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My eyes narrowed. “No, of course not. I already told you last night that I don’t want to side with either of them.”
He shook his head in frustration. “If you won’t use the ring for yourself, think about the lives of countless other people. Four people already died in Manteo because of the Raven Mockers, Ellie, and that might just be the beginning.”
“I don’t trust him. If I use it, I’m falling right into his plans, which we both know isneverin my best interest. So if I use the ring, what price will I have to pay?”
“You already put his mark on your back. You sold your soul to him. What else can he take?”
“You.” Tears burned behind my eyes. “He can still takeyou. He’s using me, yet he keeps taking things from me. He took my mother and my father. You might be next.”
David heaved out a breath and pulled me against his chest, wrapping his arms around my back. “Oh, Ellie.”
“I can’t lose you, David. I don’t think I could survive it.”
He cradled my head against his chest. “I’m not going anywhere.”
But I knew he couldn’t promise me that.
Only one being could. And I was going to stop him if it was the last thing I did.
I suspected it just might be.
Chapter10
Igave David a kiss and stepped away from him, moving back to the window.
“Ellie, don’t pull away from me because you’re afraid of losing me.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned my attention to the wall of photos opposite his desk. “You have a lot of pictures.”
He rested his butt against the desk, watching me. “Yeah,” he murmured.
“I don’t see any photos of naked coeds,” I said with a small smile. “When I tried to show you a photo of my tattoo on my phone, you told me that you’d have me arrested if it was a naked picture. Have you really gotten any of those?”
“A few times, which was a few times more than I cared for. I think you know me well enough to know that I’m not really into that sort of thing.” A slow grin spread across his face. “Unless you want to text me some photos of yourself.”
I snorted. “Not a chance.”
“You can’t blame a bloke for trying.”
My heart was heavy, but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. I stepped closer to the wall, where there were several pictures of David with an older couple. “Are these your parents?”
A soft smile spread across his face. “Yeah. And that’s my brother, Matthew.”
I studied a photo of a younger David with a guy who looked a lot like him. They were indoors, but the photo was so closely cropped, I couldn’t tell much else about the room where they were standing. “He has a nice smile. He looks friendly.”
“He is. We aren’t close—we’re just such opposites—but we’re there for each other if one of us needs something.”
“So you miss them?”
“Yeah. Particularly my mum, but we get to chat on the phone and Skype.”
My head jerked up. “You haven’t talked to her very much since you’ve been with me.”
“I usually call during my lunch break at work.” He shrugged. “The time difference.”
I continued down the wall. The photos were random snapshots of his life. Pictures with friends at parties and a few archaeological sites. And there were several of David with a pretty blond woman. Even though they weren’t showing any signs of physical affection, I knew they were a couple. In one of the photos, they were in the mountains, both of them dressed in ski jackets and carrying poles. “You ski?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He shifted nervously.
