Page 24 of Destined for Dreams
She lifted her chin. “If we’re making confessions here, and you expect me to go along with this trip and support you, I need something.”
Bartol couldn’t blame her for that, but he still wasn’t comfortable telling anyone the full story. He moved toward her and leaned close to her ear. “Let’s just say demons have a more difficult time killing me than most others. I have an edge against them.”
“What do you mean by that?” she asked, meeting his gaze.
Her breath tickled the light whiskers on his cheek.
He took a step back. “That is something I can’t explain even if I wanted to because I’ve never figured it out.”
Bartol truly didn’t know. He was different than other nephilim, though he never knew how or why. All he knew was he’d managed to save himself and Caius once when they ran into a mid-level demon, and he’d managed to kill it—but not without dire consequences. The things that had occurred after…they didn’t bear repeating. He’d blocked them so well that even Kerbasi never found those memories during all of his infiltrations into Bartol’s mind.
Cori’s shoulders dropped in resignation. “Will you ever tell me the full story?”
“Perhaps, after this is over.”
“Okay.” She let out a breath. “There’s, um, one more thing you should know because I really don’t want secrets between us anymore.”
She didn’t appear any more excited to reveal this next part than he had about the demon. He waited, giving her a minute to work up the courage to speak. She went around the couch to pace the room, indecisiveness in her features. What could make her hesitate more than her last confession?
“Everyone wanted you to go see Zoe,” she said, stopping to face him. “We even formed a plan to convince you.”
Bartol’s muscles grew taut. “And how were you involved?”
She took a deep breath. “They pushed me to get close to you again so that maybe you’d come out of your shell and reconsider the offer. I’d wanted to see you again anyway, but until this came up, I hadn’t been able to find a way. You’re so good at avoiding me.”
“Melena helped you catch me off guard,” he said, voice flat.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
Bartol’s chest ached. How much of her actions had been real in the last few days? Had she been manipulating him just to get what she and the others wanted, or had a part of her truly wanted to be close again, to need him? He’d wanted to believe she truly cared, but this new revelation put a cloud over everything that had developed between them in the last few days. She’d stood by him in that office, but had that been for his benefit or his friends?
Icy resolve filled his veins.
“We’ll talk about this further when I return.” He headed for the den entrance, pausing long enough to add one last thing. “Until then, do not plot further against me—if you would be so kind.”
Cori rushed toward him and put a hand on his upper arm. “I’m sorry. I know it looks bad, but I swear I never meant to hurt you in any way. It just sounded like this trip could be good for you. Help you get back into interacting with the world and doing something good.”
He eyed her fingers around his bicep. “Let go.”
“I’m sorry.” She pulled her hand away. “But if it would help, I could go with you.”
“Absolutely not.”
“But you can’t leave like this,” she said, giving him an imploring look.
“Watch me.” He turned and strode away.
He’d nearly reached the foyer when she called out. “If you don’t take me with you, Bartol, I’ll follow you there. Whatever you think—I care about you.”
He spun around. “You will stay here.”
“Not if you won’t give us a chance to work this out.” She lifted her chin. “I have to go because right now I have no way of knowing if I’ll ever see or hear from you again. Maybe you’ll get out there and never come back.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She was making this much harder than it needed to be. All Bartol wanted was to get away from her for a while and think.
“It’s not ridiculous. Maybe commitment is scary for me—I don’t pretend to be perfect—but I can’t stand the thought of you leaving while angry at me.” Cori gave him an imploring look. “You have to at least give me a chance to explain and make things up to you, to show how much I care.”
“If you cared, you wouldn’t have gone behind my back and plotted with my friends.”
