AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Bastard.
Finished in the shower, Cain and Wynter dried themselves off and pulled on some clothes. As he watched her drag a brush through her wet hair, he couldn’t help remembering how it had been damp with blood only minutes before.
“You won’t change me,” she said.
Cain lifted his gaze to hers, realizing she was studying him closely.
“You won’t make me agree to hang back whenever danger comes calling.”
“I know that.” He resented it, to be truthful. “I don’t want you to change. I want you to fucking live.”
She set the brush down on the chest of drawers. “Well, given that I’m a revenant—”
“Every living creature, even revenants, have weaknesses. No one is indestructible. A lone Aeon didn’t manage to end you. But an attack from several at once could possibly do it.”
“Or it might not.”
“Exactly. It’s that unsurety that fucks with my head.” He couldn’t hold her corpse again while fearing she wouldn’t return to him. He just couldn’t. “I’m not going to request that you sit out future battles. It would get me nowhere, and it would be asking you to be someone you’re not. But I need you to meet me in the middle here.”
She eyed him curiously. “Define ‘middle.’”
Cain slowly crossed to her. “I have no clue how it is you walk the Earth. No clue. You don’t follow any of the rules of a normal revenant. Your soul is tied to this realm in a way that I don’t understand. And Kali . . . She could take you from me anytime She pleased. Just like that.” He clicked his fingers. “I have partial rights to your soul, but that’s not enough to hold you to me.”
Wynter stilled. “Where are you going with this?” she asked, but the question rang with a suspiciousness that told him she had an idea of just where this conversation was heading.
“There’s a way I can tether you to this realm. A way I can ensure that Kali could never take you from me.”
Wynter’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Are you suggesting what I think you are?”
“I already hold some rights to your soul. Would it make much of a difference if your soul was wholly mine?”
She shot him a look of pure disbelief. “Uh, yeah.”
“I can keep it safer than you can. I can give you immortality in exchange for it. You’d be stronger, faster, more resilient. More importantly, you’d be tied to me. It makes perfect sense for you to agree. I told you, I need you to meet me in the middle.”
“You oh so casually call this ‘the middle’ like it’s no biggie. Cain, you’re requesting that I give up not only my soul but my mortality.”
“The latter is really such a problem? Have you been ignoring the fact that you’ll age while I remain frozen like this forever on a cellular level?”
Wynter spluttered. “Kind of.” She truly hadn’t thought about it. Or maybe her mind had pointedly avoided confronting the issue. Mumbling a curse, she thrust a hand through her hair.
“I didn’t give any other woman a chance to mean anything to me,” he said, his dark eyes boring into hers. “You left me no choice. You made yourself important to me. Do you think I won’t take whatever measures necessary to ensure I don’t lose you? Even if it means asking things of you that I know you’ll struggle to consent to?”
She swiped a hand down her face. “When you put it like that, no—”
“Then you should have seen this coming. I’ve lived a long time, Wynter. I don’t plan on dying any time soon. That means I’ve got many more years ahead of me. If you think I’m prepared to spend a single one of them without you, you are very much mistaken.”
His words were firm. Final. Nonnegotiable. And although Wynter was no fan of his “I will get my way in this” attitude toward the situation, she also couldn’t help be moved by his utter refusal to ever lose her.
She stared at him for a long moment, sensing . . . “You’ve been considering this for a while.”
“Since the very moment I decided I was keeping you.” He tilted his head. “Would it really be so bad to put your soul in my hands, Wynter? Do you think it would come to any harm while in my possession?”
“No. But taking into account how you once said that to own a person’s soul makes them your puppet, it’s not the most attractive idea.” So many things were already out of her hands, due to Kali’s “purpose” for her. A deity had set her on a path, and there was little she could do about it. Wynter didn’t resent that, didn’t wish that Kali had instead let her die all those years ago, but it didn’t change that her choices weren’t always her own.
And now here was Cain requesting that she give him the kind of power over her that even Kali didn’t have. That might limit even more of Wynter’s choices. Also, she had no clue what it would mean for her soul if he owned it.
“Do you think I’d ever force you to do anything against your will?” he asked, managing to sound offended that she might.
