Book 3 - Page 72 (1/2)

“Who took him out?”

“I did. To avenge you and punish him for separating us. In that game, I harvested your icon from him.” Aric’s voice went hoa.r.s.e as he gazed down at his hand. “I stared at it as centuries pa.s.sed me by.”

So what would Aric do now if I chose to be with Jack?

“You’ve got a decision to make.” Selena handed me back the canteen to close. “And frankly, I don’t see what the issue is.”

With all honesty, I told her, “The issue is that I don’t know what’s going on in my head right now.”

“Well, figure it the h.e.l.l out.”

I waved airily. “There! Done. Voilà.”

“Seriously, if you can figure out how to get Dom nija and J.D. to ride together and be civil, this should be cake.”

I sighed, about to tell her it was complicated, brus.h.i.+ng her off. But how could I expect her to confide in me when I wouldn’t do the same in return? “I love Jack. But I have a connection to Aric.” One forged over millennia, like an endless wave along a sh.o.r.e.

Today, he’d gazed at me, but not with his usual confidence. He’d looked shaken—as if he suspected I was drawing away. But I wasn’t. My heart remained divided. “I . . . I think I’ve fallen for him as well.” He’d come so far, had made such strides. I believed he could be a good partner for me.

If he didn’t turn to coercion again. I dreaded the trick up his sleeve.

“s.h.i.+t, girl. What’d you go and do that for?”

I glared. “Like I could help it?” My dreams of both of them had given me glimpses into how they’d become the men they were today. But those dreams hadn’t helped me come to a decision.

She tugged a silvery blond tress from her cheek. “Granted, Death’s different from what I thought, but would you really choose him over J.D.?”

“Aric told me I should give my blessing to you and Jack.”

She snorted. “You can bless us all you want, but it’s not happening.”

I frowned at her. “You told me things had changed between you two.”

“Yeah. As in, I made peace with the fact that I’ll never be with him. It was a done thing between you two before I ever came into the picture.”

“Why are you so sure?”

“After he heard you didn’t want to have anything to do with him, J.D. took it bad—like head in his hands, pulling out his hair. So we got wasted together. I told him how I felt about him, and I tried to kiss him.”

Jealousy scored me.

“And do you know what he did?”

I held my breath.

“He pushed me away, telling me that the people of his mother’s blood fall in love once. They pray they get it right—because it can’t be changed. He told me his mother loved his father, unrequited, and nineteen years of misery couldn’t shake it.”

The root of his mother’s pain.

Selena gazed at him. “That’s why you and J.D. have to get back together.” The Archer’s eyes could be so dark and cutting, but for Jack alone, they went soft. “I can’t stand for him to hurt like that.”

“You and he never . . . ?”

“Never. He doesn’t even see me when you’re around.”