Page 61 of Captured in Love
“I—” The words get stuck in my throat, because I can’t lie. “Yes, but not likethis. Not by leaving some poor lady behind after she suffered through gods know what down in that cavern.”
The truth is, a single question echoes in my mind: What if it had been me?
If Levi and I had embarked on this task alone, without Raphaël—and without Isak’s help—I might have been the screaming woman left alone on an unmoored boat in the middle of the sea. It’s a terrifying idea. I dread the third task. After the first two, I’m sure something isn’t right with these Games, and I don’t want to know what fresh horror the Scottish witches have cooked up in Greece.
I fix Levi with a glare. “I’m going. You two can wait for me in Reykjavik if you want, but I’m not leaving until I check her out.”
Levi groans and throws himself down on the bed which is still mussed from what Raphaël and I did there just hours ago.
Raphaël leans back against the door, his expression calm but his eyes stormy. “Is this how our relationship will work? You head into danger, telling us to let you go, and we’re supposed to stand back and do nothing?”
My mind snags on the wordsour relationship, so I don’t answer immediately. Levi looks up from the bed, lifting himself on his elbows.
“N-no,” I stutter. “I mean…”
If I’m completely honest…Yeah.
I love them both. I can’t ask them to put themselves in danger for me.
“Did you think about what it would do tousif you went off alone and got injured or killed while we weren’t there?” Raphaël continues relentlessly.
I glance at my feet, then up at him. “I did, but there are some things I just have to do. Or I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. But that’s onme.”
He opens his mouth, likely to object, and I hold up my hand to stop him.
“I will always be glad if you’re there. Both of you. But that decision has to come from you. And you can’t live your lifefor me, either.” The words come out harsher than I meant, and I cringe, but we need to clear this up before we do anything else. “You need to decide what you want, too.”
Raphaël’s eyes are fathomless and dark, and he makes a step toward me. He glances at Levi, encompasses him as he says, “I’ve lived several lifetimes for myself already. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing to live just one for someone else.”
I want to give in so badly, let him make me—us—the focus of his existence. Levi stands and crosses his arms over his chest, his face betraying nothing. I swallow past the knot in my throat, willing the tears away.
“And what happens when we’re gone?” I whisper. “After a lifetime spent with us, when we have changed and you have remained the same, what then?”
Raphaël snarls, turning his back on us. His broad shoulders heave with a breath, then he slams his fist in the wall, hard enough to crack open an overhead cabinet.
I flinch, and Levi puts an arm around my shoulders, his thumb drawing slow, soothing circles on my arm. I’m not afraid of Raphaël, not even now, but I don’t want to see him hurt like this.
He puts his fists on his hips and hangs his head forward, and even though I can’t see his face, I know he’s pulling himself together.
“There’s another option, you know,” Levi mutters, looking down at me. “We could ask him to turn us.”
Raphaël whirls back on us. “No!” His voice is a low growl, his eyes completely black. The tips of his fangs show clearly in his mouth, deadly, and yet so intriguing.
I peer up at Levi. “That’s…”
“Something we need to think about?” he supplies with a small smile.
“Out of the question,” Raphaël snaps. He shudders, and when he opens his eyes again, they’re human, but no less feral than before. “We’re not thinkingortalking about this.”
With that, he storms out of the cramped cabin, leaving Levi and me to stare at each other.
“Would you do it?” I ask.
Levi rubs the back of his neck. “I don’t know, Moss. There’s no telling what the process would even do to a witch. I mean, Raphaël was human when he was changed, and it’s not like there’s an instruction manual…”
He trails off, his eyes widening.
“There’sgotto be an instruction manual on vampire creation at the Ballendial Library!” I cry, then remember where we are and lower my voice. “Weneedto win these Games, Levi.”
