No bitterness in the air this time.
“To train me?”
He was quiet again.
“Cassius?”
“To love you.”
I expected the air to shift.
It didn’t.
My heart was pounding so wildly that blood roared through my system at a rapid pace dropping the temperature in the room.
“And do you?” I was almost afraid to ask, but I had to know. “Do you love me?”
“Fear is never welcome. I can feel your trembling, Stephanie.” He avoided the question. “Fear makes us weak.”
“And love? What does love do?”
“It makes us both. Strong and weak, depending on which side you’re on.”
“Answer the question Cassius.”
“I find I’ve suddenly developed some of that fear I’m always so easily dismissing.”
“Afraid of what? My reaction? My response?”
“All of the above.” His fingers threaded through my hair. “Everything about you terrifies this human body, to be sure. Words don’t just create, they have the power to destroy, to level a city with one simple phrase, the words of a Dark One… even more so.”
“Well then, one of us will have to be brave,” I encouraged.
“Yes, one of us will.” He smiled, his eyes crinkling at the sides, was he already getting wrinkles? And why was his body failing him so readily? So easily?
“I love you,” I blurted. “I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember. And I’ll continue loving, until time ceases to matter, to exist.”
Cassius crushed his mouth against mine then pulled back. “I love you more than I should… I love you in ways I shouldn’t. I desire you in ways that are hard to comprehend. And the love I feel for you is the scariest thing I’ve ever admitted out loud, to anyone. Because once those words are released, you can’t take them back. You could try, but love, weaves a thread of its own and once you confess with your mouth, your soul has no choice but to follow.”
My breathing slowed, nearly stopped altogether. “Who knew you were so romantic.”
“More like, who knew, that as a human, I’d be so capable of telling the truth, rather than lying.”
“You’d rather lie to me?”
“Absolutely. Lying is less scary. Honesty will always be terrifying. I’ve discovered I’m like a cat.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from bursting out laughing. “How are you like a cat? Exactly?”
“The scaredy cats.” He frowned. “Is that wrong?”
“Not at all.” I covered his hands with mine, they were still burning up. “Tell me this feels good.”
He leaned back against the pillows, his shirt inching up to show me an expansive area of lean abdominal muscles. “It feels more than good. I could lay in your cold forever.”
“Funny, most people hate the cold.”
His eyes flashed open. “Cold is life.”