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“With pleasure,” Luc growled, turning around and grabbing my arm.
I pulled back.
“Luc, this isn’t nec—”
He pulled me in, scooping me up into his arms and bursting into the air. I screamed in surprise, the ground suddenly thirty feet below me. I gripped on to Luc’s neck as he flew us around the den toward the upper suites made for the sirens.
I didn’t have any breath in my lungs to scold him; I was too distracted by the sights of the den from above. It was acompletely different world up here. I never realized the floor glittered like glass, the rocks and stone chiseled into abstract art on the ground below. The air was warm and welcoming, relaxing my muscles even though everything in my mind was so tense.
Luc flew straight into one of the suites, sliding in through the curtain that blocked the door.
Luc’s suite was more human than I envisioned. Random piles of books, knick-knacks, and toys were littered around the table and floor. There was an unmade bed in the corner—made of stone as the ones in the guest room had been—and a recess in the wall to hang clothes. There was only natural light, if it could be called that. There were no windows, but the light of the den outside the suite leaked inside and rippled against the wall like small waves.
Why did this place feel so familiar?
“Don’t try to run off,” Luc warned. “The drop from here is deadly for you.”
I turned back to Luc, huffing. “This is hardly necessary. Adrian would never—”
“Would never what?” Luc threw back, cutting me off. “Hurt you? Kidnap you, hand you over to his brother as a type of sacrifice to the spiritual realm, and then threaten you and your family for money?ThatAdrian?”
He licked his lips as if his anger had dried them out. I looked down at my feet.
“You were never this naive,” he said. “If you only had your wings, then you’d remember. You’d remember how evil humans really are.”
I stared at him for a long moment.
“And us?” I asked. “Were we much different?”
This time, he went silent, watching the lights as they reflected from the floor below into his room.
“No,” he said eventually. “We were just as evil.”
He stepped forward, lost in thought as he came forward to meet me.
“But you…” he continued, “you can’t remember evil. You’ve been purified so much that you can’t even see it anymore. And that’s dangerous. You can’t fight against evil if you never see it. And if you don’t fight it, it will consume you.”
I couldn’t help but think of Henrik. I wondered how he felt with a demon controlling his mind and spirit to the point of insanity. Was he aware of it? Or was he gone forever? What if Jacques couldn’t save him?
I ran my tongue over my teeth, trying to think of an answer. “I understand it. But Adrian was trialed and declared pure—”
“Only from your spell on him. As soon as that spell breaks, he’ll go back to the way he was.”
Luc turned his back on me, seemingly distracted by the lights on the ceiling once more. It was silent between us for a few moments.
“And your vengeance?” I asked. “Does it not also have the danger of consuming you?”
He didn’t answer right away, his eyes glued to the lights around him.
“I loved her…” he said eventually. “Even as a siren, I remember how much I loved Maria as a man. How can I look her killer in the eye and not do anything? How can I let him walk free?”
I stepped over to him, leaning my forehead against his back and wrapping my arms around him from behind. His wings stayed folded in his back, their soft, dark feathers brushing against my face. His breath was shallow. Even just touching him I could sense how heavy his heart was.
“If you don’t cure the rage in you,” I said, “you’ll end up cursed again.”
He gave a breathy laugh. “Maybe it would be worth it. Just to see him pay for his sins properly.”
I squeezed him harder. “You don’t mean that. The way your face lit up once you had your wings and remembered who you were—”
