Page 14 of A Lost Light

Elijah looked down at his hands, turning them over and back again. “Are you saying… I will look like… me?”

Those blue eyes met mine again, and really, they had no business looking so innocent. The angel had been around just as long as the rest of us. He'd seen some of the same hardships. He could be as coldly pragmatic as the rest of us. And I knew for a fact he was a complete pervert. Why did I feel this overwhelming need to comfort him and reassure him?

It's the maker bond, I believe,Sunny whispered.He's ours to care for now.

My gut twisted at that. Placing another living being inmycare seemed like a recipe for disaster. And yet… it sounded right, idiotically.

“Yes,” I told the angel, who was still patiently waiting for my answer. “I think that's probably what will happen. But let me know if you feel any discomfort or if anything feels like it's not right.”

Not that I knew what I'd do. I was confident in my ability to make this revenant. But what did I know about easing pain orlooking after the comfort of my creations? The undead usually didn't have those sorts of worries.

My voice came out gruff, but he didn't seem to mind. He just nodded his agreement and murmured, “Thank you,” again.

“Well, that's that,” I said, stepping back. “Practice with your magic a bit, spook. The rest of us need to focus on how to use those artifacts we stole.” I moved toward the doorway, desperately wanting to escape this strange new situation while everyone else was focused on fussing over Elijah. They were all gathered around him in a loose circle as I made my escape.

But I felt eyes on me. I turned to glance over my shoulder as I stepped inside the house, surprised to find Aahil, of all people, watching me with a strange expression on his too-pretty face.

I knew you wanted him, Sunshine said when he caught my thoughts.I think he appreciated your show of power. That is how some attract mates, yes?

For fuck's sake,I snapped, turning away from the jinn's intense golden gaze and stomping off toward my room.Go take a nap in the corner or something. Just let me pretend I'm alone in my own fucking brain for five seconds.

Sunshine's dark chuckle was not amusing. But I had other things to worry about. More important things than silly attractions thatabsolutelydidn't exist or newly alive angels who needed me. I was pretty sure we were all about to get dragged into a war. My time was better spent honing our defenses and coming up with some sort of plan for how to use the powerful magical artifacts we had stolen.

The rest was unimportant.

“Knock it the fuck off!” I snapped out loud, as I stumbled over my own feet, distracted by sunshine's bullshit. Thankfully I was alone in the upstairs hallway by this time, so there was no one to witness my clumsiness or my talking to myself. The damnedwraith just smirked at me from our shared mind with all the satisfaction of a mischievous house cat.

He had just shown me an image of Andy and Aahil sharing Elijah's new body, showing the angel what it was like to be alive again.

“The Lovellshaveto have a spell somewhere in their library for memory erasure,” I muttered darkly. “Don't think I won't use it to scour my own brain, wraith.”

Dark laughter echoed in my head.

Chapter 8

Aahil

Ihad no idea what I was doing right now. Maybe it was just the knowledge that I was more in control—both of myself and my fire—than I had been in some time. Maybe that explained it. A return of confidence and my own sensual nature.

Maybe I was simply brain damaged.

Ormaybe, it was time to admit that I was justveryattracted to people with power. I had always been accused of being shallow, perhaps I should just embrace that quality. Yes, that was it. This desperate feeling, this clawing need to do thisnow.It must all be driven by the dark magic inside my target.

Regardless of thewhy, I was almost as surprised as the necromancer, when I found myself in the library holding the taller man pinned against the bookshelf. It was as though I had been compelled to follow him. To finally figure out what this strange tension between us really was.

I had certainly rebelled at the idea that I might be attracted to the corpse-whisperer, at least at first. And yet, my eyes were drawn to the contrast of my red-brown skin against his perfectpaleness, every fiber of my being zeroed in on the feel of his cold smoothness against my searing heat.

My dick was rock hard.

He didn't react to my sudden appearance and assault. The irises of his violet eyes were rimmed in a slim ring of wraith black, but his expression was calm. As if this were simply any other afternoon. As if he had expected this.

“What have you done to me?” I hissed, applying a bit more pressure to my grip as I pushed up onto my tiptoes, leaning into his space. “What dark magic have you cast on me, necromancer? And why? I am not one of your mindless undead slaves to be pushed about and held under your thrall.”

His blood red brows raised, the first show of emotion since I had appeared in this room. “Magic?” he asked, his deep voice carrying a rather convincing amount of confusion. His prominent Adam's apple vibrated under my palm and my fingers tightened on the long column of his throat.

“Don't lie to me, necromancer,” I hissed. The old, familiar darkness coiled deep inside me, waking from its recent slumber. I remembered what it was like to be a slave. This man was powerful. Dangerous in a way that others didn't realize. He was a very strong magic user, yes, but also a learned one. One who had vast experience with hiding in the shadows and being what he was while remaining undetected. He had subtlety. He was sly. And that was the most dangerous magic of all.

Had he been slowly, subtly controlling all of us, all along? But to what end?

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