Page 42 of Eternal Obsession

Orpheus glanced at the castle. “This very night . . .” He knelt down and picked up a small rock, standing again. He crushed it effortlessly, exaggerating his point as the rock dissolved into dust. “I will extinguish your brother’s life.” He pulverized the stone.

“Stay back!” I said.

“Or you will do what? Have you any idea what it is to love a woman with your entire being as I did? Oh, but you do! Her name . . . yes, I hear it now—Catherine!”

Trying to fathom how he knew about her, a wave of panic hit me. “Do not say her name!”

“Beautiful long blond hair, full lips, fuller breasts.”

“I said do not⁠—”

“Your mind is as transparent as your brother’s,” Orpheus said.

“We will duel and that will decide this.”

He vanished.

I searched the area. “Orpheus?” I called out.

The air was chilling. Crashing waves hit the rocks and sprayed foam. Cursing my ineptitude, I headed toward the castle.

Fighting for breath, my thoughts slipping like water through trembling fingers, reason lost in the haze of disbelief. This couldn’t be real, this horror, vast and vivid, a nightmare of unbearable proportions. And yet, deep within, I knew what I had witnessed was no illusion.

Halfway up, Orpheus reappeared before me as though out of nothing.

Relieved I had a second chance, I began, “You have been wronged. For that I am sorry, but Alex is⁠—”

Orpheus held a necktie. “I’m going back to him. Only this time, instead of helping Alex with his tie, I’ll strangle him with it.”

I recognized the material. It was Alex’s.

“Yes. Pity really, because he’s so vibrant, so—Alex.”

“You dare touch him!”

“Consider this place without him.” Orpheus turned.

I flew at him.

Orpheus leapt out of the way, and I hurtled to the ground. Easily, he flipped me onto my back and his fist struck my chest. Air left my lungs. Struggling to catch my breath, I clutched at his jacket, fearing he would disappear again.

“You were saying?” he said.

“Don’t harm him.”

“Are you begging?”

“Take my life instead. Take me in his place.”

“How honorable. But you see, you have no idea what you are offering. I am taking your brother to Stonehenge to perform the very same ritual that was performed upon Sunaria, before I strangle him. That is how it must be for me to feel any kind of peace again.”

Orpheus helped me to my feet.

Everything was wrong.

He carried himself like a man in control, because he was. Beguiling, unsteady, and laced with danger, he was a volatile force cloaked in charm.

“Take me,” I said.