Page 78 of Immortal Sins
Fire swells inside my palms. “Gone—”
He brings a hand to the space between my breasts, the look on his face so peculiar that I freeze. Full of joy and yet…tame. “Your destinies were entwined. I think Beth chose you.”
Chose me?
He tucks a curl behind my ear. “The ritual Brie’s grandmother talked about was actually a spell to bestow Beth’s gifts unto another. A mortal.”
“Hergifts?” I stagger back a few feet, dizzied by the implications. “You—the incessant whispers between you and Erron.” Salt and tears lace my tongue. “The rainbow wine. You didn’t touch it. You had a different flavor.”
He inclines his head. “Yes.”
I rake my fingers through my curls, almost tearing a few strands off my scalp.
His sheepish grin reveals his dimple. “I thought you’d be happy.”
“And yet you didn’t give me a choice.” I whip back to face him. “You tricked me into drinking it.”
The liquid he dared me to drink was thick and unusual. I didn’t think twice about it because everything in Faerie tastes and feels different, but I remember how the aftertaste simmered at the back of my throat for hours, and how I thought Fae added strength potions to their cocktails.
“Erron agreed it was what Beth would have wanted. Her soul had to be freed either way, and the ritual had to involve a female mortal, so we figured it should be you,” Cole says.
“What about what I wanted?” I croak.
He squints. “You wanted this. You’ve wanted it from the moment Flynn called you a dirty mortal. I saw it in your eyes—the thirst. You were never meant to live and die as a human. You came to Faerie with the horn. You married me. Why else would you say yes if you didn’t believe it to be your bid at immortality?”
“It wasmymortality—mychoice—mydamn life!” I cry out, grappling with the fact that my husband fed me a life-altering potion without my consent.
Immortality. I can’t—
Shadows drape over his eyes. The sharp angles of his jaw quicken my pulse. “You told me you wanted to be queen. I didn’t misunderstand that.”
I throw my hands in the air. “We were mouthing off. Playing games.”
“It was as close to telling you as I could get.”
I grip my pendant and sink my nails into the skin, as though I can dig out the part of Beth he buried inside me. “I don’t need you—or thesegifts—I didn’t ask for them.”
“Gods, stop being so stubborn. We’ll argue about this later.” He shrugs as though I’m a spoiled child, and nausea turns my stomach.
I grip his arm to prevent him from moving. “Would you have married me if not for the infernal magic?” There it is. The question that haunts me.
Cole scoffs. “We’re back to ‘Cole is the villain of the story.’ Really?”
I push on his chest. “You wouldn’t have. I can see it in your eyes.”
“Would you have married me if I wasn’t a Fae prince?” He arches a cruel brow.
My mouth opens and closes. Fire heats my ears, and I want to slap the condescending pout from his face.
“You wouldn’t have, and I’m not in a rage about it. I accept the truth. Whatever archaic notion possessed you to ask that pointless question—” He brings a hand to his heart. “I can’t separate what drew me to you from what I feel now. I can’t analyze if I would have fallen as hard for a Jules that doesn’t exist. If you want me to lie and say, “yes, of course, sweetheart”—his voice sounds phoney as hell—“that’s not who I am.”
“You’re above such things, eh?” My chin trembles. “And yet, you needed my magic to impress your father. What happened? Your pride couldn’t bear the fact that you married a mortal?”
His lips curl in a snarl. “Hate me for now, if you must. I stand by my choice.”
Somewhere between the lines, I lost sight of what the fight was really about, but I can’t reel myself in. “Everything with you is a deal, an exchange of power. You say you love me, but if you really did, you wouldn’t have kept this a secret. You would have given me achoice.”
He grips my arms. “I’ll give you a choice: either you step through that glass now and risk your life for people who don’t deserve it, or you finally decide to hear me clearly. I need you.Here.”
