Ecstasy Unveiled(124)

“How did this happen?” he asked finally, sitting back and covertly wiping his eyes. “Did you get your wings?”

“I passed. I got you instead. And mortality. Modified.”

He jerked as though he’d been stung. “You gave up being an angel? Idess, you need to go back!”

“Shh. I gave up punishing myself. It’s time for me to take what I want, and what I want is you.” She palmed his cheek, careful not to touch any of his wounds. “We’re bonded so that our lifespans are connected. We’ll be together in this life and the next one. And I can use the Harrowgates with you.” Something flitted past, and she frowned. “And apparently, I can still see ghosts.” There is a price. A duty, if you will.

He rested his forehead against hers. “Damn,” he breathed. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“Of course it is. Unless you don’t?”

“Angel, now that you’re back, I’m never letting you go.”

There was an insistent pounding on the door, followed by Sin’s muffled shout. “Hey! Are you guys okay?”

Lore pushed to his feet as Sin burst through the door.

She still brandished a sword, but she’d found clothes, a coarse burlap robe made for someone twice her size. Stark relief put a glow on her face and a smile on her lips as she ran to Lore and wrapped him in a big embrace. “Thank God you’re okay.” She slid Idess a glance. “And that you didn’t kill my new boss.”

“Excuse me?” Idess came to her feet, hoping the new altitude would clear her ears.

“Ah, yeah…’” Lore crossed to Deth and wrenched a ring off his finger. “Whoever strikes the killing blow on an assassin master takes over. That’s why they maintain such high security.”

“But you’re the one who chopped his head off.”

“After you struck the death blow. What I did was for fun.” Lore shrugged. “His ring is yours. You also have to quarter his body and have the pieces sent to his four greatest enemies, and mount his head over the Guild entrance for ninety-two days.” He said it like normal people would say, “You also need to bring potato salad to the picnic.”

Suddenly, being human and normal—sort of—sounded really great. “So, if I take the job, can I just free all the assassins and be done with it?”

Sin glared at Deth with such malice that Idess figured he was lucky he was dead. “No. Their contracts are binding and must be fulfilled. If they break the terms, you can alter the contracts, but that’s it.”

“Can I give the job to you?”

“Seriously?” Sin’s dark eyes flared, and then narrowed. “Why don’t you want it? It’s a great gig.”

“I’m sort of human now.” She scanned all the dead bodies, the death and destruction. “And running an assassin organization isn’t exactly my dream job.”

Shrugging, Sin held out her hand. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Lore laughed and flipped the ring into the air at her. “That was easy.”

“I told you this was all I know,” she said, and a flicker of sadness crossed Lore’s face. “So I might as well be the boss.” She slipped the ring onto her index finger. “Hey, I know everything about everyone’s contracts!” Grinning, she looked at Idess. “Yours is fulfilled.”

“But he ordered me to kill Lore, and I didn’t do it.”

“Since I’m the new owner of the contract, I say that Deth’s demise counts toward the kill he ordered you to make.”

Happiness leaped through Idess, and she crushed Sin in a hug. Sin went stiff as a board, but she gave Idess an awkward pat on the back before shoving away and putting a few feet of distance between them, clearly uncomfortable with affection.

“Well, what now?” Idess asked Lore.

“Now,” he said, with a lustful stare, “we head home.”

His hunger slammed into her through the mate bond, intensifying her own until she was burning up on the inside. “My place or yours?” she breathed.

“Whatever’s closest,” he said roughly, and she was definitely on board with that suggestion.

Sin rolled her eyes. “Get outta here already.”

Lore grinned. “Couldn’t keep me here. If I never have to see this shithole again… well, you get the picture.” He sobered then, as if maybe what he’d said wasn’t true. With a jerky movement, he slipped his hand under his jacket and withdrew his Gargantua-bone dagger. “Sin, this is yours now.”

“But I gave that to you.”

“And no gift has ever meant more,” Lore said quietly. “But I don’t need it anymore. You do.”