Page 50 of Love's Ace

Fuck.

When did I stop wanting to—

“You should kill him.”

My eyes snapped back to Gethin, shooting wide at the suggestion like it was the most ludicrous thing I’d ever heard in my existence.

I had to be careful, though. I realized that as much as I trusted Gethin, I didn’t trust him with everything I was thinking.

Everything I was feeling.

It wasn’t that I was worried about him turning on me… but I didn’t want him to try to repeat what had happened between the two of us with some stolen arrow.

It would probably kill him.

I didn’t want tothinkof what it would do to the human he’d once called brother.

“Did you hear me, Wren? You should—”

“I heard you,” I cut him off. “First of all, I already tried that. All it did was land me exactly where I am. Besides, I don’t know what would happen to me. You don’t understand, Gethin. When we first connected, there was a trail of black eating away at the thread between us. Have youeverheard of a cupid infected by Enmity? Do you have any idea what would happen?”

He was silent for a second, then the asshole actually lifted one shoulder in a shrug, like the suggestion was nothing more than a fun thought experiment for him.

“We’ve been attacked by them for eons—clawed and bitten, bled on. For all you know, it wouldn’t do a damn thing to you.”

He was right, but…

“You don’t understand. I couldfeelit, Gethin.” I tried to keep my voice as hushed as possible, because I didn’t know when Theo was going to come out of the bathroom.

And honestly, it wasn’t like he didn’t know this, but still…

“And you think if you cut the thread and slit his throat that it would still manage to spring between you?”

My fingers were clenching again, and I had to force myself to stop before Theo realized something was wrong.

“What happens to a human when their connection with their soulmate is broken?” I hissed the question out instead.

“They’re exposed to the Enmity, vulnerable to it.”

“Exactly!”

“But this isn’t the same, Wren. Cupids aren’t humans, and we can’t have soulmates, no matter how many times we stab them or ourselves.” Fuck, I couldhearthe pain in his voice. Of course he’d tried.

He’d probably tried a dozen times.

No… probably more than that.

There was every chance he still tried with bribed or stolen arrows.

“Things aren’t that simple, Gethin.”

“Let me make it simple for you. If Aiden finds out what you did, he’ll tear your wings off. You’ll spend the rest of eternity inpain, and they’ll kill him anyway. He won’t break the thread first, Wren. You’ll feel it, and you’ll spend the rest of eternityfeelingit.”

The thought was horrifying, and the pain lancing through his voice told me that he wasn’t saying it out of spite or anger. He was saying it because it was what he felt every day. The pain of losing his wings, the love that he could never really give.

He was trying to save me…

But he didn’t understand—howcouldhe understand? I didn’t even understand how a few days and a fucking red thread could change everything.

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