considering, averting his eyes. “If I were to say ‘odium, primordium, terminus, animus,’ would it mean anything to you?”
My heart skipped, and I laughed, nervous. I knew the story, had read the words carved into my bangles a thousand times. I’d never let myself think about it too much. “That’s a myth.”
“Is it?” He looked up, capturing my gaze with his, and such longing burned there that rapture awakened moaning in my soul. My skin flushed and tingled, and surely the air around me shimmered, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. “Have you explored this city, Jade? You’re so young, I wish you could taste this air like I do. It’s fresh, clean, new, there’s power brewing in the sky like a storm. Even the water stinks of magic. Haven’t you noticed the fae glow brighter here? The banshees’ song is sweeter? Vampires go longer without blood? And the rapture . . .” He licked his lips, shifting on his cushions, and laughed, a handsome flush staining his skin. “The rapture is like it used to be, when I was young. It takes me places I barely remember. Surely you’ve noticed everything’s different here. That’s the taste of freedom. If it’s anywhere, it’s here.”
Sweat burned my forehead, slick, my pulse swelling. Freedom. To cast off this thrall, to leave Kane and his never-ending power games and go anywhere in the world I wanted, do what I wanted, be with whom I wanted. To die in peace, without hell’s coarse whispers in my soul. Surely the magic words were a myth, and freedom an impossible dream.
I swallowed, my voice hoarse. “How? How do you do it? Tell me.”
He leaned close to me, tempting, but calculation glinted in his eyes. “Why?” he murmured. “Why should I? Why should you even want to be free? You’re glorious, smart, captivating. Why not live for a thousand years?”
“To end it.” The words rushed out, thoughtless, and I caught my breath, mesmerized by the potential and the sight of his precious lips, only a few inches away. No matter that I’d been wondering exactly the same thing about him. “To be rid of it all. Why else?”
“Why else?” He laughed again, lost, and took my hand, pressing it to his warm chest where his heart beat, rapid and strong. Brightness animated his face. “To live, the way I was meant to. A mortal life, a family. Not to spend ten centuries dead at another’s whim, my heart not my own. I’m sick of watching people die around me.”
“But . . .” I couldn’t concentrate, not with my hand there, his flesh hard and tense beneath my fingers. “But without the thrall, you’ll die soon enough. Why not just wait it out, if you’re so desperate for mortality?”
He tightened his grip, sliding deft fingers between mine. “The year 1615, Kane cast these bangles on. Do you see any tarnish? Any cracks? What do you think happens after those thousand years?”
I swallowed. “Kane said I’d be free to die.”
“And you believed him.”
Horror twisted my guts. Kane always seemed so matter-of-fact, too ingenuous to carry off such a big lie. Truth is, sometimes I forget he’s a demon, and on that one I had believed him.
My hand started shaking, and Rajah gripped it tighter. “I won’t take that chance,” he insisted. “I’ve nothing to lose by trying. Four words, four souls. It can’t be worse than this.”
Longing swelled my throat. It sounded so easy, the way he said it. But nothing was that simple. “You’d damn four innocent people to be free?”
He brushed his lips over my knuckles, leaving a hot, damp trail. “Wouldn’t you?”
I thought of all the people I’d already sent to hell. Men and women, old and young. All willing, all seduced by the rapture, their souls bleeding out in their final deadly ecstasy. Most of them on Kane’s shit list through every fault of their own. Liars, murderers, greedy parasites with no care for those they crushed to make their way and no kind thought for anyone but
My heart skipped, and I laughed, nervous. I knew the story, had read the words carved into my bangles a thousand times. I’d never let myself think about it too much. “That’s a myth.”
“Is it?” He looked up, capturing my gaze with his, and such longing burned there that rapture awakened moaning in my soul. My skin flushed and tingled, and surely the air around me shimmered, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. “Have you explored this city, Jade? You’re so young, I wish you could taste this air like I do. It’s fresh, clean, new, there’s power brewing in the sky like a storm. Even the water stinks of magic. Haven’t you noticed the fae glow brighter here? The banshees’ song is sweeter? Vampires go longer without blood? And the rapture . . .” He licked his lips, shifting on his cushions, and laughed, a handsome flush staining his skin. “The rapture is like it used to be, when I was young. It takes me places I barely remember. Surely you’ve noticed everything’s different here. That’s the taste of freedom. If it’s anywhere, it’s here.”
Sweat burned my forehead, slick, my pulse swelling. Freedom. To cast off this thrall, to leave Kane and his never-ending power games and go anywhere in the world I wanted, do what I wanted, be with whom I wanted. To die in peace, without hell’s coarse whispers in my soul. Surely the magic words were a myth, and freedom an impossible dream.
I swallowed, my voice hoarse. “How? How do you do it? Tell me.”
He leaned close to me, tempting, but calculation glinted in his eyes. “Why?” he murmured. “Why should I? Why should you even want to be free? You’re glorious, smart, captivating. Why not live for a thousand years?”
“To end it.” The words rushed out, thoughtless, and I caught my breath, mesmerized by the potential and the sight of his precious lips, only a few inches away. No matter that I’d been wondering exactly the same thing about him. “To be rid of it all. Why else?”
“Why else?” He laughed again, lost, and took my hand, pressing it to his warm chest where his heart beat, rapid and strong. Brightness animated his face. “To live, the way I was meant to. A mortal life, a family. Not to spend ten centuries dead at another’s whim, my heart not my own. I’m sick of watching people die around me.”
“But . . .” I couldn’t concentrate, not with my hand there, his flesh hard and tense beneath my fingers. “But without the thrall, you’ll die soon enough. Why not just wait it out, if you’re so desperate for mortality?”
He tightened his grip, sliding deft fingers between mine. “The year 1615, Kane cast these bangles on. Do you see any tarnish? Any cracks? What do you think happens after those thousand years?”
I swallowed. “Kane said I’d be free to die.”
“And you believed him.”
Horror twisted my guts. Kane always seemed so matter-of-fact, too ingenuous to carry off such a big lie. Truth is, sometimes I forget he’s a demon, and on that one I had believed him.
My hand started shaking, and Rajah gripped it tighter. “I won’t take that chance,” he insisted. “I’ve nothing to lose by trying. Four words, four souls. It can’t be worse than this.”
Longing swelled my throat. It sounded so easy, the way he said it. But nothing was that simple. “You’d damn four innocent people to be free?”
He brushed his lips over my knuckles, leaving a hot, damp trail. “Wouldn’t you?”
I thought of all the people I’d already sent to hell. Men and women, old and young. All willing, all seduced by the rapture, their souls bleeding out in their final deadly ecstasy. Most of them on Kane’s shit list through every fault of their own. Liars, murderers, greedy parasites with no care for those they crushed to make their way and no kind thought for anyone but
Similar Books
