Page 17 of Underworld
Golden energy poured out of me and rolled across my wings, forcing my spine into an arch at the sudden onslaught. My wings flared and I gasped, unable to contain the wave of heavenly power.
The power wasn’t an offensive measure, but one to heal my broken body that Dante had so crudely damaged. I wouldn’t blame him for this. He thought I was a trick, that I was dead and gone and I was just a specter designed to torment him.
Cole was responsible for this. I added one more slash to his growing list of grievances.
I screamed again as my bones reformed into their correct position and Dante finally let me go.
Confusion filled his golden eyes, briefly flashing with desperate, bewildered hope.
I felt the snap in the Virtue bond a moment later along with Dante’s mournful voice in my head.
Rage is all Cole permits me to feel.
His entire demeanor changed as his jaw flexed and murder painted his molten gaze.
“Dante…” I begged.
“You’re notreal,” he whispered.
“I am real,” I assured him, daring to take his fingers and press them to my throat again. I risked his rage because I loved him.
Squeezing gently, I stroked my fingers over his pulse and reached for him across the Virtue bond. “I’m real and I’m here, Dante. You’re not hallucinating.”
“You died,” he said as if it was a mantra he couldn’t let go. “We all saw you die.”
“Yes,” I agreed. I tried to smile, but it wasn’t a very good one. “I guess it didn’t take.”
Hendrik lingered in my peripheral, his focus on me rapt and desperate, even more so than the glimpse I’d seen from Dante. “You must have awoken the third and final part of yourself—the immortal, angelic part.” Hendrik adjusted his cufflink. “It’s the only explanation.”
Dante’s eyes burned brighter, but he still wouldn’t let himself believe. “Let me go, Dark Mage.”
The tang of blood and roses wafted over me and I realized that Hendrik had been holding Dante back with his magic.
“Think about it, Dante,” Hendrik explained, ignoring his request. “Angels are immortal.”
“But she died,” Dante ground out.
“Yes,” Hendrik agreed, then winced as Dante flexed, fighting against him. “Hear me out. Given Lily’s heritage, coming back from the dead isn’t an impossibility. Kaito explained it better, but that was the gist during all his lectures that you missed.”
Dante stroked his thumb along my skin, still staring at me as if he wasn’t ready to believe Hendrik—but he wasn’t ready to give up the chance Hendrik was telling the truth, either.
Gripping his wrist, I stared back and willed him to believe me. Reaching along the damaged Virtue Bond, I whispered, “Dante, it’s me.”
His lids flickered.
For the first time, I felt him reach out to me through our frayed Virtue bond, seeking me, and holding onto me tight when he realized I was real.
“Lily,” he breathed. A split second later, he crushed his mouth to mine and the walls between us collapsed.
He gripped my hair by the roots and tugged, exposing my throat. I clung to him as I he clamped down his teeth, claiming me.
“Youleftme,” he said, accusation in every word as the pain of the bite radiated down my throat, disappearing under a wave of golden heat.
Accusation, pain, and misery filled our connection, then his mouth was on mine again, a bruising possession as he thrust his tongue past the barrier of my lips, bringing me the taste of him.
His taste had changed. Before I could process that, Dante broke away, this time to kiss a stinging path along my jawline up to my ear where he bit me again. “I gave upeverythingfor you and now that demon is inside meall the fucking time—and youstillleft me.”
“I didn’t mean to,” I said, tears thickening my voice. “I didn’twantto.”
