Amaranth - By Rachael Wade Page 0,66
suspicious of your intentions, or she could just decide to kill you. Your life is in danger, you can’t waste any time. I can be here and wait for you until you do whatever it is you came here to do. This is what I want.”
I didn’t think it possible, but the torment on his face deepened. “I knew what I was doing,” he said. “She agreed to let me serve inside Amaranth, just like I wanted her to. My curse would be lifted after I helped lead her people, and then everything would be in place for my plan to work! She won’t hurt me, not yet. But now? Now, you walked right into her trap, you gave her exactly what she wants. She won’t change you, she’ll keep you until I give her what she wants, and then she’ll kill you!”
“How do you know that?” I stepped in front of him and stopped him from pacing.
“I just know.”
“You’re jumping to conclusions.”
“I know,” he jerked his thumb to his chest, “because that’s what she did to my parents. Bargained with what they loved most: with me. She kept me alive until they did what she wanted, and the minute they did, she tried to get rid of me. I escaped, so she got rid of them instead. She will kill you.”
My heart sank. Of course he knew better than I did what she was capable of. If I’d only trusted him in the first place, let him do what he came here to do. But he left me regenerate, and I was indebted to him. My efforts might have been in vain, but my motives convicted my heart.
“Please, let me do this,” I said. “Go into exile and let her take me, or get out of here, it’s your choice. But I’m here now, and I’m either going back home with you, or I’m going to be here to watch you bring her kingdom down. So whatever you do, do not ask me to cower away and let you walk into a suicide mission.”
“I’m not asking. You’re leaving. You’re powerless here, changed or not, do you get that?”
“I’m not leaving. Not unless you come with me.”
He turned from me and looked out the cell window toward the moon, at the eerie shadow that unhurriedly began casting itself across it.
“That shadow wasn’t there when I got here,” I mumbled, eyed it nervously.
“It’s not the earth’s moon. It’s … like an hourglass. It tells the Amaranthians when the crescent cycle is almost over. The portal will close soon, we have to go.” He turned back to me. “You leave me no choice, I’ll leave with you, we’ll have to escape. There’s no way you’ll make it out alive on your own. But this isn’t over, I have to come back. I’ll have to go into hiding, regroup.…”
I rushed forward to hug him. “Run with me. You don’t have to come back. It doesn’t matter what you are, we can start over.”
“This was never supposed to happen, Camille.” He gently held me in his arms, lowered his voice. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be with you. Not until I’m freed from this. I need to do this. Not just for myself, but for my parents. I owe it to them, please try to understand.”
“There has to be another way.”
“There isn’t. This is my fate and you can’t alter it. I’ll leave with you to keep you safe, but you can’t keep me from this. I need you to understand.”
He brushed his fingers through my hair and kissed my forehead, brought me home again. “What possessed you to do this, love?” He spoke calmer now, held me tighter. “I’ve missed you so much, you have no idea. I’ll never forgive Joel for letting you escape.”
“It wasn’t Joel’s fault. I tricked him.”
“What has gotten in-to you?”
“I just know what I have to do now.”
“And what is that exactly?”
“To stop fighting against the current. There’s no going back for me. Unless it’s with you.”
Taking my face in his hands, he scooped me up and kissed me fiercely, picked me up and wrapped my legs around his waist, then trapped me against the chilly stone wall, radiating with intense need. “God, you smell good,” he breathed, his mouth moving over my neck and chest, his hand over the curves of my body. His frenzy consumed me and I gave in, rolling my fingers through his hair and around the back of his neck, more