She gave a rueful smile. "If there’s anything that’s mine, it’s my Soul. I think that’s the only thing I own."
The words cut deeper than Lucien expected. But he wouldn’t let her put herself in danger. "There are other ways we can test this. Without risking you."
Vesperin just shook her head. "Cyrus? What do you think?"
The incubus broke away from staring at the floor, deep shadows under his eyes—Lucien could sympathize. Ever since his nightmares had started, he’d not been sleeping well.
"I agree with your doctor, doll. It’s not safe."
Vesperin jerked her hand away from Cyrus’s and stepped back. "Right. Of course you do. I’ll be upstairs."
Atlas wantedto step out of the shadows and take her face in his hands and tell her that even her Soul was not hers.
Her Soul belonged to him.
Days later,Rin woke to a hand pressed against her mouth, stifling her breath, bruising in its force.
She tried to speak, but it was muffled.
"Get up," Rhyden whispered harshly, looming over her with one knee on the mattress. In the darkness, his red eyes glowed. He pulled his hand away.
Rin sat up. "Rhyden, why are you here?" She was on guard. Was this it—his revenge?
Rin’s voice was husky with sleep. Her mouth was dry. She licked her lips, and there was no mistaking the fact his eyes dropped to watch. The walls felt like they were closing in around her. It was just the two of them. In the dark. In the quiet. He had come for her.
Her hand slid beneath her pillow, curling around the grip of her Echogun.
Rhyden caught her wrist, fingers encircling it completely. Her bones trembled from his grip.
"Leave it. If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t have woken you up. I could’ve smothered you in your sleep." He leaned forward, and she tried not to lean back—he was so imposing, menacing. "And you’d only know when you opened your eyes in the Stars."
Rin jerked her hand away, feeling her skin tingle from the remnants of his touch. "What do you want?"
"You want answers? Come with me. We force them."
The cryptic words caught her attention. Against her better judgment, she obeyed.
She left her Echogun tucked beneath her pillow, feeling goosebumps on her exposed flesh as she stood, beginning to tug on a sweatshirt. Rhyden stopped her with a hand on her elbow,red eyes raking over her raised arms and the slip of pale skin exposed at her stomach.
"Leave it," he ordered.
Her curiosity grew. "Okay."
Rin followed Rhyden into the dark halls, wearing only her sleep pants and the thin shirt she’d stolen from Cyrus. It smelled like the incubus. Berries and something heady.
The carpet on the stone floor warmed her bare feet pleasantly, and the low-burning flames in the sconces flickered.
Her eyes caught on Lucien’s closed door, right across from hers. Maybe she should tell him…
Rin was slammed against the wall until her spine pressed harshly into the stone. The flames danced over the side of Rhyden’s face, making his sharp jaw even fiercer. The line of his nose was long, harsh. Everything about him was jagged angles—but somehow, it seemed to justfithim.
"What are you doing?" Rin tried to make her voice strong.
"Trying to figure you out."
She tipped her face up. "What do you mean?"
He laughed at her. "Bravery doesn’t become you. I think you’re much more enticing when you’re weak." He lowered his head to hers. "When you let someone else tell you what to do. I saw you, you know? Both of you. I saw you let that damned liar inside your body, and Iwatched." His voice was a low rumble.
