Page 131 of Promise of Darkness
This line of questioning isn’t over.
And I don’t know that I have the answers he clearly wants.
Somehow, I can feel the Hallows when no one else can.
Just like the Old Ones can.
32
“It’s later.”
The words are soft with danger. But it’s the kind of danger that comes wrapped around a warrior male with a promise in his eyes. Thiago rests his shoulder against the doorjamb to my bedchamber in Ceres, his eyes sleepy and insolent, but I know he’s not here to discuss the Hallow, or Angharad.
One day he gave me. One day to rest and recover.
One day to hide in my rooms as I tried to process everything that had happened at Mistmere.
But he’s never been one to hide from me. Not for long.
“It is.” I close the book I’m reading with a snap. “One day closer to the moment my mother takes your head. Perhaps she’ll parade it on a pike. Or hang it above her throne.”
His eyes narrow as if to say,oh-so-that’s-the-way-it’s-going-to-be.
“One day closer to the day you choose me.”
“Is your sense of confidence usually so conflated? Or are you just so insufferably smug that you can’t see the risk?” My voice roughens. Curse it. I’ve been dwelling on this all day, and I wanted to sound logical and calm. “You made a deal that will cost you your life, and I will be the catalyst of your death! And you didn’t think to tell me?”
I want to fling the book at him.
Thiago slides onto the bed, taking the book from me as if he can read my mind. “You don’t love me. Not yet. I wanted to give you the chance to fall for me, without you feeling that you must.”
“I don’t….” I don’t know what to feel. Confused, mostly. I grind the palms of my hands against my eyes. “I trust you.” It’s a whisper. “And you’re charming and dangerous and… you’re like some sort of storm that’s swept into my life and blown me so far off course, I cannot see the shore anymore. Everything has changed. Everything feels like some sort of horribly wonderful dream I’ve found myself trapped in.” I draw my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on the top of them. “And then there’s you. Both the catalyst for this upheaval, and my one safe haven in the storm. And I honestly don’t know what I feel.”
“You can’t keep your eyes off me. That’s a start.”
I lower my palms. He’s smiling.
“You’re the one that keeps parading in front of me in various forms of skin-tight leather,” I accuse. “Was I not meant to look?”
“Oh, no,” he purrs. “You were definitely meant to notice.”
Leaning forward, he brushes his lips against my cheek. He’s so close, that I could turn and press my mouth to his, and turn this into something else.
I want to.
But there are still words to be said.
“Curse you,” I whisper, turning my face just so, my lips brushing against his. “I’m trying to be angry with you.”
“You owe me nothing, Vi. Not your feelings, not yourself, not if you don’t want me.” His lashes flutter against my skin. “I love you. I will always love you. But this kind of love does not demand anything from you, this kind of love is not a cage. If you cannot bring yourself to give your heart to me, then know this: You hold no blame for any of this. I loved you. AndImade a dangerous, foolish bargain with your mother, because I was so certain of our destiny, that I could not see the trap around me. Your heart is a gift but if you cannot give it to me, it will never change how I feel about you. You bear no responsibility for any of this.”
And then he captures my face and deepens the kiss.
It’s so familiar. So intoxicating. I want to drown myself in him, and ignore all the doubts that plague me.
I want to pull him down onto the bed and take whatever chances we have.
But Ican’tforget.
