Page 184

Malakai looks at me then Ezra. “The bargain.”

Ezra’s expression empties. “No.”

Rhett closes his eyes.

There it is. Again. That word. No.

But this time I understand why.

The Harvest didn’t mark Rhett because he slept with me.

It marked him because it returned what it stole.

His life.

Malakai rises so quickly the chair behind him falls. He looks at his own wrists.

Nothing.

Then Ezra’s.

Nothing.

Rhett stands then stumbles and I catch him. He laughs weakly. “That’s humiliating.”

“Shut up.”

“I haven’t had functioning circulation in centuries. Give me a fucking minute.”

But Malakai barely seems to hear him.

He’s staring at Rhett with an intensity that wipes the last trace of humor from the room.

“You were twenty-nine when it bound us.”

Rhett glances at him. “Yeah. I remember.”

Malakai steps closer, his gaze moving slowly over Rhett’s face. “And you’ve looked twenty-nine ever since.”

Something in Rhett’s expression shifts.

The irritation fades.

“What are you saying?”

Malakai doesn’t answer immediately. His attention stays fixed on Rhett, studying him closely enough that Rhett finally straightens.

“Kai.”

“Your body is alive again.”

“Yeah. We established that when it tried to beat me to death from the inside.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

Silence settles over the room.

Rhett stares at him.