Page 33 of Poison Sun

“Then you’ll be interested to know that it’s inside of me now,” I say, and then I clarify, “I drank it.”

“You drank it?” His eyes scan over me, and I can’t tell if he’s amused, shocked, impressed, or horrified.

Probably a mix of all of them.

I level my gaze with his, daring him to dig into me like Damien did back when it first happened. “I did.”

In the silence that follows, I hold my breath, ready for anything.

When I release it, satisfaction crawls over Lucas’s lips as he inhales more of the lustberry’s pull.

“Well, then.” He nods in what could almost be approval. “That’s certainly an unexpected turn of events.”

“What can I say?” I smile, trying to ignore the way my skin’s crawling at how close I am to him. “I enjoy keeping people on their toes.”

Lucas’s expression shifts, the amusement fading into something more calculating, more predatory. “It changed something in you,” he observes, as if he’s looking deep into my soul.

I want to move away from him. To tell him to not get close to me, to not touch me. Every bone in my body is urging me to get out of here and never look back.

But this is it. The moment when I might be able to snare him in, or lose him before the plan can truly get started.

And if there’s one thing I’ve always known about myself, it’s that I hate to lose.

Amber

“Drinking the potion made me a beacon for shadow souls. They’re drawn to me now.” I steady myself and pull on my own emotions—my own fears and doubts—ready to use them to drive my next point home. “Damien hates me because of it.”

The anger—the pain—that I feel when I think about everything Damien said to me the night it happened is real. And I’m counting on Lucas to see the truth of that feeling in my eyes and hear it when I speak.

Everything around me stills as I wait for his reply.

“I’ve seen the way Damien looks at you,” Lucas finally says. “He could never hate you.”

There’s unmistakable longing in his tone.

I can work with that.

“It’s impossible to know what’s going through his mind.” I sigh, as if exasperated. “But he ignores me. He locks me in the Fairmont at night. He refuses to let me help fight the shadow souls.”

“And I’m supposed to believe he lets you roam free during the day?”

“Like I said—I’m a beacon for shadow souls,” I repeat, firmer this time. “As I’m sure Viktor’s told you, the sun goddess blessed the Fairmont to make it so shadow souls can’t get inside. Unless I want to be tracked down by a mob of them and killed, I have no choice but to return each night. It’s the only place where I’m protected.”

He studies me, as if he’s waiting for me to add more.

When I don’t, he says, “And so, you’ve come to me.”

“I have.”

“For what?”

“For help.” I lean forward, begging him to believe me. “Because you’re right. Damien is weak. Maybe he doesn’t hate me because I drank the potion, but he’s scared for me. So scared that he isn’t backing me up so I can fight to my full potential. It’s completely unfair. Because now that this potion’s inside me, the only way I can protect myself from the shadow souls is to make sure there are no more shadow souls out there that I need to protect myself from.”

Hunger flashes in Lucas’s eyes. “You want to kill them all.”

“I do,” I reply, knowing with certainty that the hunger in my eyes matches his own. “But given my circumstance, that’s not going to happen if I don’t have the support I need to do it.”

He glances around, his movements skittish as he examines every homeless person on the other benches, and the few other people walking by.

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