Page 241 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

Desperate or determined.

He knows desperate in all its shades.

Desperate is Luca’s blood across his face.

Riley dying somewhere he cannot reach.

Lachlan’s ritual stealing him away in two days’ time.

Determined is harder.

Maybe it’s that.

He opens his eyes and finds Lachlan waiting patiently, like there’s simply nowhere else to be in the world but here with him.

‘Kiss me.’

Lachlan smiles and shakes his head slowly. ‘Come on, Cascade. Where’s that chaos, hm?’

‘Fuck you.’

‘Make me. At least try to. Let me hear it, baby. Let me feel it.’

Kade opens his shirt, stares down at the tattoo.

The winged demon, the moon.

The Roman numerals. II.

Tonight it becomes a one.

I won’t let God have you.

He frowns, leaning into the iridescent light that’s been almost entirely extinguished over the last few days.

But it’s still there.

Julian must have known how to do this.

Had control over it, or at least suspected.

Sink, seek, search.

Mind blank, no outcome in mind, just fingers in the water.

The dark, glittering waters of himself.

I’d take you back from God and make him so sorry for trying.

That was him, him, Julian.

Julian was desperate and determined, and it comes from the waters inside, where he is loving and loyal, jealous and insecure, but also…

Spoilt.

Entitled.

A total brat.