Page 122

“No, but—”

“Then believe.” His hand latches on to my belly. “Believe that every time you blink, it’s me you’re not seeing in that fraction of a second, but I’m there. Me, not a curse.”

I hold my eyes shut and move my hand to his, feeling his strength. “What is it that I’m not seeing?”

He loosens his hold on me and sighs under the burden of invisibility. “I guess it’s that fine line between trust and distrust, the feeling between wanting to run at me and run away from me, the gray between the light and dark. I’m somewhere in there.” His hand tightens again.

“But who are you?”

“Elivander Merinson Hux the Second. My father thought it’d be easiest to have the same name. You know, for when wemerged together.” Sad pride perforates his words. “Beyond that, I don’t really know anymore.”

I crack open an eye. “Merinson?”

“My grandfather.”

I roll my naked body on top of his and kiss his stubbled chin. “It’s a very sexy name—for a grandfather…which you are. And I fucked you anyway.” I sit up, straddling him, and trace the rising edge of his ribs, the bite mark I left. “Do you wish I were a Hollow?”

“No.”

“Why are you obsessed with them?”

“I’m not.”

“But Milo said—”

“He was wrong. My obsession is far more specific, Never.” He lifts his head to watch my moving fingers. I shut out his words, the implication, and continue my exploration of his chest. He lets loose a breath. “My skin is thinner with your touch.”

“How so?”

His brows knit together, as if he were debating revealing more. “It normally takes a blade to make me bleed, but you cut me open with only your nails and teeth. Even your fist against my tooth split my lip inside. And I’m not as strong around you. It’s getting worse. I could barely fight off Jace and Poett at the lake while you were close.”

“Oh.”

“It makes me wonder…What else are you capable of doing to me?” He eyes me with suspicion.

“We could find out.” I reach behind me, taking his semi-hard cock into my hand. But I don’t tell him I might be starting to resist his curse, the push and pull, that I might be seeing the gray.

His body jerks beneath me. “Wewillfind out.” He takes my other hand in his and fiddles with my rings. “You know…that ring is Milo’s. You have to give it back, little thief.”

“I just—”

“Shh.” He plucks the red ring from the moss and adds it to my collection, wrapping the fabric strip around my finger and tucking the end under the band. “Hold on to it for now.”

“It will be safe right here with my other rings.” I inspect my fingers, recalling the homes I was sent away from…and Cam.

“What other rings?” His thumb brushes over the new addition.

What?But before I can ask what he means, he picks up the key. “Where did you get this? I didn’t think of it earlier, but it looks like something from before the Separation, which can only be found in Caldera and…” Long lashes frame his widening eyes. “You didn’t.”

“I took it from your house.”

He pushes me off him. “Shit. That was forever ago.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Everything within those walls is bound to the house. Removing even one thing breaks the protections. They start weakening until they fall. Anyone could find the house now. We have to go.”

“You don’t happen to have my old underwear in your pocket, do you?” I ask, glancing at the sliced up fabric hanging from a branch.