Page 96 of Love's Ace

Fuck, we weren’t in our world anymore—the book had said as much, that they’d bring us to them. We were somewhere else, where the sun wasn’t warm on my skin, and the two twins who smiled with their ethereal expressions were in control. We were in a complete unknown… and Theo still stood tall.

Beautiful and brave.

Everything I’d ever wanted, and nothing I’d ever done to deserve.

“Help him how?” Helix pressed the knife closer to Theo’s throat and tilted his head. “You may have sealed away my gift, but it’s still eating him from the inside out. He’ll be powerful when he changes… maybe he’ll tip the scale. Who knows?”

Tip the scale.

There really was a war going on, but it didn’t meananything. It was just these two playing a game with the world, wasn’t it?

“I just want him to be okay.” I hated the way my voice broke, the way my fingers clenched so hard my nails sliced into my palms. “I want him to beTheowhen this is all said and done.”

“Hmmm. It would be a shame, brother, to lose such a strong soldier. Look at how hard they’ve both fought. This thing between them…” Celio stepped forward and ran his finger along the thread connecting us. I groaned—it wasn’t like when I touched it, or when Theo did. The touch burned. It made mewant to scream. “It’s pure corruption. Pure connection. Some twisted…Fate.” His eyes flicked up to Aiden when he said it, and the arms holding me tightened. “Someone has to be punished.”

The hope building slowly in my chest died on that word, and I felt the sting of the blade cutting into Theo’s throat when he tried to surge forward. It wasn’t enough to stop Celio from twisting the thread in his hands.

The touch made me scream.

And it made Theo’s eyes slowly swirl to black.

“Stop.Stop it.” I didn’t know how I drew breath to scream it, to plead, but I did. I was shivering, and I didn’t care. All I could see was Theo.

Theo in a thousand different ways… Theo, soft and sweet. Theo, breaking while he told me his past. Theo, opening up so slowly and letting me reallyseehim…and Theo in all the ways I hadn’t got to see yet.

In the sun.

On the beach.

Whole and human and happy.

“Punish me.” I gasped it out, finally yanking out of Aiden’s hold and dropping my hands to my sides. My wings flared behind me, wanting to stretch out.

To reach Theo.

To wrap around him and take him from this place.

“Wren,don’t—”

“Shh, child.” Helix pressed the knife closer, cocking his head in curiosity. “Do you know what you’re saying? One of you has to die. As long as you’re a cupid, as long as he’s an Enmity… as long as you’re tied together as such an abomination, you can’t exist.”

As long as I was a cupid.

“What if it was different?” I whispered.

“Wren, don’t.” Aiden’s voice was just as soft, but it was Theo’s face I was seeing—not the vicious smile of the man holding him, or the way his teeth were all sharp points.

Not his twin, whose eyes were glowing with curiosity.

“Different?”

“I don’t have to be this way. I can…” My hands moved behind me, grabbing my wings and yanking. It tore a scream from my throat, tore an echoing cry from Theo… but…

Maybe.

Maybe it would be enough.

“Wren,don’t.” Theo hissed it again, struggling against Helix’s hold.

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