Deity

Seth moved away from me, ru

“It will be okay,” he said finally. “I promise. I’ll take care of you.”

“It’s not going to be okay. You have to let me go. We have to be apart from each other.”

“I can’t, Alex. Maybe in time you’ll forget about him and…”

“This isn’t about Aiden!”

Facing me, his lips twisted into a bitter, cynical smile. “It’s always about Aiden. You don’t care about the mortals. If you could still have him and let us have our way, you wouldn’t care.”

“I do care. You’re going to have to kill i

“What pure is truly i

“There are pures who don’t want to see halfs enslaved. And yeah, the gods are a bunch of dickheads, but that’s what they are.”

“We’ve already been over this, Alex. We aren’t going to agree. Not yet, at least. But your birthday is only days away. You’ll understand then.”

I gaped. “Seth, please listen to me!”

A cool mask slipped over his face, locking him down. “You don’t really get it, Alex. I can’t—won’t let you go.”

“Yes, you can! It’s quite simple. You just let me walk out of this house.”

Seth was in front of me within a second. He gripped my hands, pressing his palms against mine. “You don’t know what it feels like now, but you will. The more marks you take, the more akasha drains into me. Nothing—nothing feels like that. It’s pure power, Alex. And you haven’t even Awakened! Can you imagine what it will be like then?” His eyes took on that crazed, overly-passionate gleam I’d seen and disregarded before. “I can’t give that up.”

“Gods, do you hear yourself? You sound like a daimon craving aether.”

He smiled. “It’s nothing like that. It’s better.”

That was about when I realized that between Lucian’s influence and the allure of akasha Seth had been twisted into something dangerous. Apollo had been right. Dammit. Grandma Piperi had been right.

And I had been so, so wrong. I was in a precarious, bad position. Anything was possible and my heart rate doubled. I wanted to smack myself for not letting Apollo stash me away, but when he’d made that suggestion, all I could think was that was what Lucian had wanted to do. I was disgusted with myself for the time I’d wanted to throw the towel in. Ru

But now I needed to run, because that was the only smart thing to do.

“I want you to leave my room.” I forced my knees to stop shaking and I stood. “Now.”

“I don’t want to leave,” he replied evenly.

My heart leapt into my throat. “Seth, I don’t want you in here.”

He cocked his head to the side, eyes heating up a notch. “Not too long ago you had no problem with me being in your bedroom… or your bed.”

“You have no right to be in here. You’re not my boyfriend.”

Seth’s brows flew up. “You speak as if what we are can be simplified with little labels. We aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. You’re right about that.”

I pushed away from the bed, eyes desperately searching for a way out of the room. There was only a bathroom, closet, and one window. And my old dollhouse… what the hell was that still doing here? Perched atop the house was a creepy porcelain doll I’d hated as a child and still did.

Sneaking up behind me, he whispered in my ear. “We arethe same person. We want and need the same things. You can love whoever you want and you can tell yourself whatever you want. We don’t have to love one another; we don’t even have to likeeach other. It doesn’t matter, Alex. We’re stuck with one another, and the co

Whirling around, I put space between us. “No. This is it. I’m calling on that promise you made me. I don’t want to do this. You need to leave. I don’t care where you go. Just go—”

“I’m not leaving.”

Dread turned into something far worse and far more powerful. Fear snaked its way into me, biting deep and spreading through my veins like venom. “You promised me, Seth. You swore that you would leave if this became too much. You can’t take that back!”

His eyes met mine. “It’s too late for that. I’m sorry, but that promise is null and void. Things have changed.”

“Then I’ll leave.” I took in a deep breath, but it did nothing to calm the pounding in my chest. “You can’t keep me here! I don’t care that Lucian is my legal guardian.”

He tipped his head to the side, his stare becoming almost curious. “Do you think there is any place in this world that I couldn’t find you if I wanted to?”

“Gods, Seth, do you even know how stalkerish that sounds—how creepy?”

“I’m just pointing out the truth,” he replied blithely. “When you turn eighteen, which is in what? Five days? You don’t have any control over that.”

My hands balled into fists. Gods, I hated when he was right. Especially when he was scary right and Seth was pretty damn scary right now. I couldn’t—I refused to show that. So I relied on anger. “You don’t have any control over me, Seth!”

Seth arched one eyebrow. A slow, wicked smile spread across his face. Recognizing that look, I shot back, but he was so incredibly fast. His arm snaked out, catching me around the waist.

Instinct took over. My brain switched off and I flipped into fight mode. Letting my legs go limp, I became dead weight in his arms. Seth cussed and as he dipped to catch me, I sprang up, slamming my knee into his midsection. A whoosh of air left his lungs as he stumbled back.

Spi

I darted toward the door, ready to fight my way out of the house and down the street if necessary.

I never made it—not really.

My fingers wrapped around the doorknob the same second I felt a rush of power in the room that raised the tiny hairs all over my body. Then suddenly, I was off my feet, flying backward. Hair blew around my face, clouding my vision.

Seth’s arms went around my waist and he tugged me against his chest. “You know, I like you better when you’re furious. Do you want to know why?”

I struggled in his embrace, but he held on, and it was like trying to move a semi-truck. “No. I really don’t care, Seth. Let me go.”

He chuckled deeply, and the sound rumbled through me. “Because when you’re angry, you’re always one step from doing something irrational. And that’s how I like you.”

Seth let go without any warning and I spun around. I saw it in his eyes then, in the way his lips parted. Panic froze the blood in my veins. “Don’t—”

Seth’s hand shot out, wrapping around my neck. The marks of the Apollyon spread across his skin with dizzying speed. What existed in me, that part that had been created to complete him, responded in a heady rush. The marks flew down his arm, reaching over his fingers. A second later, amber light crackled in the air, and then a weaker sheen of blue. His hand circled, pressing down, burning the skin on the back of my neck, creating the fourth rune.

There was a second, right before my brain overloaded with sensation, an instant where I regretted ever allowing Seth to get close to me, to forge the bond between us into something that seemed unbreakable. He had pla

And then I wasn’t thinking anymore.

CHAPTER 27