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We have sex again. Slow and gentle this time, but every bit as physically and emotionally satisfying. Then it’s time for a lazy Sunday morning breakfast downstairs. The staff smile at us, as though we’re giving off so much love and joy that it’s infectious. My hearty bacon, sausages, and eggs are as delicious and as prettily served as last night’s more rarefied selection.
“Ready for the drive home?” Gabriel asks.
“I guess.”
I want to put it off as long as possible. Out here, it’s just the two of us. Food, sex, and conversation. Back in Mannith, nothing will be that simple. Even so, I get in the car.
For the first few miles, we drive in silence, enjoying the view and each other’s company.
“So, what is this?” Gabriel asks eventually, once we’re through the Dome and on the outskirts of Mannith. “Do you propose we make a habit of this sort of thing?”
I look away from him, out over the moors. “Do you?”
“I’ve told you before. You say you want something serious, I’ll give it to you. But you don’t seem to know what you want. Or if you do, you won’t show it.”
I want you.It’s crazy. Though he’s inhabited my mind for years on end, I barely know him. And some of what I do know gives major cause for concern. But while I can attempt to hide the truth from him, there’s no hiding it from myself.
“These last fifteen hours with you have been… incredible. But I can’t separate what I feel for you from your relationship with my family. Particularly now, while the trial is ongoing.”
I’m still angry at my family about the Ritual. But that doesn’t mean throwing my lot in with their old enemy. It doesn’t mean letting my brother go down for a crime he didn’t commit.
Gabriel swerves the car into a side road and slams on the brakes, jolting us both back in our seats. “Forget about the trial. Brendan does not deserve your help. Not six years ago when you handed yourself over to me to save his magic and not now.”
I cross my arms. “Is that what this is all about? You had a fool-proof plan to take down your rival, but Brendan has a secret weapon in me, so you’re trying to use sex and romance to neutralise the threat?”
Gabriel cuts the engine. “Let’s take a walk. There’s something I need to tell you.”
I glance out of the window. The road is deserted, and the surrounding area is heavily wooded. Despite the lovely time we’ve been having, some instinct tells me I don’t want to be alone with him out there.
I sit up straighter. “Whatever you need to say, you can say it here.”
“Some conversations need to take place in nature.” He opens his door, steps out onto the side of the road, and strides into the shelter of the trees without waiting to see if I’m going to follow.
For a minute or two, I hesitate. What the hell is this? Then I sigh and let myself out of the car. Deep down, I’m desperate to hear what he has to tell me.
Gabriel has disappeared from sight, but I can sense his aura pulsing in the distance. It’s strong and distinctive—and right now, extremely agitated.
I traverse myself to his location—it’s a two-minute walk away at most, but I don’t want to waste any time. He’s in a little glade, where the intertwined trees above almost block out the sun. He’s leaning against the trunk of an old oak, breathing hard and obviously trying and failing to control his emotions.
I stand just in front of him, not quite touching. “Well?”
I expect a smooth, polished reply, but no words come. He closes his eyes and takes another audible breath.
“Come on, Gabriel. You’ve dragged me out here for some grand revelation. Give it to me.”
He opens his eyes, looks at me, and nods. But instead of replying, he starts to pace around the glade.
I stand very still and resist the temptation to demand an answer. He clearly needs time. But my own breathing is getting more rapid by the moment, and I’m unpleasantly hot. What’s so awful or so shocking that the cockiest person I know—and there’s competition on that front, given my family—can’t bring himself to utter the words? It’s hardly as if he pretends to be an angel. I’ve seen plenty of the bad side of him.
Eventually, he stops, facing me head on, but with a good few feet between us. From across the distance, he stares into my eyes.
“I killed my own father to frame your brother.”
My hand flies to my mouth and I almost fall to the mossy ground in shock. “You did… what?”
He sounds so matter of fact, his voice stripped of all emotion. It’s more terrifying than if he’d screamed the words.
I take a few hurried paces backwards until I’m pressed up against a tree, and with some effort, I raise my shields. I’ve always known he was far from morally uncomplicated, but someone who’d kill their father could be capable of literally anything.
