Sebastian remained silent as he stared back at me, as if he was trying everything in his power to comprehend what I was telling him.
I glanced into his bewildered expression. “Are you following?”
“Sure.”
“The difference between her and I is that my body is not immortal. I am still me—still mortal—but I hold all of her godly power.”
“But if her body was immortal, how did it just vanish after the other gods removed her soul?”
“A body that has lost a soul is incapable of obtaining a new one. It says it in the book. Without an immortal soul, the immortal body turns mortal. But a mortal body cannot turn immortal, even with the addition of a godly soul.”
Sebastian blinked. Once. Twice. Three times before his eyes locked open and stayed that way.
“Did you hear me?”
“Loud and clear. I’m just…processing.”
Sebastian bent at the waist to pick up the manuscript so I could show him the passage I referred to. “But it says right here that no mortal has ever held the markings.”
“Yes. Because in the sense of my corpse, I am mortal, but I now have herenergyinside of me. Mysoulis no longer completely mortal, even though my body is.”
“Huh,” he said, tapping his foot as he read.
“Also, look at this.” I stood next to him and stabbed a finger into an excerpt lower on the page. “Most souls after losing their original host go beyond the veil unless there is a new and willing host to take their place immediately.”
Sebastian’s eyes rapidly explored the text “You think you absorbed the Draemornian’s soul when he died?”
“No. It said awillinghost. And I would consider myself anything but willing.”
“So youwerewilling when it came to Blythe then?” His tone very clearly conveyed his lack of understanding.
“That was different. Her soul is immortal—it couldn’t go beyond the veil regardless. And maybe since I already had a connection to her, mybodywas willing even though mymindwasn’t.”
“Her soul was immortal, but now that it's linked to you it's…mortal? So if you died, her soul could now go beyond the veil?
“I think so.”
“I’m so confused.” His vision returned to the page and he remained quiet even after he finished reading—I knew he was done simply because he read much faster than the average mortal.
“What are you thinking?”
Sebastian exhaled through his nose and closed the book, holding it in one hand and shoving his free hand into the pocket of his jeans. “This changes things.”
“Yeah, it does. Maybe you should listen to my ideas now,” I spat.
“No chance.”
“Stop trying to protect me for one damn second and think about everyone else,” I snarled, my thoughts regressing back to our meeting.
“I think you’re forgetting that the whole reason we even met is because it was myjobto watch over you. It’s in my blood,Maeve. Before everything else, I’m a soldier. And I’m always going to do everything in my power to protectyou, whether you like it or not.”
“Beforeeverythingelse?” I repeated in a scoff, my voice falling to an inaudible level.
Sebastian’s dark brows fell. “That’s not what I meant. I just meant?—”
I raised a palm up and cut him off. “I know exactly what you meant, Sebastian.” In my loungewear and barefoot, I ripped the bedroom door open and stomped into the hall. I put effort into slamming it behind me, only for him to tear it back open and follow me into the corridor.
“Where are you going?” he called after me.
