“What does that mean?” I ask, nose scrunching.
“That you’re all I’ll ever need.”
I freeze, the words sinking in. “Shortened lifespan. All you’ll ever need? Sounds kind of codependent.”
“Co what?” he scowls.
“Never mind,” I answer, hypnotized by the chaos of light swirling across his skin.
He motions toward the marks, saying, “My grandmother said my father was all this. Bioluminescent. He had to work to contain it beneath skin that looked human. For his children, the energy dampened and focused, leaving only fracture lines between flesh where the otherworldly parts of us reside, release… hopefully stabilize.”
“You’re beautiful,” I whisper, cave bathed in blue light.
“No, you are,” he whispers, voice catching. “I want you, Eliza. Bad enough I feel it in my bones. In my blood. Don’t know how to fight it anymore. But if I take you… if I make you mine, there are consequences.”
“Consequences?”
He frowns. “A binding that can never be undone. That will tie our lives together from this day to our last.”
“So, I’ll live as long as you?”
He chuckles darkly, throat straining. “No, my life will shorten to yours.”
The words fall heavy between us. I can barely fathom it. But my heart already protests their meaning. “You can’t do that. Not for me.”
“I could do no less if you were mine,” he counters, leaning forward to stroke my cheek with his thumb. “Though God knows I’ve fought this with every ounce of my being.”
“Because you don’t wantme?”
“Because I don’t want you to bear this sacrifice with me.”
“Why?” I reach up, pressing his big palm to my cheek.
“Because a union with me only means pain. A curse. Like Ash and his bride.”
“A curse? What are you talking about? They couldn’t be happier.”
He shakes his head. “It seemed that way.”
The words land wrong. “You were there, then?” I ask leveling my gaze on him. “At the wedding?”
“Watched from a distance. Yes. Saw you drawn to the glyphs in stone, too. The one you touched.” He swallows hard. “The second one was my name, carved by my father.”
“What? But how?”
“Resonance.” The word is like a final judgment. One I don’t fear. His face hardens. “If you knew what you and I could awaken.” Despite the words, his other hand comes up, gripping my waist. I shudder at the new throb he amplifies.
“You shouldn’t do anything that will shorten your life,” I pant, though I need him more than air. Maybe that’s why he’s willing to give up so much for this. Because he feels it this way, too.
“I’m nearly one hundred and seventy years old, Eliza. Most of my kind don’t go much past two hundred, though some ofthe first-generation ones have. Hell, for all I know, claiming you might make me live longer.”
“I’m only twenty-four,” I confess, breath coming faster now. “And a virgin. Is that a problem?”
“Me, too,” he says, turquoise eyes searching mine.
“Really?” Awe and curiosity fight inside.
“My kind, Wildbloods, and the Sentinels we came from, only mate once for life. Later hybrids, more diluted blood, sometimes find a way around that, but not me.” His thumb strokes my bottom lip, tugging it gently. “Honestly, I thought there was no one for me on this planet. Until the moment I laid eyes on you.”
