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“That was before Maria’s murderer was set free. That was before I realized…before I realized that you wouldn’t come back to us.”
I leaned back, suddenly filled with guilt. Luc turned to face me, pain and anger mixed in his eyes. I stared into them until I could see everything he was thinking, even if it was an invasion of privacy.
He wanted family. He wanted a home. But he felt alone everywhere.
How painful were his lives before this last one?
While staring into his eyes I forgot he could read me as well. I only realized when his lips pulled to the side in knowing.
“You can’t save everyone, little dove,” he said. “You don’t even have the wings to save yourself.”
He started to walk away, but I jumped in front of him and put my hands up to block him.
“Promise me, Luc,” I said. “Promise me that you won’t go after Adrian and do something you shouldn’t.”
He held my gaze for a long moment.
“Promise me the same,” he replied.
I swallowed, my throat dry. He took in a deep breath and nodded.
“I guess neither one of us can make that promise,” he said.
***
I couldn’t tell if it was day or night, but my body eventually wore itself out with thinking, and I ended up falling asleep on Luc’s bed. When I woke up, I couldn’t determine how long I wasasleep, but it took a long while for my eyes to readjust to the lights of the cavern. I blinked and rubbed my eyes repeatedly, positive that I was wrong about what I was seeing.
But my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me.
Luc was gone.
CHAPTER 36—FALLING
I jumped from the bed, heart in my throat.
“Luc?” I called out.
There was no answer besides the rippling blue lights of the den. Panic rushed through all of my senses, my heart racing as fast as my mind.
Had Luc really gone after Adrian? What would he do? Would he get himself cursed again? I could feel my heart physically break at the thought of Luc lost to another curse.
I raced to the entrance, pulling back the curtain and looking down. It gave me instant vertigo. The drop below warped and twisted in the shadows, the ground below an unmeasurable distance. Stepping back from the ledge, the skin between my shoulders started to fiercely ache, as if my skin knew it once had wings that would carry me safely to the bottom.
But I didn’t have wings. I was human. And if I dropped to my death, I would go to another body, never to see anyone here again.
“Hello?” I called out into the den, the sound echoing off the walls. “Is anyone out there?”
Complete silence.
“Luc?” I called out into the drop below. “Are you out there? Can you hear me?”
Nothing.
“Can anyone hear me? There is a lady in need of some assistance!”
Even that resulted in no response. I huffed and threw aside the curtain, looking around the room. There were no other exits, only a window in the ceiling. Could I crawl out the top and climb down the side?
I looked around the room for something to climb up to the window. There was nothing but books and clothes and toys…
