Page 134 of Stone Cold Touch

His grin was cheeky as he turned, but the look in his eyes could freeze the circles of Hell. He held on to my hand as we headed around the tables and past the witches. They may have been looking at us once more as though they were about to dump a hex on our heads, but I didn’t care.

You seek what is right in front of you, Prince. You know that.

I tried to pull my hand free as the knots in my stomach tripled, but Roth tightened his hold. “Don’t, Layla.”

My breath was coming too fast—two breaths in, one breath out. I let him pull me out to the hallway and down to the elevator. As soon as we stepped inside, I pulled free and smacked the emergency button.

“What are you not telling me?” I demanded, hands curling at my sides.

Roth leaned back against the wall of the elevator. “I don’t know what would make you think that.”

“Don’t mess with me, Roth. I want to know why you really came back from Hell. What is the truth?”

“You know why I came back. To look for the Lilin,” he said, crossing his arms.

Everything in me told me there was more to this. “It seems like the crone expected us to already know who the Lilin was. Like maybe it was right in front of our faces—in front of mine. And you know what I think? I think...” My voice cracked and I looked away.

“What do you think?” he asked quietly. “Tell me, Layla.”

Our eyes met. “I don’t think there’s a Lilin, at least not one that was born successfully from the ritual with Paimon.”

He didn’t say anything as he kicked his head back against the wall. Closing his eyes, he swore under his breath and my stomach dropped.

“Roth,” I whispered.

He uncrossed his arms and rubbed his hands down his face. “It’s not simple. I don’t think you’ll understand that it’s not.”

I took two breaths. “Try me.”

Lowering his hands, he pierced me with eyes that were...that were sad, and that told me everything before he spoke. “I wasn’t around when the chains started to break and I don’t know if it happened before I was cast into the pit or during. The Boss...well, wasn’t really paying attention. We couldn’t figure it out. We knew the ritual wasn’t completed.”

I slumped against the wall, forcing my legs to hold me up. I’d asked for the truth and I needed to hear it.

“At least we didn’t think the ritual was completed, but Cayman was right. Who knows if the carnal sin was sex or just something related to it? None of us know that, but we knew something was happening up here and we knew that either a Lilin was born or...”

“Or it was me?” I asked.

Roth closed his eyes again briefly and then he nodded. “Or it was you. Those are the only two options. All of us knew that. So the Boss sent me back up to either find the Lilin or find proof that it is you.”

I pressed the heel of my hand against my chest.

“That’s why I returned to the school at first. I wasn’t convinced that the Lilin was really there, but I knew I needed to...to stick close to you, to see if you’d changed,” he continued as he pushed off the wall. He started to pace in front of me, the elevator music an odd backdrop. “I didn’t think it was you, because I know you. You may be part demon, but at your core, you’re pure. Not in the bullshit way people label things pure, but you’re inherently good.”

My heart ached, because his words reminded me so much of what Zayne believed. It appeared their undying faith in my gooey goodness was the one thing they had in common.

“But then it was other students who were infected, people who’ve all been tied to you, one way or another.” He shook his head as he passed in front of me. “And there was no proof of the Lilin. Still really isn’t anything concrete other than a cocoon. I’d hoped that the crone would point us in another direction and not confirm what I...what I feared.”

That it was me.

He stopped in front of me, his striking features strained. “From the beginning, I knew your abilities were like the Lilin’s, just slightly different. Where the Lilin can take with touch, you do so by breathing the soul in. But maybe your abilities have shifted. I don’t know, but I do believe you’re not aware of it. That you have no idea that it’s happening.”

I closed my eyes. “Does that make a difference?”

“Yes.”

A harsh laugh escaped me. “Not to the Wardens or the Alphas. Or to humans or—”

“You once told me that everyone has free will and I told you that free will was bullshit. Remember that?”

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