Page 32 of Beneath My Skin

“You don’t need to explain it to me. I get it,” I said. “Being a slave owner is how you get your kicks.”

Jacqueline whirled on me. Guess I wasn’t going to be permitted to meet the rest of her collection, which I was sure to join shortly. I wondered if she had a cage picked out for me yet. “I’ve been stuck on Earth in this disgusting meat suit for the last two decades, Miss Revely. Do you understand how it feels to know you’re forced to wither away? You can never go home? You can never belong? There is only power, the power to collect and to dominate. When I get enough…I’ll be able to leave.”

If she was trying to make me feel bad for her, it wasn’t working. “I do know what it’s like to feel trapped. Because I’m not sure if you realize it, but I’ve been carrying around a pretty substantial burden myself. A burden I never asked for that keeps me from living a full life. I have to tell you, despite my feelings for the demon there’s no way I’m giving her to you. You have a better chance of seeing Santa Claus coming down your chimney on Christmas Eve.”

I made up my mind on the spot. If I had to kill myself trying, it was better to do it on my own terms. With Jacqueline prepared for the tirade of the century, I pushed aside any hesitation and made a grab for the sylph.

The instant my fingers touched the ball of pure energy I heard a sizzle. Worse than the standard pain of writing pushing up through my skin. I was mortal despite my rather unconventional passenger. A mortal trying to touch something I had no business touching.

I forced my fingers to squeeze and tossed the sylph toward Jacqueline. Despite the pain, I was rewarded with a cyclone.

Guess I wasn’t the only one who bristled at the idea of captivity.

“Wha—” Her voice cut off on a howl. Wind rushed through the corridor and knocked her off her feet. Her slight body flew through space until I lost sight of her. I wasn’t about to hesitate.

Terror had my feet slapping against the floor as I took off in a sprint. Run, the fear said, driving me. Run and get away from this place.

The problem was, the cause of the fear was inside of me. And it doesn’t matter how far or how fast, you can’t run away from yourself.

A familiar agony raced along my limbs and I knew what was happening. Cer was trying to get out. If I let her, this time I’d be torn in two.

My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. Through the melee, I tried to find myself. I felt the brush of someone’s skin against mine but there was so much darkness, I couldn’t tell where it came from.

You know what to do.

I couldn’t see my arm, but I understood what she wanted, what she urged me to do.

Dax materialized a second later. My delight at seeing him turned to ashes when I noted the chains he held in his hands. The manacles around his own wrists.

I’m sorry, he mouthed, reaching toward me.

Before he could catch me, I heard what I thought was a peal of thunder. The floor beneath our feet seemed to shudder. Nearly losing my balance, I stumbled toward the door. And grabbed the valkyrie’s spear along the way.

“You can’t escape!” Jacqueline’s magically enhanced voice bounced off the walls and, no matter how hard I tried, I felt my feet begin to slow, to stick to the floor like each tile was made of wet sand.

“Try me,” I yelled back. Then, to the spear itself, “I’m sorry.” My aim was nothing short of worthless, but I prayed the being inside would do as the sylph had and buy me some time. I hurled the spear into the funnel cloud of air at the opposite end of the gallery.

Dax dodged the throw and came toward me. He didn’t need to rush. We both knew I wouldn’t get very far without divine intervention.

“She wished for me to capture you. I must obey,” he told me in a flat voice. “It doesn’t matter what kind of tricks we try to pull. This is why I wanted you to run. I didn’t trust myself.”

“You could have told me!” The words came out on a pant.

My feet stuck to the last floor tile and although the door was in sight, I couldn’t reach out to grab it. This was the end.

He advanced with the chains held aloft in front of him. “I…couldn’t. I wanted you too badly. I’d hoped she wouldn’t invoke the bond. I’d hoped, by her telling you to break the spell, it would give us enough time to try.”

“Well, it didn’t, Dax,” I said, lashing out.

“Mariella, I’m…I’m sorry. I do love you. I wish things could be different. If you find a way to stop me, do it. Kill me. At least then you’ll have a better chance.”

“Not an option,” I grunted. My fingertips were atoms away from the doorknob. Behind me, I heard the sound of footsteps clicking along the tiles. Jacqueline.

“Give it up, will you? There’s no chance. You had until today to figure out a way to separate the two of you. Now I’ll have to do it for you.”

A sharp pain sliced through my arm. A reminder. Once again, I was out of options. A bright flash of fear had my vision dimming. I knew what Cer wanted, and while I logically understood it was my only hope—talk about an ironic play on divine intervention—I worried about what would happen to me. Death I could accept. An endless eternity trapped in the itty-bitty box in my mind, with no light or air or laughter? I wasn’t sure I could endure that.

You have no choice.

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