That seems to do the trick. Her eyes snap into focus, and finally, she looks at me. But it’s still empty, devoid of the fire that makes herher.
“Put the knife back in,” she says.
The knife lays in the creek, glinting with the reflection of the sun. “What are you even doing?” I ask. “Whatis the point of this?”
She huffs a quiet laugh. “If I left it in long enough, I’d bleed out. Eventually.”
I focus on the soft curve of her neck, on the way her hair looks like a living flame as it dances in the current, on the way the pebbles bite into my kneecap. Anything to avoid thinking about when I tried to do the same.
“Listen to me,” I whisper, but my tongue feels too thick at the reminder of a time from long ago. “I’m trying to help you. I can’t get you out of here right now, but I’m trying. Now, get up.”
The next thing I know, I’m the one lying in the river. Elle hovers above me, the knife resting against my throat. Water streams from her soaked hair and nightgown, pouring onto me like raindrops.
“You’re such a fucking liar,” she spits at me. “You’re trying to manipulate me, just like you manipulated Mae.”
She has a point. I dip my head in understanding. “I’ve had a change of heart.” Well, more likeMy heart changed.
She throws her head back and laughs incredulously. “Fuck your heart.” She yanks the knife from my neck and stabs it into the center of my chest.
White, hot pain erupts. My vision blurs, and even though I’m laying down, the world somehow tilts. I let loose a string of curse words that Father surely would have punished me for. Showing any reaction after physical pain always resulted in his wrath.
When I can finally draw a full breath, I feel for the knife and wrench it from my chest. It goes flying. I blink and the darkness that was closing in slowly recedes. I stand, the back of my pants now soaking wet, while the front of my chest drips with blood. I rub the spot where she stabbed and hiss. She really stabbed me, for fuck’s sake.
And now, she’s gone.
It doesn’t take me long to find her. She’s bent over, searching through the pockets of the dead guard that I didn’t burn to a crisp. I step on a branch, and she whirls toward me. Then takes off.
I catch up to her in a few strides, wrapping my arm around her midsection and pulling her against me. She flails, and it’slike holding onto a wet cat, for the Mother’s sake. I haul her back to the lifeless body and the charred remains of the other guard.
See, I’m trying to help you,I hiss into her mind.
Fury comes back down the bond. She rages against me, bare feet and frail hands pounding against my shins and chest. “What is wrong with you?” she shouts into my chest.
I take every hit. I deserve it. I wish she’d stab me again and again. I wish it could kill me. It doesn’t take long for her to tire herself out. The hits come slower and slower, until she stills in my arms.
“If I put you down, will you run?” I whisper.
She doesn’t respond. I set her down in front of a wide, ancient tree trunk, then cage her in with both arms. She stares back at me with pure hatred. I wish I had the freedom to look at anyone other than myself like that.
“I swear on my wretched life, I am trying to find a way to get you out of here that doesn’t end with you in a grave,” I say, trying desperately to convince her that I’m telling the truth.
She glares at me as she processes my words. After approximately five seconds of staring at me with an intensity that feels like it penetrates my very bones, she tilts her head in curiosity. Good. Maybe she believes me. My shoulders relax. Barely.
“Why?” she asks.
That wasn’t what I was expecting her to say. I don’t really have a good reason to give her, other than the truth.Because you’re actually my mate? Because I made a huge, terrible mistake?I clear my throat. “What does it matter?”
She scoffs. “Why,Marik? You tried to kill Mae. You killed the High Family. You’ve been forcing me to do your will for months. What’s with the sudden change of heart? I refuse to believe you suddenly grew one.”
I run a hand through my damp hair in frustration. “All I can say is that I’m trying to get you out and I need you to…” I fumble, knowing asking her to trust me won’t go over well. “I just need you to just believe me that I’m trying to get you out.”
She stares up at me through long eyelashes, amber eyes still full of unchecked fury, but now tinged with the gleam of skepticism, of curiosity. Myheart flips in my chest.
“It won’t save you from Hell,” she says apathetically.
I chuckle. I already know that. “Do you care about my dalliances with the underworld, little fawn?” She stomps on my foot in response. It might have hurt more if she hadn’t stabbed me in the fucking heart just minutes ago. “Always violence with you.”
“You deserve it.”
