Page 64 of Tortured Soul
Dimitri’s face softened as his hand came up to pinch my chin, making sure I could see all the extent of his affection toward me in his gaze, his whole face.
“Be careful,zhizn moya, or I might believe you still care about me. Aboutus.”
The corner of his lips tilted upward almost imperceptibly before setting back on a serious line. I ignored the fluttering in my belly at the Russian words he often called me.
“You know I do. You know Ialwayswill.”
The little smile he gave me next was forced.
“In a platonic way, right? Because now you’re with that guy,” he said, tilting his head toward Arc who was staring at us from his spot next to Carter.
I groaned. “I’m not with him.”
Dimitri took my hand. The hand that was now marked with the dark bronze intricate lines made of Arc and mine’s blood, sealing our binding promise.
“Then what’s this?”
“Obviously not what you think it is,” I answered, pulling my hand away in embarrassment.
“Is he not your mate?” he asked, tilting his head to the side and placing his hands back on my back and hips. “The Divinedryan, too?”
I rolled my eyes. Dimitri liked to use many languages at the same time, but he was particularly fond of Russian, where we both lived for a while. Divinetrashwas quite fitting when it came to Carter. I still loved how his accent changed whenever he switched tongues.
“Youjustgot here. How do you know about that?”
“As I told you, I’ve heard a lot in the few hours I spent here. Seems the population of this city is quite fond of gossip.”
Tell me about it.
I exhaled in defeat.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re my mates. No soul, remember? I can’t bind.”
His eyes dropped to my lips as his hand settled on my thigh, holding me close to him.
“It might stop you from binding, but it didn’t stop me from loving you. Didn’t stop Blake either.”
I tensed against him and my breath stuttered. He must have noticed as he stilled too, his thumb not rubbing circles on my hip anymore. His eyes fell to the chain falling against my chest, disappearing under my dress, where heknewthe ring was still hanging.
“I—I’m sorry,” he blurted. “I didn’t mean to mention him by name.”
My throat bobbed as I struggled to swallow through the knot that had formed there.
“Is he…Do you know if he’s still…”
“He is.” He nodded, his eyes filled with pain. “I’ve done as you asked. I made sure to check on him at least every year.”
Good. That was good. It meant that me leaving him hadn’t been for nothing. It meant that breaking his heart and mine had been worth it as it actually saved his life and kept him safe.
“What I meant to say was that even though we’re unable to bind with you, we can still feel that you’re ours. That our souls belong to you, even though you don’t have yours.”
It was painful.Sopainful to hear him say things like this, after we spent over fifteen hundred years fighting about it. I knew Dimitri wasnever actually angry with me, that when we fought again and again about me selling my soul, it was the madness taking over that was talking.
But even though I knew it, it still confused the hell out of me. That one day he could call mezhizn moya, and the next blaming me for losing his mind and disappearing for years.Decades.
And yet, I still loved him. I still cared. I still wanted to protect him or kill for him.
“Arc seems like a decent guy,” Dimitri said after a few minutes of silence. “I could feel he didn’t trust me, but he still asked questions about me. About us, and how we knew each other.”
