Caim cracked open his eyes and smiled up at me, a little twinkle in his gaze. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to wake up. You sleep like a bear.”
I snorted. “A bear?”
“You hibernate.” He reached up to wrap a strand of my light hair around his finger, and then used it to tug me closer. A little thrill whispered through my gut. “And did you know you snore?”
My lips flattened. “I don’t snore.”
“You absolutely snore.” Still smiling, he closed his eyes and let out an exaggerated mock snore.
Shaking my head, I swatted at his arm. “You’re just making things up to distract me from what happened last night.”
“Maybe.” He arched a questioning brow. “Is it working?”
“Not really,” I said with a big sigh. “But it’s okay. Now that I’ve slept on it, I don’t feel like the world is falling apart anymore. Thanks to you, you know. Honestly, Caim, I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here.”
The smile dropped, and his gaze sharpened on my face. “You would have been fine, Eva. You’re strong.”
“I am strong,” I said, actually believing it for once. “But I needed someone last night. Sometimes even the strongest people in the world need a hand in theirs, a body close by. You kept me from letting the darkness take over, Caim.”
His neck bobbed as he swallowed hard. “I only told you what you needed to hear. That you’re strong enough to control it. You did all the rest.”
I knew what he was doing. He wanted me to believe that I could control the demon inside of me without him by my side, just in case I had to face it without him. Because he was right about one thing. It was his belief in me that kept me focused. The unflinching determination that I could do it. Without that, I wouldn’t have had the mental focus to push it aside.
But his voice beside me—that had been the key to everything. Deep down, I knew I never would have fought back without him there.
“Okay,” I said, smiling back. The last thing I wanted was to argue over whether or not he’d actually helped me. There were far more important things to worry about. “So, what now? I’m guessing you and the others have a lot of work to do today.”
I expected him to mention the cult. They’d attacked humans last night, and the Legion had lost them in the skies. They would need to hunt them down, to prevent any more deaths happening tonight. Or ever again.
“Well, first, I’m not letting you out of my sight,” he said, brows furrowing. “At least not until I find your cure.”
I pulled back and frowned. “Caim.”
He pushed up from the bed and gave me a look. One that said his mind was made up. “I can keep you from giving in to the darkness but not if I’m not by your side.”
“Yeah?” I folded my arms. “What happened to what you just said? About me being strong enough to fight back without your help?”
Heaving out a sigh, he climbed from the bed. Whatever magic I’d felt upon waking in his arms disintegrated onto his smooth wood floor. “You absolutely are strong enough, Eva. But—”
“But what?”
“It’s safer if I’m beside you,” he finished. “We don’t know how often the darkness will try to take over. And there’s no telling when the cult will try to capture you again. I am not letting you out of my sight until all of this is over.”
With a frustrated sigh, I paced over to the door, trying to hold down my irritation. I hated feeling like this. A monstrous burden that had to be watched twenty four hours a day. Or else she might do something terrible. Like rip someone’s throat out.
“I know it’s better this way, but I don’t like it.” I whirled to him with tears burning my eyes. “I don’t want this thing inside of me anymore. It’s ruining my life. More than my stupid bones ever have.”
“I know,” he said quietly. “That’s why I’m going to take care of this for you. We’ll find the cure. You’ll become fully human again. This will all be over very soon.”
I wanted to believe him, but there was a big elephant in the room, and it’s name wasif. He talked in shades ofwhen. But we had next to zero idea how to find the cure. We only knew some fae might have ahold of it. Fae who were working with the enemy.
“Our first move,” he continued as he grabbed a towel off the door hook, “is to track down the fae who have the cure. That might help our other problem. They might be able to tell us where the witches are hiding, as well as the cult.”
“But if they’re working with the cult, they won’t want to help us.”
He pressed his lips into a thin line. “I can make it worth their while.”
“Yeah,” Phenex called out from the living room. I jumped, having forgotten that his ears were basically magnets for sound. “By feeding them to the fishes.”
