Page 133 of The Freedom You Seek
“Because you place your faith in me, even though we both know you shouldn’t. What if you finally realize I’m not a good person, and you can’t leave because we did the Rite? Do you have any idea what the thought of you hating me does to me?”
“Don’t worry, I know you’re not a saint—I’m aware of that. You told me time and time again.” I shrugged. “But you know what? I don’t care. You can be as much of amonsteras you want to. As long as I have you in my corner and you respect me and my free will, I’ll be fine. You once told me that it’s only our story preventing me from seeing the villain in you, but that’s where you’re wrong. We’re writing this tale together, meaning we can be any damnthing we want to be. And isn’t even a villain who’s trying to save the worlds a hero in their own right?”
“Trying to save the worlds doesn’t make me a hero. It makes me a villain who has a vested interest in keeping his playground.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his comment. It was so him and added another piece to the puzzle that he was. “Then let’s do what we can to help the playground that we both want to persist. The villain and the village girl—what a title for our epic legend for future generations to read in history books.”
“Naya, you—”
“Come on, Dion. Get out of your head and believe me when I tell you that I accept you completely, flaws and all.”
“That’s what you’re saying now.”
“It’s how I feel.” I shrugged, wondering how I could be so calm about this when I was full of anxious thoughts and insecurities as well. Maybe it was because I sensed that Dion yearned for an affirmation. Or maybe he simply required to know that it wasn’t too late for him to back out. “However, there’s another option. We can wait for Fig and the others. Since I have all predispositions, I could bind with someone else.”
Dion’s response was instant. He growled deeply, a feral sound resonating through the small crypt, but nothing more.
Waiting for him to listen to me again after his show of displeasure, I continued, “Thain approached me the night before you hauled me to Amalach. He asked me if I could imagine being his bound Amplifier if you and I wouldn’tgo through with it. He’s aware he fucked up in Kalcas, apologized, and explained himself.”
I’d never planned on telling Dion about the heart-to-heart Thain and I’d had, but I’d changed my mind. He had a right to know so he wouldn’t feel forced to go through with the Rite if he didn’t want to. Not that I liked the thought of binding myself to Thain or any of the others, but I would at least consider it if Dion had a change of heart. I’d accepted a while ago that this was bigger than me and my ego and that I’d do whatever I could to play my part in this tale—hoping it wouldn’t end in tragedy.
Dion’s reaction, even though I’d witnessed it plenty of times, caught me off guard. He basically exploded—and showed me his darker side once again. “I’ll kill him, that piece of shit. The next time he dares to show his asshole of a face, it’s finally time to end his miserable existence. How does he dare to ask you that? Does he think just because I tried to be civil to him lately, it would give him any right to steal you away from me?” Dion stalked toward me, radiating pure primal male energy, and his whole posture was once again perfectly predatory. “I’ll rip him into tiny pieces, then incinerate them with his own fire before tossing him into the eternal void if he has the audacity to show his face in our vicinity ever again, this fucking total waste of space.”
Dion was suddenly much too close and invading my personal sphere. I’d always respected his unhinged side because I didn’t doubt that most of his threats weren’t empty ones, and he’d follow through if no one stopped him. This time wouldn’t be any different, or at least Ihad serious doubts it’d be. So I allowed him to crowd me against the marble wall without protest, his arms and body caging me in, while his scent hit my senses full on. Wisps of smoke erupted from him, solidifying and curling around me, trapping me even more.
My breath hitched at the sudden onslaught on my senses. In nature, the greatest predators masked their true essence through their visuals or other features appealing to their victim’s preferences, and Dion—well, he’d been blessed with the kind of predatory mimicry that was perfectly tailored to ensnare me. “Dion, calm down. Please.”
“You won’t do the Rite with fucking Thain. You won’t do the Rite with anyone butme, Nayana.” Dion had me pinned with his gaze, and he was panting heavily as if he’d just been running for hours. His pupils were so blown out they appeared to be completely black.
“That’s not really your decision to make, is it?”
“It is.”
“No, it isn’t. I’m choosing to do the Rite with you, but if you get cold feet, I have to think about the alternatives.”
“There are no alternatives.”
“I know at least four.”
“Careful, Nayana,” Dion growled again, and his magic wrapped tighter around me, not painfully, but as if the strands of darkness had the intention of preventing me from escaping as well. Dion was close to losing it, that much was clear. Anything could happen when he was in such a state. Although, I was absolutely sure he’d never hurt me—at least not intentionally.
“You know I’mright.”
“Be very careful of what you say next. I want you to admit that there’s no alternative to me when it comes to binding.” The warning in his tone was reflected in his eyes and in the way he crowded me even more. By now, we were pressed flush against each other, his magic coiled around us both, and there was no chance for me to flee.
“What makes you think that?”
I was prepared for a lot—for a heated discussion, for an argument with him, or for him suddenly to cool off and storm away. But nothing could have prepared me for what followed—the moment when Dion finally lost his sanity.
“—oh, fuck it,” he growled, staring at me with heat in his eyes. “I think so—because you’re mine. You’ve been mine since the first second I laid my eyes on you.”
My breath caught in my throat. “I think you’ve mixed up your flowers.” Deflecting with humor and sarcasm had always been my way of handling things I didn’t have the means of actually dealing with.
“No. I studied this flower excessively enough to know.”
And just like on Samhain, his lips claimed mine, the same way his words had just claimed me as a whole, wiping my mind clean and dragging my sanity to wherever his had gone to.
There was nothing soft or gentle about this kiss, though. There was instant hunger and fire between us. Dion kissed me with all his unmasked dominance, pouring all his predatory force into the action, and I could only submit to him. It didn’t take long before his tongue demanded entry into my mouth, and I gladly obliged. Hot lust exploded in my core, and a needy whimper escaped me betweenkisses. I felt Dion’s chest and lips vibrate as he growled in return. His shadowy tendrils curved and writhed around us, binding us closer, as if they had a life of their own.