Page 40 of Frost
His expression softens. “Come sit with me.”
Jack leads me from the pond and to a rock jutting up from the snowy grass. The rock is cold under my ass at first, but it’s not too bad. After we sit down, I look over to see Págos grazing in the nearby meadow. Instead of grass, he’s eating the snow.
“Was flying as scary as you thought it’d be?” Jack asks, his thigh pressing to mine as he moves as close as possible—probably to help keep me warm.
“Yes… and no.” I lean against his arm and watch Págos slowly move through the snow. “I see why you love it. Being so high up is freeing. You can go anywhere, do anything.” Remembering the cookies in my pocket, I reach for them. “Oh. I brought you something.”
Jack grins as I hand him the bag. “You spoil me.”
“You deserve it.”
He opens the bag and pulls out a cookie before biting off half of it, lightly moaning as he chews. I swear, his “eating good food” noises are almost as sexy as his “I’m getting good and dicked” ones.
As he eats, I peer over at him. His feet slowly kick as they dangle from the rock, and he seems so cheerful. However, when our eyes meet, I see shadows in them.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“What makes you think something’s wrong?” He cocks his head at me.
“Because I know you, Jack.”
He wipes the crumbs from his lips and folds the empty bag. I grab it from him and put it back in my coat. And then I wait.
“Very well,” he eventually says. “I do have something on my mind. A question.”
“Well, I may have an answer.” I bump his shoulder in our familiar way.
He smiles, and the pit of my stomach churns when I see that it doesn’t reach his eyes. “If there was a way to have your heart’s desire, but in order to get it you had to give away everything else you love, would you do it?”
I stare at him, trying to piece the words together. “So, sacrifice everything to have a dream come true or something?”
Jack nods. “Basically.”
“I don’t know.” I grab his hand, sliding my fingers through his. “I guess it depends on the dream and if it’s worth sacrificing everything for. Why?”
Jack looks away from me and focuses on the moon, or maybe it’s the stars he sees. “I lied to you, Luka.”
“Lied about what?”
He’s quiet as the seconds tick by. When he does speak, his voice is soft. “When you asked if there was a way for me to be mortal, I told you it’s impossible.” Blue eyes shift back to me. “But it’s not.”
Hope flares in my chest, and it feels like the earth moves beneath me. The sadness in his gaze keeps me from being too excited, though. My head buzzes with a million questions, but I hold them back. He needs to tell me in his own time.
“Are you familiar with the goddess Hecate?” Jack asks.
I search my memory. For my book series, I’ve done a ton of research into Greek mythos. “Isn’t she the goddess of magic?”
“Magic and spells, the Moon, and she’s even sometimes associated with dreams,” Jack explains. “In ancient times, humans invoked her name and made sacrifices to her. She’s been known to honor that sacrifice by bestowing happiness upon them, whatever their heart desires.”
“Can she give you mortality?”
“Yes.” Jack squeezes my hand. “But not without a price.”
“What’s the price?”
Heartache shines in his eyes. “My memories.”
“Your memories?” I ask, confused.
