Page 52
“Why are you here?” The force of the flower rot sent me to my knees. “This is my dream.”
Aidan sat down. “I’ll follow you everywhere, Paris. Maybe not into the Carving Glade, but anywhere else is free rein. You cannot escape me. Not until you die.” He transformed back into Silvanus. “Why don’t you just admit you love him? I sense your resistance, how you try denying it.”
True. “You don’t know shit.”
“The Knife of Fractured Rapture knows. It can feel it, waiting for you to give voice to it. Step off the edge. Confess your heart to him. Plunge into death. You will see him on the other side, I’m sure of it.”
Ooo, this fucker needed a headbutt. “Again, you don’t know shit.”
He smiled, shifting back to Aidan. “I know your efforts are in vain. This world is mine. Selene Haven is mine.”
“In your dreams.”
“No. In your dreams.” He found this hilarious.
I slid back, avoiding the flower. “Leave me alone.”
His gaze hardened. “Did you not listen to anything I just said? I will never leave you alone. Even now, I walk in Summer Forest, waiting for you to peek your head out. Because you will. Nothing hides forever.” His grin was full of smug satisfaction.
“Fuck off.”
He sighed. “Listen, Paris, I can give you the peace you seek. We don’t have to be enemies here. You help me, I’ll help you.”
I snorted with laughter. “Such a comedian.”
That got a smirk from him. “Think about this. Think about what I’ve done. I rewrote so much, fed you a false narrative that still permeates all consciousness.”
“Like The Wheel of Beginning?”
Fear killed his smirk. “Caer’s amnesia?”
The ball of unease grew. “Go away.”
“Has she ever told you what her goals are?”
“To stop you. To save the world.”
“Then what?”
“Then things can be—”
“Better?” he cut me off. “Under her rule? The last of the deities? I’m not counting Selene, as she’s from a different realm.”
As much as I hated to admit it, I’d never thought of that before. “I…” Oof. The fucker had me stumped.
He’d killed the other deities, until Caer managed to curse him and stay alive. Well, alive adjacent. They’d cursed each other back and forth, the whole thing culminating in a tower, and me setting him free began his downfall.
Mind-bending shit, really.
I shrugged, going for steeliness. “I’m sure she’ll be better than you.”
“She’ll be petty and greedy and hungry for power. She’s no better than me, than the others were. Aside from trying to take a moral high ground, that is.”
“She didn’t—”
“Hold your tongue, Paris. Given the chance, she would have tried taking Selene Haven for herself. Us deities love seizing territories.”
“And would she have seduced a vampire prince like you did?”
