Page 66
Holding up his hand, he shows the identical cut across his palm and the gold blood leaking down his wrist. “Do you believe me now?”
Chapter Four
How can I not?
The panic thrums hard like the wings I both don’t see and see that sit on his back. “Like I have a choice.”
“There are always choices.”
“No!” I spit the word at him. “There aren’t. I can’t even kill you.”
I take off my cloak and hand it to him. “At least cover yourself.” His manhood’s distracting, and I don’t need any more distractions.
He takes the cloak, laughing softly because I’m sure he can see my thoughts better than I can see his.
The Cursed One ties it on at his hips. “Better?”
“Barely,” I say. I try to focus on anything other than his handsome face or finely sculpted torso, but it’s near impossible.
“So, does the little human have a name?” he asks, which takes me by surprise.
My brow rises. “Like I would tell you.”
“I just figured I should know the name of the person I’m to be bound to for the rest of eternity.” He half-shrugs. “Unless you prefer to be called ‘little human.’”
This is absolutely absurd.
“Lyra,” I say. “My name is Lyra.”
“Rowan,” he replies with a bow. His wings fold in against his back.
“Your name is Rowan?” I ask, frowning as I look at him.
“Is that a problem?”
“No,” I blurt. “It just sounds…”So human.I readjust. “It’s a strong name.”
“I could say the same about yours, Lyra.”
My name on his lips echoes in the ruins, wrapping about me. It streaks terror and desire through me, and I stumble back. He winces as my foot catches on some rubble and pain shoots through me. But luckily, I manage to stay upright.
“This is no life.” I wave the dagger at him.
“It can be. We break my curse and then?—”
“You kill again? I won’t allow that.” I shake my head. “We break thisbondand then I kill you. As fate really intended.”
“I’m not going to kill you.” He turns, not bothering to watch the dagger. He moves to the edge of the ruins, breathing in. I can smell for a moment what he can. The moist, rich earth, greenery, and a sweetness that pulls at my loins. His. “And there’s no way to break the bond. It’s?—”
“Fate, yes I heard you.” I lower my dagger. “Maybe you’ll just steal my soul and suck my bones dry instead.”
“Now that’s just hearsay. I don’t suck bones dry. I don’t eat them.”
“Don’t you?” I counter because the burn of need is in my veins, and it’s a tangle of his needs and mine. For a moment, dizziness hits. I don’t know where he begins and I end. “So you don’t?—”
“Kill women?” There’s heaviness now, blanketing down, and I’m not sure I could move if I wanted. “Not how you think.”
“Dead is dead,” I say. “Kill is kill.”
