“You speak as if you and I aren’t on the same side. If I lose, so do you. If you choose him over me, you die.”
The wind howls around them. “Then we should say goodbye now.”
The god scoffs. “Starling, be serious.”
“I am serious. This will be the last time you see me. For it won’t be long until I’m dead, and it will be your fault.”
His eyes darken. “Don’t say that.”
“Don’t kill me,” she says, her voice somewhere between a plea and a laugh. How can he pretend that this isn’t entirely his fault? He could stop it if he wanted to.
“It doesn’t work that way,” he barks, both angry and desperate.
She shrugs. “Then there’s nothing more to say.”
He blinks tightly, then hangs his head with a sigh. “You’re a fool.”
“And you’re a prisoner,” she bites back. “What will you do once I’m gone? How many more bargains can you make? How much longer will you survive?”
“I’m not going to lose you. You’re going to come to your senses, or perhaps you will abandon them as madness keeps creeping in. I am sorry for how much worse things are going to get for you before the end.”
“If you’re so sorry, then don’t hurt me.”
“I don’t have a choice. You are failing the bargain. You’re being punished by fate—not me. It will all be different once I’m free. This I swear to you.”
“Your freedom is what scares me most of all.”
“You know I can feel when you lie?” His hand flattens over his chest. “I have a piece of your soul. I feel you, always, everything you think and feel and are. You’re not afraid of me. You never have been. I know there is a part of you who wants me, because a part of you is forever inside me.” He picks up her hand and puts it on his chest. It doesn’t feel like a heartbeat. It feels like one constant hum. “Feel that? That’s you, Starling. That is all your desire and darkness breathing life into me, keeping me close, keeping us tied together until you get everything you want. You beg me to free you from this bargain, and yet I cannot let go of your soul because your soul will not let go of me.”
She feels the truth of his words beneath her palm. That’s her soul, deep inside him, calling her here.
“I hate you,” she growls.
His lips hover a hair’s width away from hers. “Liar.”
She stomps on his foot, startling him enough to unravel his arms from her waist. She runs, but he chases like the hunter he is. Above her, his voice booms. “You can’t escape me, Starling.” She slams into his chest when he appears in front of her, his body likea wall of ice. He catches her by the throat and angles her face up to his. “You don’t want to.”
His teeth sink into her neck, piercing the scars from their bargain. A river of powerful desire races through her blood. It feels different—stronger than last time, like it’s building upon all the power she’s swallowed before. It’s like sinking into her bath but better. It’s like falling through the ocean, still breathing.
She feels his tongue flicking out and stroking the hungriest part of her soul. “I could take all of your soul right now, but I won’t,” he purrs against her skin, “because soon, you will offer it to me willingly.” He touches his heart. “Free me, and this is where you will live.” His hand then sinks to his stomach. “Fail me, and this is where you will rot.”
She’s woken up by footsteps on the other side of the door. Looking out the window, she sees it’s still dark outside, but the black sky is fading to blue at the edge. When a key slides into the handle, Claudia panics. She can’t let Cassius see her in here. She can’t let her nightmare become real. Eyes darting around the room, she searches for a hiding space. Under the bed? No, it’s too low to the ground. The bathroom? No—there’s nowhere to hide once inside. Maybe the armoire? Or—
She’s taking too long. As the door unlocks, she runs to the windows and tangles herself in the blue velvet curtains. Through a small slit, she sees Cassius stumble inside and drop his things on the ground. He looks exhausted.
In silence, she watches while he sweeps through his routine: shoes off at the door, clothes dropped at the side of the bed, sheets folded over twice before he slides between them. He pulls something dark from the edge of the bed and holds it close to his chest. It takes only a few seconds for his breathing to become heavy and slow.
He’s asleep. She could do it. She could do it right now and be done with the whole thing. Kill him, and it all stops. Kill him, and she becomes a god.
She steps out from the curtains and looms over him.
He is so beautiful. So perfect. So alive. And he’s holding her black chemise that she gave him.
She doesn’t want to kill him. She wants to crawl in bed next to him, curl into his side, and live there like a rib.
Leaning down, she brushes his soft black hair from his face.
“I could never kill you,” she whispers. “I love you too much.”
