“And yet you allowed it once already.”
There it was. Confirmation of Lena’s involvement in Lior’s death. I’d suspected it all those years, so why did I still feel that twist in my gut?
“I didn’t know of her role until much later. I’m wise to her ways now.”
“There’s more,” Azrael said. “There is a prophecy regarding your companion’s fate. Do you wish to know it?”
Your future mattered to me more than anything else. I had to know what their oracles had predicted.
“Yes,” I said, steeling myself.
“Every day you spend with your human companion, in spirit or body, one fated path becomes more evident.”
I drew a shaky breath. “What is it?”
“He will bleed out, until death overcomes him, and it will be by your hand.”
“Never,” I said ardently. I’d sooner destroy myself.
“Do you doubt me?”
I quieted, humbled by my outburst.
“I don’t doubt you, my lord, but because of the nature of this premonition, I’d request you give me a sign that this path is fated.”
I endured a measure of silence while Azrael consulted with the others, and then his ominous prediction came forth, “Your human will present you with his instrument of death, and you will know it.”
I inhaled a deep breath and nodded. “But there’s still an opportunity for him to choose a different path?”
“Our time together is drawing to a close. I must leave you, Henri, but I want you to know I did not summon you as a reprimand, but as a caution. Your loyalty will be tested, and I want you to prove our faith in you is not misplaced.”
I nodded. “Thank you, my lord.”
When Santiago lifted his head again, Azrael was gone. My hands still shook, and my energy was tense and chaotic. Santiago stared at me with fondness, and it took me a moment to realize he wasn’t seeing me but his former lover.
“Bad news?” Santiago asked when I’d finally collected myself. He’d caught me in a vulnerable moment, and I felt the need to unburden myself to someone who might understand.
“It seems the Potestas don’t approve of my choice in human companions.”
Santiago snorted sympathetically. I’d isolated myself from my contemporaries for so long that now there was no one I could turn to for help. Perhaps it might be time to forge an ally rather than an enemy.
“I could say something to Xavier on your behalf,” I offered.
Santiago sighed and dropped his gaze, looking truly dejected. “I’d prefer you didn’t. You see, the gods didn’t bless our union, either.”
How doesone behave when they know the end is near? Feast or famine, drought to flood. If I thought I was devoted to you before, it was nothing compared to those last few weeks of summer, when our bodies were rarely separated by more than a breath’s space. I begged Xavier to extend our time together. I told you it was because of the break you’d been granted from your grueling dance schedule, but Xavier suspected the truth—having been through this sort of separation in his own relationship with Santiago—and granted me one whole week of uninterrupted inhabitation. I’d never be able to repay him that kindness.
All of our intimacies began to take on greater importance for me, as I wondered if this might be the last time I stroked your cheek or kissed your curls or made you cry out in ecstasy. How long until I’d have to leave you, presumably forever, and tear our souls apart?
And these cravings I harbored for your blood… did they speak to an escalating compulsion that would only grow fiercer and more insistent, until one day I took too much? Was I capable, as Azrael intimated, of taking your life and becoming the monster I so despised?
I was standing on the balcony one morning, going over these thoughts in my mind while watching the sunrise, when the sheer beauty of the sky and the melancholy in my heart brought forth an onslaught of tears. I thought I’d have a few moments to collect myself, but then I heard the sliding glass door open, and your nearly naked form stumbled outside.
Your curls were tousled and your muscles relaxed. You were still half asleep as you squinted at the sun.
“Henri?” you asked in your groggy morning voice. How could I possibly be expected to abandon you? You were still so young. There was no one in your life who could give you what you craved—security, safety, and a firm but steady hand.
“Good morning, lover,” I said, my cheeks still wet with tears.
