Page 35 of Tears of Revenge

Avalon finally giggled, and the sound warmed his frozen heart. “What if I ate it anyway?” she asked, taking a sip from the glass. The moment the taste had touched her tongue, she gulped the rest of it down.

“Your body would reject it.”

“That’s no fun.”

“But let me tell you a secret,” he said, leaning forward and lowering his voice. “If you order Lysander something you enjoy and let the smell of it surround you while you drink, it comes pretty close.”

“I hope he likes garlic,” she laughed, brows fusing. “That’s just a myth, right? Garlic can’t actually hurt me?”

“You don’t have to worry about a vegetable killing you.”

“Holy water?”

“Not really. These days, that kind of holy water doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Silver?”

“That depends on the purity.”

“So, it can kill me?”

“The element itself can’t, but it does weaken you and burns like shit.”

“What can kill me?”

“Beheading.” Her eyes widened so he quickly added to soothe her worry, “Though it’s not easy to behead us, or even puncture our skin.”

Avalon set the glass aside, inspecting her hands. At first, she took in the details of her fingers, then her palm and her wrist before she turned and did the same to her knuckles. “That’s why Lysander used my own fingernail to cut my skin?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t want to hurt him again.”

“He provoked you.”

“He proved a point.”

Marcus lowered to his knees, taking her hand in his and gently smoothing his thumb over her knuckles. “You’ll learn to control your new self. The thirst will ebb with time.”

Avalon didn’t answer, her gaze fixed on his thumb.

“Are you upset with us?”

“I don’t know. Maybe, but I don’t want to be.”

“You are allowed to be.”

“But you saved me.”

“Just like Lysander said, we could’ve also made you feel comfortable in your last moments.”

Avalon shrugged and twisted her wrist so now his hand laid in hers. “I always knew you two were different.” Her hand faintly shook as she giggled. “I thought you were angels. My angels. You saved me, then you came back and made me happy.”

“You speak too highly of us.”

“I was at my breaking point and you two turned my whole life around. You gave me hope. And when I saw you in that elevator again, I thought you’d come back to make sure I was alright. That you needed to know I was safe, maybe even happy.”

“And you were, both safe and happy. You did that all by yourself.”

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