“He knew.”
There was no excuse to be made.
People were assholes.
Thunder clapped over their heads. Though the rain had been a steady drizzle most of the day, the night threatened a volatile storm.
Valteri glanced up at the dark, eerie clouds. “Go inside where ’tis safe.”
“I belong with you now.”
A bitterness filled his eyes that tightened her throat even more as she feared he’d pull away from her. “Only a fool would want to belong in my cursed life.”
Her grip tightened on his arm. “It’s not just your life I’m after, Valteri. It’s your heart I want most.”
Valteri let out a bitter laugh. “Haven’t you heard? No heart exists inside me. ’Tis said Lucifer himself ate my heart to ensure I’d never feel love or compassion… for anyone.”
“Valteri—”
“No more words, Ariel,” he interrupted, moving away from her. “I beg you return inside before I taint you further and the others decide there’s no difference between us.”
She wanted to argue with him more than she’d ever wanted anything, yet she knew he was past listening. This had been rough on him and he needed distance from it.
Tomorrow, she’d work on winning him over.
Tonight…
She let out a sigh as she watched him sidestep the puddles, his spine more rigid, unyielding, and unscalable than a distant mountain range.
Wishing she knew how to reach him, she lowered her gaze to the ground. The shimmering depths of the puddles called to her and she moved to stand next to the one just outside the hall’s door. The drizzle caused the reflection of the rushlights to distort in their puddles. And as she watched, an image emerged.
“Please spare me! I don’t want to die!”
Ariel recoiled at the sharp shriek inside her head. Images tore through her. Demons surging forward. A knight clinging to her in mortal terror as she…
As she…
“Please!” she cried out, placing her clenched fists over her temples in an effort to recapture the vague memory. “What are you trying to tell me?”
“’Tis late and you should be inside, dear sister.”
Ariel whirled around at the sudden voice behind her, her heart hammering in panic. Belial stood a few feet away, his face masked by shadows. For an instant, his eyes appeared red, but as soon as she blinked, they faded into the darkness.
Was that real?
Or imagined?
“Who are you?” she whispered. “Really?”
Pressing his lips into a tight line, he walked a small circle around her, his hands clasped behind his back. “You know me, little sister. We are kin, you and I. I’ve been in your life for as long as you can remember.”
A chill went down her spine at his sinister smile.
He stopped in front of her and tilted her chin until their gazes met. The coldness of his eyes made her flinch. “Wearebrother and sister. Cut from the very same cloth.”
Though her mind raged with images of them together as children and adults, her heart denied it all.
It just didn’t seem right.
