“He is not my God. He cast me into this pitof despair with you, into this world of betrayal and deceit. Atleast I knew what I was getting with my mother, even before shesold me off to the soldiers. She never tried to hide how little shethought of me, never told me one thing while keeping other thingsfrom me. You hide behind protecting me to keep the truth from me.How am I ever to believe you now?”
“Because I would die for you.”
“But you wouldn’t allow me to die for you?Wouldn’t allow me to die for the possibility of the forever for usthat you had told me was impossible?”
“And have you becomewhat?” Ibellowed. “Hawk is taking on the characteristics of a canagh demon.He will feast on his lovers from now on, and if he finds hisChosen, he will feed from her too. He needs sex to keep him aliveand balanced.
“My children will inherit none of myabilities, but there is no way to know what you would get from me,or what would happen if I tried to turn you. Perhaps you wouldprefer Bale’s blood where your premonitions could increase to thepoint where you are unable to escape them. Or maybe Corson whereyour razor talons could slice into someone you love at any time,until you learned to control them, and that could take centuries.Or Morax, would you like a tail and horns?”
She gave a small snort. “I would have likeda choice. I would have liked to have discussed this and known myoptions instead of being treated like a delicate little flower.Don’t forget I’ve got thorns. I would have liked for Hawk to havehad some knowledge of what was happening to him! He wasn’t exactlyskipping for joy when he realized this place was affecting him evenless thanme.”
A muscle twitched in my clenched jaw. I tooka second to steady myself before speaking again. “I should havetold Hawk sooner.” The words caused my upper lip to curve into asneer. I hated admitting I’d been wrong about that, but I had been,and if I wanted her to listen to me, then I had to acknowledgeit.
“However, with what you are, we have no ideawhat you could become if demon blood was introduced into yoursystem. My blood could take away all of your abilities, leaving youa helpless immortal. It could flood you with far more power, makingyou uncontrollable, causing you to unleash on everyone near you.You could tear everyone in a room to shreds before you knew whatyou were doing. And that is onlyifyou survived the change,some do not. I didn’t want to burden you with thesepossibilities.”
I ran a hand through my hair, tugging at theends of it. “There are so many possibilities for what could happento you. There is no way to know what a human will become if theysurvive the change, just as there was no way to know what thefallen angel’s offspring on Earth would become, what abilities theywould manifest.
“You could take on some of my traits, all ofthem, or none. Demons don’t mingle our blood willingly with humans,and like Magnus said, it would not be good for the human world tolearn it is possible to share our immortality. If you did take ontoo many of my traits, you would have to leave your family behind.Hawk can still blend in with the humans, unless his impulses becometoo much to bear, but even still he will have to leave his lifebehind one day before people start to realize he is no longeraging.”
“Shax has rather latent abilities, whatabout his blood?” she asked.
“I will not allow another’s blood inyou!”
“Allowit?” she asked haughtily.
She raised her hands when I took anotherstep toward her, but I didn’t care. “Maybe you are doubting myfeelings for you, but you are mine, River. No other’s blood willenter your system. No other man will ever be able to claim aconnection to you.”
“Not even if it meant keeping me with youforever?”
“Shax is not as latent as you think. Hekeeps his true self hidden amongst the humans. They trust him themost because of his looks, but he can make the ground move if hehas to use his powers.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.”
I moved forward so fast that she didn’t havea chance to get away from me. My fists drove into the rocks oneither side of her head. Dust and pebbles fell from the wall tocover the ground around us as I penned her in. Her eyes narrowed onme when I lowered my face until we were eye level with each other.Many would have pissed themselves, but she’d never had any fear ofme. Even before I’d learned her body as well as my own, before I’dclaimed her as my Chosen, she’d never cowered from me.
“Don’t touch me,” she grated.
I kept my body only centimeters away fromhers. The rain scent of her filled my nose as the midnight bluelight slid up her arms to spark and crackle around hershoulders.
“Shax can cause the earth to eat itself ifhe must. There will benoother, River. If you plan to driveme mad, then try turning to another. They will not survive it.”
“You’re not my commander.”
“You are my Chosen. You will not turn toanother for anything.”
“It’s not like I’d be having sex withhim.”
My fangs burst free at her words. Withoutthinking, I rested my hand on her shoulder. I’d been so absorbed inmy need to get through to her that I hadn’t prepared myself for theblast of power the contact with those sparks unleashed on me.
Normally when I came into contact with herability, it was because she was drawing from me to fuel her power,and it didn’t affect me, but now her fury and the world around herwere fueling her. The bolt of life hit me so hard it flung me backten feet. I crashed into the ground and skidded across the rockfloor before coming up against the opposite wall.
I lay there for a minute, trying to get mybearings as pain seared from my hand and spread rapidly throughoutmy body. Fuck, she packed a punch. I’d almost forgotten how much ofone. I shook my head to clear it of the ringing in it and flexed myfingers. Blood slid down my palm, but my skin was rapidly closingover the hole in my hand that her power had created.
CHAPTER 22
River
Confusion tore through me as I stared at theblue light encircling my hands and arms. I hadn’t meant to hit himwith my power like that. I was infuriated and deeply cut by whathe’d kept from me. I was torn between punching him in the face andcrying, but I never would have used my ability against him. I hadkilled Lilitu with this ability; I wouldn’t take that chance withhim.
