Page 7 of Lux

But he is wrong. There is a fear that lurks at the back of his mind. One he refuses to acknowledge. Can’t hide from.

Cassius is near. He is hunting for him. Pining for him. Craving him.

“I will never go back,” he tells me, his voice the embodiment of sin—yet his touch is softer than any heaven. He brushes the hair from my face. Cups my cheek. Bores those red, angry eyes into my own. “I will kill him first,” he says. “I will go back and killhim. I will go back and kill your mother as well. They will cease to control us. Never again.”

“No,” I say. I have no right to decide his path regarding his old master. As for mine… “I want to see her. I only want to see her. To know her. That is all.”

I want it badly enough to consider an idea I loathe: returning to the other realm so soon after my flight for freedom.

His eyes flash but he nods. “Fine. Tomorrow night, we will return to kill Cassius and see the Aurelia. Then we will be free. We will be together.”

I nod, leaning into his embrace. “Together.”

But for how long?

He wants to shred his past. Burn it to ash.

I am not sure if I wish to do the same. I know, though, that when he is near me, I can do things I never thought possible. No realm can hold me with him by my side.

But how long will he want to be?

I can’t escape the nagging thoughts.

Altaris’s lies.

The secrets written down in his book.

How long before I destroy my Caspian like I seem to destroy everything else?

“Sleep,” he tells me, pressing his mouth to mine to seal off the thought. That one he heard.

And it unnerved him.

CHAPTER 3

Caspian

Oh, how she torments me. My damned fae.

Damn her for waking me from that mental prison. Damn her for making me remember…

What food smells like; fresh milk on the verge of spoiling. Eggs rotting in their fragile shells. The hiss of warmth creeping in through rusted vents.

Worst of all, she commands my senses and makes me see everything Cassius blinded me to. Beauty. Smiles. Laughter.

I could content myself with watching her for eternity--yet she yearns for more than me. Other things. Other thoughts. Other beings.

In Cassius’s enclosed, false world, any other desire was snuffed out. Crushed out. He never tolerated straying thoughts and longing whispers.

It’s why he hates her so.

It’s why he craves me so.

To me, he extended a choice. Choose him. Want him.

Never. Never.

So, he hunts me still.