could come up with? “So, uh, how did you go invisible?”
“I didn’t. I simply moved too quickly for you—or them—to track.”
He answered her so readily, without a single moment of hesitation. That was new. William often spoke in riddles, and the warriors in Budapest always sidestepped her questions, as if they feared revealing too much to a human.
Maybe Puck would answer the question. “What is morte ad vitam?”
He arched a brow at her. “Is that what’s wrong with you?”
“Yes. All the doctors agree.” Her mouth dried as he frowned. “What does it mean?”
“Your body is trying to evolve, to become immortal, but it isn’t strong enough.”
What! No, no, no. Impossible. She was human, born and bred. She would always be human.
“The only possible chance for your survival,” he said, “is for you to bond with an immortal, linking your life force to his. But even that isn’t a guarantee. You could drain his strength and make him human.”
Bond...as in marry. What William refused to do with her or anyone. Good thing, too.
Marriage meant wifely duties. Like having sex. She would much rather wear a chastity belt for the rest of eternity.
William probably didn’t want to go that route because of his curse. Or he knew something she didn’t. Several of the Lords had bonded to their mates, and there had been consequences. The couples’ lives were now forever tied for the good, the bad and the oh, so sad. If one died, the other would soon follow.
“Well, that sucks.” She would rather die today—this second!—than place William in a moment of unnecessary danger. “How much time do I have before I...”
“Considering the condition you’re in now, I’d say another week, maybe two.”
Fourteen days at most. “I’ll never get to do the things on my bucket list. If I had a bucket list, I mean.”
“Perhaps you should make one. I can help.”
Her brow furrowed with confusion. “Why would you want to help?”
“You could use a distraction, and I could use a new goal. The woman I wanted didn’t want me back, so we parted ways. Now...” He shrugged.
“Women are goals to you?”
“Why not? My goals keep me from sitting on a couch, watching soap operas all day and eating old pizza.”
“But if you don’t feel anything, how do you know when you want a woman?”
“I rarely feel emotion, but I often feel desire. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, lass.”
“That’s true.” She smiled her saddest smile at him. “I feel all kinds of emotion, but never desire.”
A spark of curiosity lit his expression. “You are of age, yes?”
Dreading where he was going with this line of questioning, she gave a hesitant, “I’m a legal adult, yes.” Finally.
“And you’ve never desired a man?”
She stared at the water as the sun disappeared on the horizon. Shadows fell over her hideaway, the torches burning atop a wealth of poles circling her providing the only light. She inhaled and exhaled slowly, precisely, fighting the rise of shame and hate and horror that always found a way to the surface of her heart whenever this topic came up.
“Ah. I understand. Someone hurt you.” He said it so matter-of-factly.
Her hackles rose. “I don’t want to talk about it. Change the subject or leave.” Well, well. The burst of anger had come with a side of strength. One she hadn’t experienced since this whole thing had kicked off.
He didn’t change the subject and he didn’t leave. “I will kill the male responsible. Just tell me his name.”
“Names. Plural,” she snapped, then pressed her lips together. She was confident William had already killed them. She’d lived with the Lords for three years now, and she’d sometimes looked up the names of her tormentors—a compulsion she despised. One day she’d discovered a police report about their horrific murders. Though no bodies had been found, their blood and...other things had been splattered all over the walls and floor of the very house where she’d suffered. The case remained unsolved.
When she’d questioned William, he’d hurriedly distracted her with a new video game, as if he feared her reaction. Except he never feared anything!
But she feared her reaction. Gratitude struck her as inappropriate, but then, so did anger.
“One man or one hundred. It makes no difference to me,” Puck said, still so matter-of-fact.
“Thanks for the offer, but they’re already dead.”
He nodded. “William must have taken care of them.”
“Are you on friendly terms with William?” she asked.
“I know of him and I’m sure he knows of me, but we’ve never officially met.”