Page 55 of Sinner's End

“Why?”

“Because I was bored,” he says, his voice flat. “I let the succubus into your house and told Lethe to take you through the graveyard. I didn’t think you would leave.”

“No,” I cut in angrily. “You just thought it was fun to put my fucking life in danger!”

“You were never in danger,” he replies.

“Oh, eat shit and die,” I curse him out. “You can’t say that, and you know it.” I glare at him, breathing harshly.

“Punish me,” he says, finally letting go of Daisy and climbing to his feet. “Cut me out, hate me, whatever it takes. But don’t punish them. They love you.”

“I can’t believe a fucking word you say!” I cry out, slapping him across the face.

“Maybe not,” he says softly. “But I’m not asking you to choose me. I’m telling you not to.”

He turns and walks to the back gate before he stops.

“You’re special, Adreana,” he says, turning back to me. “Lethe fell for you. Mana has never made a deal to keep a womanfor an eternity. And you healed Kaleb to the point where his heart can love again. Don’t throw that away because of me.”

He leaves through the gate but before he slips between the trees beyond, I call out to him.

“If I’ve done something for each of them, what did I do for you?”

A sad look crosses his face. “You made me feel the one emotion I’ve never felt before. Regret.”

And then he is gone and I am alone with all this new information. What the fuck am I supposed to do now?

Chapter Twenty-Five

Blood on the Dotted Line

Mana

Mortals are fucking ridiculous.

I twirl the blackened blade forged of demon wrath between my fingers like it’s a toy when its sheer presence burns my skin. This body is conditioned not to react to the sensation, no more than Lethe did when I pressed the hell-spawned metal to his throat.

Not that I would have hesitated to spill the Fallen’s blood had it not been for the anguish in her eyes that shone through beyond the madness of her possession.

Kaleb took the proverbial cake with his display of twisted filial piety earlier that ruined everything we built together. Unfair, perhaps, but I’m not in a giving mood. Who would have thought the half-spawn had that much corruption in him? I’m surprised he can lift his mortal head, but perhaps he’s a little closer to the caste he was birthed from than I expect. I won’t underestimate him again.

My delusion comes hot on the heels of his knuckles flying at my face as Kaleb looses his rage on me, backing me into the crypt of some long-dusted human bones at the extremity of the graveyard beyond Adreana’s house. I can feel the unsettled souls ekeing their way through the tainted soil. From the way Lethe twitches and Kaleb rages, I’m not alone in my assessment of this place.

Sinner’s End is aptly named.

On any other day I might be interested in the history of the house, but right now I’m more worried about keeping my face intact, having been on the receiving end of Kaleb’s fury more than once in the last hour since Addi stalked away in herkittenesque rage.

“Are you scared she won’t let you back into her house to play mommies and daddies?” I taunt him when his fists drop, relieved as my thigh aches from ducking blows that crash over my head and into the solid stone of the crypt wall beyond. “You did such a fabulous job the first time round,” I drawl, just to dig the coffin nail deeper.

“We lost her because you can’t tell a straight truth and keep your twisted dicks to yourself,” Kaleb snarls back.

I raise an eyebrow, sucking in a slow breath to disguise how winded he’s left me.Insufferable mortal form. “The little boy wants to play.”

“I’ll show youlittle—”

He stalks forward, and I prepare my thighs for another round of demon whack-a-mole.

“You’ll never earn her back like this.” Lethe’s quiet voice saves me a beating as my thighs choose this moment to quiver and give out.

---