’s not a bad idea.”His gaze intensifies.
I thump him on the side of his arm.
His lips quirk before his face settles back into a hard stare. “Are you sure this is what you want?” he repeats, this time speaking aloud as if to clarify it.
“You shouldn’t need to ask me that. You should be able to feel how I feel, know that this is what I want.Youare what I want. I told you in my dreams, and I told you in the real world. I want you,” I tell him.
“I feel it, but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to keep my thoughts from you. It was bad enough before we took the Oath, but now…. Now you’re my all, my everything, and it frightens me, as I’ll do anything for you, anything and everything, no matter the consequences. It’s you. You are mine. I am yours. Like a sunrise without the sun, like thunder without the lightning, without you, there is no me. And it scares me, angel, because you’re the light and I’m the dark. You’re the saviour, and I’m condemned.”
Stroking his face, I kneel on the bed and press my lips to his forehead.
“Stand,” I tell him.
He pulls back and regards me with uncertainty, but he does as I say, sliding from the bed and standing next to it.
