“Are you angry that I avoided you, or that I chose to dance with him in favor of you?”
Cassiel shook his head.
The veil of their shields thinned, and Dyna saw herself from his point of view. She looked happy dancing with Raiden, held close in his arms. Her big green eyes glittered under the chandeliers as she smiled at him.
Cassiel couldn’t stand it, and she couldn’t either, because secretly, a part of her had been doing it on purpose. To push him away, because she was trying so hard to let him go.
“Let us not pretend what this is,” he said.
“The only one pretending is you,” Dyna shot back. “You’re jealous of him.”
Cassiel prowled forward, and she stumbled backward until her spine became flush against the wall. Bracing his arm above her head, he leaned down, his silver eyes holding hers. “What I am is territorial.” His low, gravelly voice sent a scatter of currents over her skin. “Jealousy is due to wanting something that isn’t yours. And you, Dynalya, aremine.”
Her breath caught, her pulse climbing at the possession in his gaze. She felt his want and desire, his anger that another dared hold her. It awoke an instinct in her that could only be described as thrilling.
“Cassiel—”
“No, I’m finished standing by. My tolerance with him has reached its limit. Whatever he touches you with will be removed from his person. His hands. His mouth. His co–”
“You have lost all right to dispute who touches me.” Dyna shoved him off her and moved away from the wall. “If I want to be courted by Raiden, I will. That ismychoice.”
It wasn’t as if she had any interest in a relationship with him or another man, but she wasn’t going to tell him that.
Cassiel stared at her a moment and he chuckled, the low dark sound sending scatters down her spine. “Very well. Then it will be my choice in how I send him through the Gates. Do make sure he has a pleasant time before I do.”
He turned to go.
After seeing him nearly fight Raiden last night, she wasn’t sure if he was jesting anymore.
“Your arrogance is staggering. On what grounds do you have to harm him? Raiden has been nothing but kind to us. He’s a good person.”
Cassiel stopped by the door, his back to her. His quiet voice floated in the room.“My heart will always be filled with none other than you…”
The reciting of the vow she had made to him struck her chest. It reminded Dyna of how her lips had burned when she kissed someone who wasn’t him, and how much her body hated it.
“’I will live each day worthy of you,” she replied feebly in return, emotion rushing up her throat. “Maybe you should have kept yourpromises if you expected me to keep mine. Ourvowswere broken the moment you broke me.”
Cassiel took a breath, and she knew her blow had landed.
“It hurts, doesn’t it? Being lied to. Being betrayed by the one who swore to love you always.” Dyna’s chest heaved as tears stung the back of her eyes. “You’re being selfish, Cassiel.Youleftme, remember? You told me to move on and I am trying to, but you won’t let me. That’s not fair.”
“I did say that…” he murmured. “I thought I could let you go, but I can’t stand seeing you with him or anyone else. When it comes to you, I am selfish, and it’s maddening. The tether that binds us as mates is still there.” Rain lightly pattered against the glass, storm clouds darkening the room as Cassiel turned to her. “I have told you once before, and perhaps you forgot or didn’t believe me, but I will tell you again. I am not a good person. But you’re right, Raiden is. And what do you think he would do if it came between choosing your life or his father’s? Or better yet, his mother or his people? What if he had to choose between the greater good and you?” His black wings softly brushed the floor as he drew closer to her. Dyna swallowed, her voice trapped beneath the intensity of his stare. “He would do the right thing and save them, but not I.” A faint blue glow spiraled in Cassiel’s eyes, and he took a lock of her hair, entwining it around his fingers. “I would gladly render the world to ash and become whatever monster I needed to be. A good man would sacrifice you for the world. I would burn it for you.”
She knew he would.
He had already sacrificed much, and the main sacrifice had been their souls.
The thought reached him, and his hand dropped. He closed his eyes, his long dark lashes brushing his cheeks. “Is it senseless to cling to the hope that I can mend what I destroyed?”
Her vision welled at the brokenness in his voice. The hollowness in her chest ached, and it was coming from him. Whatever shred of their bond that remained still allowed her to feel him.
She wrapped her arms around herself. “Cassiel…”
“Don’t tell me it’s over, Dyna.”
Her jaw trembled, fighting to keep her tears from spilling. “It is.”
“Then prove it.” His eyes softened in a way that seemed to see right through her. “Drop your shield and show me there is truly no place for me in your heart anymore.”
