Passion - By Lauren Kate Page 0,103

That is, unless you break the bond with your past.

So I'd cleave from my past and she would still die as she always did--

And you would still be cast out just as you've been before, only you'd leave your soul behind to die, too. And the body you would return to--he poked her in the shoulder--this one--would be free to live outside the curse that's been hanging over you since the dawn of time.

No more dying?

Not unless you jump off a building or get into a car with a murderer or take a whole lot of Unisom or-- I get it, she cut him off. But it's not like--she struggled to steady her voice--it's not like Daniel would kiss me and I'd ... or--

It's not like Daniel would do anything. Bill stared at her purposefully. You wouldn't be drawn to him anymore. You'd move on. Probably marry some dull sweetheart and have twelve kids of your own.

No.

You and Daniel would be free of the curse you so despise. Free. Hear that? He could move on and be happy, too. Don't you want Daniel to be happy?

But Daniel and I--

Daniel and you would be nothing. It's a hard reality, okay, fine. But think about it: You wouldn't have to hurt him anymore. Grow up, Luce. There's more to life than teenage passion.

Luce opened her mouth but didn't want to hear her voice break. A life without Daniel was unimaginable. But so was going back to her current life and trying to be with Daniel and having it kill her for good. She had tried so hard to find a way to break this curse, but the answer still eluded her. Maybe this was the way. It sounded awful now, but if she went back to her life and didn't even know Daniel, she wouldn't miss him. And he wouldn't miss her. Maybe that would be better. For both of them.

But no. They were soul mates. And Daniel brought more into her life than just his love. Arriane, Roland, and Gabbe. Even Cam. It was because of all of them that she'd learned about herself--what she wanted, what she didn't, how to stand up for herself. She'd grown up and become a better person. Without Daniel, she would never have gone to Shoreline, never have found the true friends she'd made of Shelby and Miles. Would she even have gone to Sword & Cross? Where on earth would she be? Who would she be?

Could she be happy one day without him? Fall in love with someone else? She couldn't bear to think about that. Life without Daniel sounded colorless and grim--except for one bright spot that Luce kept circling back to:

What if she never had to hurt him again?

Say I did want to consider this. Luce could barely muster a whisper. Just to think it over. How does it even work?

Bill reached behind him and slowly unsheathed something long and silver from a tiny black strap on his back. She'd never noticed it before. He held out a dull, flat-tipped silver arrow that she immediately recognized.

Then he smiled. Have you ever seen a starshot?
Chapter Eighteen
BAD DIRECTIONS

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL 27 NISSAN 2760

"So, you're not actually that bad of a guy? Shelby said to Daniel.

They were sitting on the lush bank of the old Jerusalem riverbed, watching the horizon where the two fallen angels had just parted ways. The lightest breath of gold-hued light hung in the sky where Cam had been, and the air was beginning to smell a bit like rotten eggs.

Of course I'm not. Daniel dipped his hand in the cool water. His wings and his soul still felt hot from watching Cam make his choice. How simple it had seemed for him. How easy and how swift.

And all because of a broken heart.

It's just that when Luce found out you and Cam struck up that truce, she was devastated. None of us could understand it. Shelby looked to Miles for affirmation. Could we?

We thought you were hiding something from her. Miles took off his baseball cap and rubbed his head. All we knew of Cam was that he was supposed to be pure evil.

Shelby made claws with her fingers. All hiss! and rawr! and like that.

Few souls are pure anything, Daniel said, in Heaven, in Hell, or on Earth. He turned away, looking high in the eastern sky for a hint of the silver dust Dani would have left when he unfurled his wings and flew away. There was nothing.

Sorry, Shelby