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Can I be the one to do it? I just don’t know. Loving him wouldn’t be the difficult part. My heart already burns for him.

But looking the other way when he does terrible things? I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that.

“What happened with your dad and Gabriel?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I’ll tell you when it’s sealed. After my meeting with the Sacred Light.”

I sigh. “I hope you’re not going to try anything dangerous.”

His feral smile does nothing to reassure me. “I couldn’t believe what you said at the dinner table, Ava. About our organization being full of rich men who can’t accept that they’regoing to die. I was…” He laughs breathlessly. “I was in awe of you.”

I arch a brow. “So in awe that you spanked me for it.”

His gaze grows hooded. “That certainly made it more fun, but what you said… You got right to the heart of what The Four Hundred is about.”

I frown. “The Four Hundred… That’s what you’re called? You’ve never told me that before.”

He nods. “I’m going to tell you even more. I trust you.” He reaches out, grabs my hand, and gives it a hard squeeze.

My heart flutters. “I’m guessing there are four hundred of you?”

“Three hundred and eighty-two, to be exact, but we can never exceed four hundred. Which makes it an extremely exclusive group. Remember, I’m not even a member yet.”

“But your dad is. And so is Gabriel Wolfe?”

“Yes.” He leans forward, setting his elbows on his knees. “Do you want to know why they’re members?”

I nod.

He grins. “You hit it on the head when you stood up to them at dinner. The Four Hundred believes they’re protecting something. A highly secret immortality magic.”

I barely find my voice. “What?”

He laughs darkly. “Yes. It’s so stupid. So incomprehensibly stupid, and yet for people like my father, people who already own the world… They still want more. And that’s why people clamor to ascend into The Four Hundred once they learn about it.”

I shake my head slowly. “How could they— What on earth would make them think that The Four Hundred really has access to immortality magic?”

He shrugs. “Faith. Our leader—the High Master—is supposedly thirty-four thousand years old.”

“That’s insanity. He would have been a hunter-gatherer.”

“He was at one time—according to the lore. They say he holds relics that predate every known civilization. Proof that humans were building cities and writing languages long before history books even begin.”

“Who says this?”

Damian smiles. “I don’t even know. That’s how The Four Hundred works. Secrets are kept even from people within it. The High Master only speaks to one person, whose identity is a secret. That person communicates with the Sacred Light, and the three of them pass the information down to everyone else.”

“That’s so complicated.”

“Yes, but it’s also how the magic is kept alive. If you keep the evidence secret, it can’t be falsified. They say the High Master drinks some rare immortality elixir that’s kept him alive all this time. And apparently, a few others have taken it too—though no one knows who. The High Master only gives it out every thousand years or so.”

My nose wrinkles. “That’s not very often.”

“No. What a bunch of dumb shits. They build their lives around a thing that most likely doesn’t exist, and when they don’t even have a good chance of getting it if it does.” He shakes his head. “It’s why powerful men are often bad at poker. They think statistics don’t apply to them.”

A chill runs through me. How terrifying. If powerful men believe they have access to immortality, their potential for evil is infinite. There’s nothing they wouldn’t do.

Damian stands and crosses the narrow aisle. He lowers himself into the seat beside me, wraps his arms around my waist, and pulls me against his chest. “What’s wrong?” he murmurs against my temple.