Page 124 of Tortured Soul
I reluctantly knocked on Kai’s office and stepped in as soon as he invited me in, not wasting any time.
“Lola!” he cheered, standing up from behind his desk. “Good to see you, I’ve been worried that you were avoiding me.”
I forced a smile. “I was.”
His eyes widened in shock. Was it faked? Or did he not realize that I was actually uncomfortable about what he had asked of me?
“Oh. Did I do something wrong?”
I made sure to keep my mind as blank as possible, since too many things felt off.
“I’m here to return the opal,” I said, choosing not to answer him, my arm outstretched in front of me and hovering over his desk. “Seems like I won’t need it anymore as I’m forced to live with Arc now.”
He cocked a brow, not reaching for the rock on my open hand.
“Forced?”
I tilted my head to the side. “What, didn’t he tell you? We made a dumb binding promise that he won’t let me out of.”
He looked down at my exposed palm holding the milky stone.Hell, take the damn opal already.Underneath, the intricate lines made of our mixed blood was striking against the pale color of my skin.
“Heforcedyou into a binding promise?”
The confusion on his face made me pause. “Well,no. But he twisted the words and used them—”
“I don’t understand,” he cut me off, shaking his head. “Why are you forced to live with him, then?”
“Because, he twisted the damn binding promise to his advantage!”
His eyes glazed over slightly before he sighed and let himself fall back on his chair.
“You let your energy run so low that you were attacked?”
A loud gasp escaped my lips and I felt the urge to look around to see if I startled anyone other than myself.Of course not, you’re alone with Kai in here, you dumb—
“How could you let that happen?” he asked, and I almost felt like hiding myself in shame. Was this an Archdemon power that I was still reacting to? “Fuck, Arc must have been pissed.”
I couldn’t hold the wince from pulling at my face and he noticed. His eyes did the weird thing again before they widened.
“Okay, you gotta stay out of my damn head,” I cringed, dropping the stupid rock on his desk and waving my hands around me. “Thatis one of the reasons I’ve been avoiding you. You can’t rummage in there like it’s your fucking purse.”
“Lola, it’s a big deal,” he started. “Arc’s powers are a secret and—”
“Wasn’t that what you wanted?” I interrupted him sharply. “For him to release his repressed demon onto the world or some shit?”
“No.” Kai shook his head, the motion slow. “I wanted him to find abalance. And I thought that finally finding his mate and spending time with her would help him do just that.”
The scoff that escaped my throat was anything but amused. It was a dry and cold sound that made him rear his head back and his brows scrunch down.
“Right,mate. Thank you for the heads up, by the way! Don’t you think I deserved to know?”
“You did, yes, but it was not my place to tell you. It’s not my fault Arc decided to wait despite my advice.”
“I’ve been avoiding you for weeks because I was uncomfortable thinking you asked me to fuck your friend because of what I was! If I had known, it would have—”
“It would have what, Lola?” Kai asked, his tone firm, but not unkind. “From what I’ve seen, you couldn’t feel the link between your souls. If you don’t feel it, it becomes just a meaningless word. Would you have wanted to get closer to them, then? How has it been working out since you found out, uh? Has that word made you closer, or resent them even more?”
The air got stuck in my throat as I fell on the chair, feeling defeated. Kai’s eyes softened, the dark brown of his eyes turning comforting. He leaned forward, pushing the little stone aside and grabbing my hand over his desk.
