wants to turn me into a monster. But I think the seeker beat him to it. I can feel it, Raven. Something evil is moving through my veins.” Her voice had dropped several octaves, as if she’d submitted herself to the transformation.
He needed a safer topic. Maybe concentrate deeper into the past. “You grew up with a great dog, didn’t you? Bo. Tell me about Bo.”
“A hell hound killed him while he tried to protect me.”
Raven’s heart sank a little more. At this rate, I’ll turn her in a few minutes. He dropped his head against hers. God, isn’t there something in Nikki’s life that doesn’t cause her pain? “Nikki, tell me about something that makes you happy.”
Her words were a faint whisper. “There isn’t any happiness for me.”
He began to grind his teeth in frustration. “That’s not true.” Though much hurt, so many wounds had marred Nikki, maybe there really wasn’t anything that could make her happy. Not that it would stop him from searching. “Come on. Let’s talk about the night we met at the ruins. Remember? We rode my Harley all over Germany. I know it was a good night for me.”
“I hurt Mace. He was so mad, and I lied to him about you.”
“Something else, then. You’re a Halfling. Tell me about that.”
“If I was a Halfling, I would have wings. Do you see wings? No? Me neither. It doesn’t matter what Will says. I’m still just a freak.”
“You’ll get your wings soon. Vine got his at a rock concert just a few days before Mace, Vine, and I showed up to protect you. You’re worth protecting, Nikki.”
She tilted away. For a moment he thought she’d closed him out, but Raven quickly realized the truth. And it caused the backs of his eyes to burn. Please don’t make me do this, he pleaded. But he knew it was the only way. This time when he spoke, there was a new authority in his voice, in part to mask the pain. “Nikki, tell me what makes you happy.”
She shook her head, as if speaking was too great an effort.
“Tell me,” he insisted. He clamped his hand on her chin and tilted to look at her profile. Her eyes were visibly darker, jolting him with alarm. “Tell me.”
On a long breath, she uttered, “Mace.”
Raven squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block the icy-cold dread, but there was no stopping the ice pick to his chest. Moisture rushed to his eyes. “Nikki.” Oh God, please give me the strength to do this. “Tell me about Mace.”
Her words came slowly at first, as if trying to remember a movie she’d watched a long time ago. “We had a picnic … at Viennesse.” As she talked on, deep into the night, she became stronger. He’d tried to route the conversation back to the stolen moments the two of them had shared, but each time he did, she became afraid, agitated, fearful. It was only when she spoke of Mace that she was peaceful.
His heart cracked further with every moment she described. Every look Mace had given her, every brush of hands … or lips. And when she tried to trail off, because she was tired or felt embarrassed, Raven coaxed her on because he loved her too much to allow her to stop. Though it meant clearing his throat often to mask his sorrow. As the night wore on, he began to peek at her neck more and more, where the ash-black cut and graying skin of the wound was becoming like live flesh again. “That’s good, Nikki,” he said, stroking her hair with his hand. “You’re doing great. Tell me more.”
And she did. Sitting with Mace by the lake, watching the fog roll in and consume them both; working in the kitchen on the sailing yacht, where she would have broken every dish in the galley if Mace hadn’t showed up and helped her store them just in time.
After awhile, the stories became dreamlike memories told with long pauses and breathy words. When she seemed very calm, he tried to alter the subject slightly. “Do you remember when we were in the woods and I was teaching you how to fight?”
Her body tensed. “I said some horrible things to Mace that day.”
Raven’s eyes closed. That memory had been his last chance — the day he’d fallen in love with her. And she with him. But now, to her that day was just one more time she’d disappointed Mace.
For Raven, it