Despite her hesitance, Eislyn obeyed. She tiptoed to the pool and slowly lowered herself to her knees. Peering into the waters, she could not help but think this felt an awful lot like the moment before the Fomorians shoved her forward, into what they likely thought was her death.
“The gods can provide you with the power to vanquish your enemies. You have two options. You can have my magic and all your dreams shall come true. Power, happiness, and…books, it seems. Your only payment is a very small fragment of your soul.” Unseelie’s voice went dark. “Or you can have Seelie’s power. You keep your soul, but you lose your heart. You must give up the thing you want most in this life.”
Eislyn shook her head, gazing into the pool. “But the thing I want most is for the Namhaid to be someone other than Reyna.”
“And I can give that to you,” Unseelie hissed into her ear. “If you take my power.”
Eislyn’s heart thundered. She gripped the side of the pool with all her might, every single inch of her trembling in terrible fear. It was an impossible choice. If she took Seelie’s power, her sister could become the thing she feared the most.
But Eislyn did not want to lose her own soul. She knew what would happen to her if she took Unseelie’s power. The nightmares that had plagued her for so long…that had been his doing. All that blood and rage and death and darkness…he had filled her mind with it.
And she wanted no more.
Slowly, Eislyn stood and threw back her shoulders. She did not care what her choice meant. It was the only one she could make.
“I don’t want either power. I refuse your bargain.”
28
Lorcan
Hunger drove him wild. Intoxicating desire burned in his mind as he lapped up Reyna’s blood. She had stared at him with those trusting, innocent eyes, practically tempting him to taste her. She’d even spread her thighs.
But he didn’t want anything of that. He wanted to rip her neck wide open and drink until she was dead in his arms.
“Lorcan, please, stop,” she pleaded with him, her body growing heavy in his arms as her life-force seeped into his gulping mouth. He growled at her fear, his body buzzing from the ecstasy of it all.
STOP!
The voice echoed in his head. Stupid voice. It knocked him out of the moment. His pleasure and ecstasy died in a brutal moment.
“You won’t take this moment away from me,” Lorcan growled, his teeth still firmly implanted in Reyna’s slick neck. “I’ve been fantasizing about this for days. Her blood in my mouth. Her bones…”
Heat flooded his body. Need tore through his gut. The shudder of the waterfall snatched his attention away, and his stomach turned. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said Unseelie hated running water, but he hadn’t been able to resist the chance to tempt her into the pond so that he might kill her.
Keeping his arms locked tightly around her body, he waded to the shore and dragged her out. She’d lost consciousness at some point. Disappointment bloomed in his mind. He’d wanted her to be awake for all of this.
“Oh well.” He dove back onto her throat. Her neck against his mouth was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted.
NO!
Something jerked inside of him then. It was as if a fist punched him right between the eyes. He slumped forward, his teeth sliding off her neck. Tumbling sideways, Lorcan regained control of himself and blinked up at the dense canopy above him.
His heart rattled beneath his ribs. That had been far too close. The Cursed One had wanted nothing more than to drain the life from Reyna’s veins. It had been excruciating, watching him do that to her. He had felt the Cursed One’s excitement as if it were his own. And it had made his stomach twist with utter rage and disgust.
He rolled onto his side and pushed up from the ground, swaying on his feet. The Cursed One pounded against his mind, but Lorcan fought for all he was worth.
Shuddering, he knelt beside Reyna and brushed the damp hair off her forehead. Her neck was a ruined thing, mottled and slick with blood. His heart tumbled. She would survive this, but only just. If he’d taken control only a few moments later, she’d be dead.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. Kneeling, he lifted her into his arms and carried her away from the waterfall. Firelight from the camp flickered through the trees. They might kill him when they saw what he’d done to her, but he couldn’t leave her out in the forest alone while the cursed fae drew near. They would scent her blood on the air. Hunger would tempt them toward the falls.
The Cursed One shook, desperate to get out. Lorcan’s own jaw ached with hunger. Even though he hadn’t been the one to drink the blood, the act had transformed his body into something he hated. Deep down inside, he wondered if he needed the blood to survive.
But he would never taste it, not so long as he was in control.
He didn’t care how mad it drove him in the end.
As he grew closer to the fire, his body seemed to arch toward it, as if it were desperate for the warmth of the flames. His frown deepened, and his footsteps began to slow. That was unnerving.
