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He’s resting against a stone wall, sitting on the floor like it’s comfortable. The dank air around us, along with the constant drip, drip, drip of the cave roof overhead doesn’t make this too cozy, but he seems overly at ease.
I suppose, next to the atrociously inhumane prison hell he survived in for centuries, anything is comfortable.
“So what’s her name?” I ask, holding up the sketch of a beautiful woman. “Someone you two fought over? Is that why you betrayed him?”
He snorts and scoffs at the same time. “No. No woman could have ever torn us apart in the way you mean.” He looks down at his lap, staring at his fingernails like something is on them. “I’m a Gemini Twin, but more importantly, I’m a creature shifter—just like you.”
“My family refers to me as a creature goddess, same as my mother. And father, only he’s obviously not called a goddess.”
One corner of his mouth lifts in a sad smile as his eyes come back up to meet mine.
“No, not like them,” he says softly. “We’re all very complex and unique. Then of course, your line is cursed. All the ones of your royal blood struggle with the darkest recesses of their mind, losing themselves to the worst of the madness that accompanies our very powerful kind. It’s the balance of magic.”
“My mother uses hers just fine now,” I decide to point out.
“Your mother is powerful, but not close to as powerful as you,” he volleys.
“What does any of that have to do with this woman?” I ask dubiously, my eyes narrowing.
Is he trying to get me to admit my mother isn’t as powerful? Is this him playing me? Does he know of her never-ending pregnancy?
He collects the sketchbook from my hand, bringing it back to him. After a beat of just staring at the drawing of the unnamed woman, he turns the page and starts sketching again.
“One thing all creatures such as us do have in common, is what, Ella?”
“Am I being quizzed?” I ask, my eyes still narrowed on him.
“Hardly. You’d surely fail at your young age.”
For the first time, his snarky attitude reminds me of Slade, and for some stupid-ass reason, that puts me a little at ease.
“We can all shift into most forms of immortals, using their powers like they’re our own, but when we combine all of them at once, our eyes turn silver and we become the most lethal being. Or at least, we should be. Hannah is cheating,” I answer.
He smiles grimly, nodding absently. “Hannah isn’t stronger. She’s just been planning this for so long that all of you—I as well—are playing catch up. Her advantage comes from calculated maneuvers, hidden agendas, and unpredictable surprises, not strength. She’s a self-made anomaly.”
He continues to sketch; I impatiently await the answer that is supposed to explain why he betrayed Slade and sentenced him to so much pain that his immortal, unscarrable body became riddled with scars.
“But that’s not what I was referring to,” he says as though he’s answering a question I missed. “One thing all creatures such as us have in common is that we’re the only ones with a true, designated mate—if you discount the dragons who just invaded our world, that is.”
I bristle. He notices.
His eyes barely lift, as if he’s expecting me to comment. When I don’t, he smirks and resumes his task of sketching.
“The Gemini Twins were destined to be interconnected. One feels pain, we both feel it. It gave us a boost in power, but it was decidedly a curse,” he states matter-of-factly, no emotion in his voice.
“I already know this. You severed the link because—”
“You don’t know anything, Ella, I assure you,” he interrupts, turning the page before I can see what he finished sketching. He starts a fresh sketch, and I lift my eyes to study him.
“So tell me.”
Without looking at me, he says, “My brother’s end-goal is not to torture me, though I’m sure that will be a lovely perk to him. His intentions are to save me.”
That has my brow furrowing in confusion.
“I can guarantee you that’s not what he said,” I argue, wondering how he became this disillusioned, when only moments ago he seemed to be on the right page.
He smiles like that’s a good thing, but continues to sketch, never glancing at me.
