“And in exchange?” he asked.
“It’s simple,” Gray said. “I want to be able to touch the man I love. To take him in my arms—in my bed—whenever I damn well please. I want you to break that wretched curse, and I want you to do it right now.”
“Now? But how do I know you’ll uphold your end of the bargain? How do I know you’ll succeed?”
“You don’t, but those are my terms.” Gray leaned across the table until her face was just inches from Sebastian’s, her blue eyes blazing like midnight fire. “Stop interfering in our relationship, demon. We both know you have bigger things to focus on, as do we.”
He glared right back at her, but just when I thought he’d explode in another fit, his gaze softened. It was only for a split second, but I saw it—a brief flicker of humanity in his otherwise cunning, cutting eyes.
“You remind me of her,” he said to Gray, his voice so soft and tender I actually thought his vessel had been possessed by some other demon.
For her part, Gray looked absolutely stricken. “Trinity? I’m nothing like—”
“No—your grandmother,” Sebastian corrected. “Deirdre.”
If Gray felt one way or another about the comparison, she didn’t show it. “And?”
“And,” he said, “I haven’t yet decided if that’s endearing… or a liability.”
“Maybe a little of both,” she said.
“Maybe.” A crooked smile touched the bastard’s greasy lips. “Don’t disappoint me, Silversbane.”
And then he was gone.
Twenty-Four
GRAY
I dropped into a kitchen chair and blew out a breath, the relief instant. Sebastian’s presence had sucked up all the air in the room.
“Gray.” Ronan knelt before me, his eyes glazed with emotion. “Did he…?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. My heart hammered in my chest, my magic tingling inside.
Tentatively, Ronan reached for my face, stopping just short of touching me.
“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” He sighed, but didn’t move any closer. “I don’t want it to hurt.”
“It’s not too bad if it’s just a quick burn,” I said.
Ronan closed his eyes. “It’s not the burn I’m worried about.”
He was right. A burn would be nothing compared to the agony we’d feel if Sebastian had walked without granting my request. And so we hesitated, floating together inside this fragile, bubble-thin moment where hope still existed, where there was still a chance.
“You have to touch me,” I finally whispered, the words aching in my throat. “We have to know.”
Opening his eyes, Ronan sighed again, his warm breath teasing my skin. Slowly, he brought his fingers close to my lips.
“I love you,” he whispered. “No matter what.”
And then, swallowing hard, he touched me.
Quickly at first, then again, and then once more to be certain. This last touch lingered, and he held his breath as we both waited for the sizzle that never came.
Beneath his fingers, my lips stretched into a grin, tears spilling down my cheeks.
Ronan pulled back and glanced at his fingers, a gasp escaping his throat. He looked back at me for half-a-second, his beautiful leaves-in-autumn eyes the last thing I saw clearly before he crashed against my mouth.
