Luc lifted our still-joined hands, pressing them to his chest, above his heart. My stomach took that moment to remind me and the entire world that I was still hungry, grumbling loudly. “Peaches,” he murmured, lips twitching. “What you need right now is food.”
“What I need right now is for you to stop being evasive.” And maybe a hamburger, but considering where we were, I doubted that would be on the menu anytime soon.
“You’d be surprised. There’s a lot of cattle here, and they have ice cellars and iceboxes,” Luc explained. “If you behave, I’m sure I can grill you up a juicy hamburger.”
My stomach was all about that idea. “If you don’t answer my question, I’m sure I’m going to punch you somewhere it will hurt you.”
“You’re so aggressive,” he murmured, dipping his head as he tilted me farther back. His breath danced over my lips when he spoke, sending a shiver through me. “I like it.”
My pulse kicked up, flushing my skin. “You will not like it. Trust me.”
He sighed even as he brushed his lips along the corner of mine. The breath I took caught as razor-sharp anticipation swelled, but he didn’t kiss me. “Eaton is just worried that you’re going to lose control.”
Although I wasn’t surprised to hear that, my shoulders still sank. “That’s not breaking news, so why did you react the way you did?”
Luc was quiet for a long moment. “Eaton has a way of thinking things.” He lifted his head. “He’s a paranoid old man. Not that he doesn’t have justifiable reasons for being just that, but his paranoia doesn’t need to infect you.”
Studying him, I wished the damn serum had given me the ability to read thoughts. Then again, not all Origins could do it. As far as I knew, only Luc and Archer could.
“As I told Eaton, there is no one like me.”
I glared at him. “I’m going to punch you.”
“I might like it.”
“There’s something wrong with you.”
“Maybe.” He started to lower his head, but I managed to evade him. Barely. If he kissed me, there’d be nothing but muddied thoughts and liquid bones.
“Eaton has a right to be paranoid,” I told him. “I may not return to Dasher like a programmed toy, but that doesn’t make me any less dangerous if I snap again.”
“Then we just have to make sure you’re not in a situation that can lead to you snapping.”
“We don’t even know what kind of situation will cause that.”
“I’m thinking someone trying to kill you is the kind of situation we need to avoid,” he reasoned.
“Uh, that would be great and all, but I have a sinking feeling with the Sons of Liberty out there and the Daedalus searching for me, that’s going to be a hard situation to avoid.”
Luc’s jaw tensed. “I will keep you safe.”
“I know you will.” I squeezed his hand. “But I also need to keep myself safe. And we need to keep others safe.”
He didn’t respond to that, so I pressed on. “And we really don’t know if that’s the only thing that will trigger it. You told Eaton you would help me get it under control.”
“I did.”
“So, let’s get started. Now.” Excitement filled me, and yeah, considering what I was getting excited over, it was a little weird, but trying to get this thing in me under control was better than sitting around, doing nothing but stressing over it while everyone else also worried about whether or not I’d go all Thanos on them.
It was doing something.
Eaton had basically insinuated that a war was brewing, and it didn’t matter if I wanted to be a part of it or not. I was already knee deep in the whole thing, and if I was something they thought they could use to take over the world, then why couldn’t I be used to fight back? To help those here, who weren’t just trying to scrape by but also building a resistance?
I wasn’t Evelyn Dasher anymore.
Shock rippled through me as I stood on an unknown street, in a neighborhood that shouldn’t exist.
I wasn’t the same girl who’d walked into Foretoken with Heidi, who would rather run than face an uncomfortable truth. I wasn’t even the same version of Evie who’d faced down an Origin, or even the girl who had been slowly coming to terms with who she was and who she was falling in love with.
Ever since I’d met Luc, I had been in a constant state of evolution, and it hadn’t ended when I realized I was very capable of snuffing out life to protect someone I loved, nor had it ceased when I watched the life and light seep out of the only mother I knew.
I was now someone who didn’t tuck tail and run even if I initially wanted to, who wanted to fight back instead of push back.
Luc’s features tightened for a brief moment before smoothing out. “What we need to do right now is get some food in you before you start eating people.” He dropped a kiss to the tip of my nose. “Those who live here wouldn’t appreciate that, either.”
I arched a brow at that, but when he tugged on my hand, I started walking, because he had a point. I did need to eat. We made it to the intersection before I said, “Luc?”
“Yes?”
“You’re going to help me, right?” I asked as we crossed the street.
Luc had rather amusingly guided us to the crosswalk. “I will even if I don’t want to.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to?”
Luc stopped, facing me. “Because I have a feeling to get what’s in you to show up and play, I’m going to have to do what I know will kill a part of me.”
Trepidation tiptoed its way down my spine. “What would that be?”
His eyes were like brilliant shards of broken purple sapphires. “I’ll have to make you see me as a threat.”
3
Luc’s words sank like a stone in my stomach, quieting me as we walked toward the house. What he’d said made sense. Luc was one of the most dangerous and powerful beings to walk Earth. Whatever was inside me had sensed that and gone after him, but while Luc was a threat to everyone else, he wasn’t to me. Never me. I had no idea how he’d make me view him as such.
And I had no idea how he could deal with doing that.
“Maybe we should have someone else work with me,” I suggested after a few moments. “Like Grayson?” The surliest Luxen known to man would be beside himself with glee at the opportunity. “He’d be thrilled to scare me or tick me off. He’d think of it as a reward.”
“Do you really think I’d allow anyone else to do what’s going to need to be done?” he asked.
My lips pursed.
“I’m fully aware of the fact I have a vicious protective streak when it comes to you.” Luc squeezed my hand. “The moment he goes at you, I’d have to kill him.”
Sliding him a long look, I tightened my grip on his hand. “Or you could, maybe, understand that he wouldn’t really be trying to hurt me and therefore not kill him?”
“I’d try and fail, Peaches. The same would go for Zoe or anyone else who meant you harm, even if I knew they truly didn’t want to hurt you.” He shrugged like what he’d said was no big deal. “Like I said, it’s a flaw of mine. At least I’m aware of that.”