Page 98 of Night of Death and Flowers

His words echo in my mind as we walk back to the temple, and I hold on to them like a dark, dangerous jewel I should not covet. Before we arrive, a thought crosses my mind. “You still call me Poison.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

He turns and faces me, halting me in my tracks. “Because,” he says throatily, stealing my next breath, “Your words are like venom to my soul. I am completely captivated and devastated with every sentence you throw my way. So, yes, you are my poison, and I can think of no better way to die.”

I swallow hard, then hold my breath in my lungs, not knowing what to say. My heart balloons when I look at him, the high of feeling him buried inside of me, fogging my mind.

I cannot explain our connection. So why do I feel like a fly, unaware it was in the spider’s web until it was captured? His power already expands in my body. Perhaps being his domain enhances the magic, continually, like an endless well. How many times can he pull it from me before I can’t cope?

“Your powers are growing again,” he states.

“It only happened since I’ve been here. I could control them when I was Ennismore,” I say, curling my hands into fists as if it may restrain my powers.

His brows knit together, but he takes off before I work out what he’s thinking.

I shake my head, pulling myself out of his trance as we reach the beautiful, ivy constricted pillars of the temple. I follow Death inside, his steps echoing as we head down to the hunter’s room.

Ari and Drake come into view, locked in hurried, intelligible conversation. They stop whispering when they see us, and Ari gasps. “Where were you?” She looks at Azkiel, then grits her teeth.

“The forest,” I say. “We were checking the area.”

Drake’s tone drips with venom. “Was that all you were doing?”

“Yes!” I grab my dagger from the table they had used to cut the berries and mushrooms, then place it in the holder strapped to my thigh. “Let’s go. You too, Drake.”

He shakes his head. “I can’t leave.” His glare snaps to Azkiel, and I put my hands up.

“He’s breaking the blood oath,” I explain, and he scoffs, glancing between me and Azkiel, holding back the countless things I know he wants to say.

“Thank her,” Death commands before Drake can leave the room. “Now.”

Drake halts, his tense breath coming out in a rattle. “Shouldn’t I be thanking you?”

“Stop,” I say. “That’s unnecessary.”

“It is,” Azkiel counters and my stomach dips. Fuck. Now they definitely know what happened.

Drake turns, the bulb in his throat bobbing, his eyes crowning wrinkled anger, tears glossing his green irises. “Thank you, for whatever you did to persuade him.”

Shadows erupt from Death before I can throw myself between them. “You promised to let him go,” I say, and Azkiel hesitates when he looks at me.

Reluctantly, his shadows retreat. He peers around me, to Drake. “You are lucky, traitor.”

Ari nods, a far-off look in her eyes. “We all are,” she counters, always the peacekeeper, although I can sense her disdain when she stops beside me. “We should leave before Dephina comes for me.”

It’s dark by the time we reach the edge of the forest to the Black Sea.

We pause by a clearing, and Ari gathers a bundle of Nocturnum Somnus—the same plant that almost put us into a comatose state when Cordelia and Briar attacked.

“Careful,” I tell Ari as she stashes the poisonous plant away between some leaves. “That’s not for eating.”

“I know,” Ari says before pocketing the root and flowers of the plant. “It’s just, if Dephina makes another appearance, I want to protect myself.”

“No one will hurt you while you’re with me.”

My heart skips a beat as Azkiel emerges from the darkness, his lustful eyes finding mine across the clearing.

---