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“Love?” I spat. “You call what you did love? Then you have no idea what it means. You manipulated me and used me to destroy the cave, and I killed who knows how many.”
I didn’t know what was true anymore. I only cared about bringing Asmodeus and Rafael down.This world was already complicated. We didn’t need these scums to make our lives miserable.
Asmodeus lowered his face, his perfect sharp nose almost touching mine. “I have no idea what to do with this divine dagger, so I need information from you.” He brushed a hand down my hair. I jerked my face to the side and almost reached for the dagger inside my boot. “In order to do so, I’m going to allow Victus to give you your memory back.”
Victus blinked and relaxed his shoulders.
“So how about it, Victus? Remember …” He tapped Nadira’s hand, who was still unconscious on the table. “Don’t do anything foolish.”
Victus nodded, his eyes softer. “Asmodeus is telling you the truth. I wouldn’t have believed him, but what I saw at Mount Skull changed me. The woman I remembered as Joleen had a different face in my memory until I released my worst fear. I saw your face and I called you Joleen. I saw how you loved me and I you. And I saw you giving birth to our child. I saw everything. I remember everything.”
“But you said Levia killed Joleen. Then why am I still alive if I’m her?”
“It was a lie so I could get to her. She had been working with the Angel of Many Faces, this I knew for sure.”
That made sense. But …
Of course you would take your lover’s child’s side over mine, Levia had said. Victus wasn’t aware of her sly remark. Had she known about Victus and me all this time like Asmodeus?
I had wondered what Victus had experienced in that cave, but still I couldn’t or didn’t want to believe any of it. It all seemed unfathomable, a dream in someone else’s body. Joleen’s body. If Victus came out of the cave recalling his past, then why didn’t I?
If what Victus was telling me was true, then Joleen was me, or I was Joleen. Perhaps I just didn’t want to recall the tragic past and my mind refused to put their pieces back together.
“Hurry. Go to him. I’m running out of time.” Asmodeus gave Rafael a smug grin as he shoved me off the chair and pushed me toward Victus.
“Don’t lay a finger on her!” Victus’s guttural voice even made me flinch, though he said it to protect me.
But unlike the last time he roared that command at his lair for a different reason, this time I was not his enemy.
“Don’t go to him!” Rafael kicked the chain, slamming it against the casket. “Victus will hurt you. He’ll feed you lies.”
I had a feeling Asmodeus knew what to do with the dagger, but wanted to taunt Rafael by allowing Victus to give me my memory back.
Ignoring that dreadful fallen angel, I walked ever so slowly toward Victus’s extended arm. I took my time because whatever happened next would change me forever.
Perhaps I wasn’t fast enough. Victus’s long legs ate up the distance, as if he couldn’t wait, and he kissed me as he gathered me in his arms. I heaved a breath as the room spun and I closed my eyes.
My body melted into him as I moved my lips to his. So familiar, as if our mouths had connected in sync thousands of times. He kissed me with fervor, and I felt his love through every part of my being. All the while chains banged against the casket and echoed somewhere in the distance.
Victus pulled back, breathless, and looked at me with kindness, respect, and love. But nothing felt different besides the longing and need in places I didn’t think he could produce in me.
He cupped my face as I looked at him as if I had been drugged. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I’ve been wanting to kiss you ever since we got out of Mount Skulls and I got my memory back.” He smiled big and warm. “Now, brace yourself. You ready?”
I wasn’t sure, but I knew what he had to do. When Nadira drank from me, I had seen a glimpse of her past, or was it mine?
I nodded and said, “Bite me.”
He growled, not like a predator but a lover, and it was the hottest sound. His beautiful eyes gleamed like ruby gemstone, then he tilted my neck and sank in his teeth.
Razor sharp canines cut through skin and veins, and he drank from me. I should be horrified, but the tingling sensation running through my body made me feel alive, and I wanted more. Bite me harder. Take me. Break me. I was all his, and at this moment, he was mine.
As my pulse drummed faster, my world turned. My present faded and my past came crashing through.
Victus, Markane, Abacus, a few angel warriors, and I rushed through a castle. My job was to guard the crown prince and guide him out, but he refused to go without his parents.
“This way, my Crown Prince,” Markane, dressed in a guard uniform, said to Victus.
Abacus, also clad in a guard uniform, flanked Victus on the other side.
