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“Ooh, I like it when you call me your partner,” I said in a singsong voice. “It makes me feel all wiggly inside.” My voice fell to a deadly serious tone. “Especially when you employ our connection to suffocate me. And I absolutely adore when I vicariously experience your intimate moments.” I plopped my ass in the plush white chair he gestured to and waited for his eyes to flare red, but he surprised me.
Thorn chuckled. “You could join me, then it wouldn’t be vicarious.”
I sucked in a breath. “What?”
He regarded me for a long while. “It’s an offer, not a part of what I expect. There’s no pressure. What other benefits have you been experiencing?”
“I’m more focused, and my stamina is increased. I’m sure there’s more, but it’s only just beginning.”
“Of course.”
“But is it your mark or the hand?”
He wags his finger at me. “A good question. The truth is, a bit of column A, a bit of column B. I’ve done my best to mute the hand so it doesn’t overpower you. However, as long as it’s in you, it will increase your power in increments.”
“Like what?”
“Like strength, or abilities more like a shifter, jumping, climbing. I suppressed the dark magic, but it’s still a kinetic stone.”
“I broke into my apartment last night.”
He nods. “I heard.”
“Yeah, I figured as much. The point is, it was easy.”
“The hand,” he replied.
I shifted a little in my seat, wondering how much to share. “I could also see auras on people, sense their mood, their needs, their hungers. I could have tracked any of them the way I track artifacts, and I felt the desire to hunt them.”
“That’s all you.”
“I’ve never felt those things before.”
He leaned forward. “My mark on you isn’t likely to lend power you don’t already possess. It will make you faster, stronger, able to take and give more damage. But it also will undo any other suppression you’ve been under. Over time, you gain even more abilities.”
I didn’t know what to say. So I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes. “What a freaking week.”
“What about the eye? Where did you hide it? It isn’t at the warehouse.” His voice was nonchalant, but I sensed worry.
I patted my hip pocket. “It goes where I go until you take it off my hands. I’d rather not go back to some so-called safe place, only to find it missing.”
“Good. That makes this easier.”
I sat up and opened my eyes. “What?” I glance around, but we’re still alone. “Is this where you kill me?”
“Fucking hell, will you let it go? If I wanted you dead, I’d have killed you, not given you my power.”
I huffed out a breath, recalling the conversation in Thorn’s headquarters. “It’s not my fault you always sound vaguely threatening. Jesus. God, even your crew thinks you’re a murder machine.”
Thorn scrunched his eyebrows.
“What do you mean?”
“I overhead them speculating how long you’d keep me around.”
Confusion washed over his face.
“What did they say, exactly?”
