“Dammit, Sin, it’s a life sentence!”
She skidded to a stop and turned around slowly, as if the words “life sentence” had finally sunk in. She swallowed a couple of times before shaking her head. “Doesn’t matter. Truth is, I like it here. I’m good at what I do. It’s all I can do. And you have Idess now. A chance to be happy. You need to take it.” She rounded on Detharu. “Free him.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Lore warned. “I want to stay.”
The demon steepled his fingers and watched them with fierce interest. He was enjoying this way too much. At his feet, Tavin was watching Sin intently, his panting, agonized breaths filling the silence. Lore felt for the guy, but if he got loose, Lore would kill him. No way would Lore allow Tavin to do to Sin what his nature would force him to do.
“If she doesn’t want to be freed,” Deth said finally, “I won’t force her.”
“Then I won’t go, either.” Lore planted his feet and crossed his arms over his chest.
Sin cursed in a couple of different languages. “You’re an idiot. Stop being so stubborn.”
Lore clenched his hands to keep from wrapping them around her neck and shaking some sense into her.
“Enough!” Deth shouted. “Lore, it was your contract. Therefore, you are freed.”
Before Lore could protest, Deth lurched out of his chair and slammed his palm on Lore’s chest. The air blasted from Lore’s lungs, and suddenly he felt a hundred pounds lighter.
Though the feeling was amazing, it was also horrible, because Sin was still Deth’s bitch. Forever. “You bastard,” he rasped.
Deth waved his hand in dismissal. “You no longer belong here.”
Neither does Sin. Lunging, Lore fired up his gift. Tried to, anyway. It didn’t even spark, but Lore could take Deth out with his bare hands—
“Stop!” Deth snatched Rade from the Ramreel and curled his fingers around the infant’s throat. “I will kill it. Back out of the chamber, or the whelp dies.”
Panting, cursing, Lore focused every ounce of hatred into his glare as he backed toward the door. Once he was standing in the hall, two guards jabbed machetes into his ribs while another brought Rade to him.
Deth dragged one hideous finger down Sin’s throat in a slow, sensuous trail, a taunt that nearly had Lore going after the bastard again. “Get out of my sight and don’t return unless you intend to sign a new contract.”
Go, Sin mouthed. I’ll be fine.
Walking away was the hardest thing Lore had ever done, and as he did, he couldn’t help but feel as if, once again, he’d failed his twin.
Twenty-four
For some reason, Lore’s heraldi no longer worked. Idess stood outside her father’s temple, repeatedly brushing her finger over the circular welt.
Nothing.
Already unsettled by her father’s talk of the light coming for her, she took several slow breaths to tamp down the encroaching panic as she touched the pad of her finger to Kynan’s mark.
Still nothing.
Oh, no. This was bad. Very, very bad. Quickly, she flashed to Lore’s house, but he wasn’t inside. She darted outside to the deck. No sign of him, but the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. All around her, the air went calm and the forest animals went silent. Crouching in a defensive position, she eased around, expecting… what? The sensation she felt wasn’t evil. In fact, her skin began to tingle pleasantly.
And then, blasting before her, in a strike of silent lightning, was a vertical column of light. It poured from the heavens in a shimmering cascade, calling to her. The tug went all the way to her soul, like a big, mushy embrace.
A tranquil, beautiful warmth settled over her as she drifted toward it. So lovely. So inviting.
Come home.
The musical voice sang not just in her head, but in her entire body.
It is time.
No. She stumbled to a halt, fingers outstretched and nearly touching the stream of light. She’d dreamed of this day, and now that it was here, she only wanted to run. This should have been the happiest day of her life, but this wasn’t a summons to Ascend. This was a call to answer for her actions. She’d lost a Primori and slept with a demon.
The stream of light glided toward her. She moved to the side, but it followed. No way was she going. She’d seen what had happened to Rami and Roag when their very existence was snuffed. They were gone forever. And what if her fate was worse? Doomed to loneliness and guarding Primori for all time?
And what of Lore? Losing Rami all those centuries ago had left her grieving, bleeding from wounds that never healed.
What she felt for Lore was a thousand times stronger. Living without him would kill her.
The light moved closer. With a cry, she flashed to her house in Italy. The light followed her, piercing her roof and shining down in the middle of her living room. She flashed again, this time to the top of Mount Ararat.