Page 49 of Love's Ace

I really did need to get hold of my emotions. I could blame the Ardor and the fact that it was pulsing through me, that it seemed to have somehow integrated itself into my bloodstream, fused with everything that I was. A direct hit to the heart made it impossible for the feelings to fade…

But no, this wasn’t lust or passion. This was a feeling I was actually used to. That bitter anger, the urge to fight, to kill, to…

My eyes drifted to Theo again, to the way he was staring at my hands like they’d somehow have answers to my behavior.

Fuck, I didn’t know if I had any answers at all.

“What kind of favor from what kind of creature?” Gethin prompted, giving me something else to focus on. At least it waseasier to answer him—there were more Reapers than I could keep count of. I was fairly certain Gethin and Sephtis had never crossed paths.

“A Reaper. Don’t ask me how I curried his favor,” I added before he’d even opened his lips. “It’s nothing that could be repeated. It was just… chance.”

Chance… right.Sephtis and his golden eyes, staring at a dying mortal in a hospital bed. Sephtis, begging me to let him show that mortal kindness, no matter the cost.

A Reaper felt even less than a cupid—a Reaper shouldn’t have been able to feel atall. Shouldn’t have been able to sympathize, orwant.

But he had.

And in the end, it had cost him everything. More than anyone should have been willing to give.

My eyes flicked back to Gethin—he’d given everything too, hadn’t he?

Maybe he and Sephtis would understand each other more than I thought.

“He sealed his soul, didn’t he?” Gethin finally asked after a few seconds. The fact that he’d managed to deduce what Sephtis had done without me saying anything, without me showing him the sigil so he could decipher the runes, was truly impressive. But that was half the reason I’d brought Theo here.

Gethin had all the time in the world to read, to research. He knew more about most things than anyone I’d ever met.

“Yeah. I wasn’t sure if he could do anything about it, but it seems to be working—for the most part.”

Gethin’s eyes dropped to Theo’s blackened nails, and he arched a brow.

“For the most part, hm? I don’t know how much good that’s going to do you when he turns one day and doesn’t come back tohimself. An Enmity with his soul sealed away in his chest—can you imagine how dangerous that might be?”

I didn’t want to hear it, if I was being honest.

“I’m done.” Theo interrupted before I could come up with a way to defend him. He pushed himself to standing and crossed his arms over his chest. “Bathroom? I want to take a shower.”

Gethin stared at him for a beat, and I worried he was going to end up saying something that would make the situation worse. I’d dropped my guard too much, it seemed, because the gentle ease that had settled over the room was slowly fading away on the wings of Theo’s apprehension.

I had to force myself to clench my teeth so I wouldn’t tell him to stay. I sat silently as Gethin gestured to the room in the back of his little apartment. “Through there. It’s the only door that isn’t the closet.”

Theo didn’t look at me as he stepped past us and made his way into the bedroom, but he made sure to close the door loud enough that we both heard it.

Gethin at least had the tact to wait until he heard the water running for a few minutes before he turned back to me.

“He’s a fucking ticking time bomb. You realize that, right?”

Of course I realized that. I’d witnessed it firsthand. I’d seen him nearly transform—I’d been on the edge of his claws and seen the sharpness of his teeth.

It didn’t matter, though.

“Maybe. But what can I do about it, Gethin? I know you can see the thread between us just as much as I can.” I raised my hand and gently touched the edge of the crimson line. Just that faint little pluck was enough to make me wince. It was enough that the air momentarily felt trapped in my lungs. Enough that I knew Theo probably felt me touch it. I wondered if it would somehow reassure him that it was still there—that I was still here.

That we were still tethered, and I wasn’t worried about himturning on me.

When had I stopped worrying about that? Was it somewhere between feeling him touch himself in the bathroom and watching him control the fury of his transformation enough to attack the Enmity instead of me?

Was it when I’d been on the other side of the wall and held his hand?

---