Page 66 of Lies That Bleed
I chuckled. “Claiming me?”
Alek’s face grew serious. “Aisling, I’m not kidding. He wants you. The questions is, what do you want?” He peered at me with a vulnerability I wasn’t prepared for, and I took a closer look at Alek. He was handsome, there was no denying that, and a complete oppositelooks-wise from Kohen: blond hair and blue eyes, fair skin. But there was no spark there. No ember to light the fires of passion that I’d experienced with Jace. And if I was being honest, Kohen too. But was there spark potential? Given different circumstances? I was confused.
He was a great guy, someone my dad would like well enough. Someone the country would approve of. But the spark… wasn’t there.
I pulled my hands from behind his neck. “I don’t know what I want. I’m sorry, Alek,” I said, and then bolted for the bathroom.
I hadn’t expected the night to go like this and for Alek to confront me like that. As I passed the bathroom, I heard banging in the storage closet to the left, the same one I’d met Kohen in before. It sounded like someone was punching holes in a wall.
I yanked the door open and found Kohen doing just that. Until his knuckles bled.
“Kohen, stop it!” I slammed the door behind me and yanked him back by the shoulders.
He spun to face me, eyes filled with a mixture of rage and agony. His hands shook as he looked down at me in the soft light.
“I can’t do this, Aisling. I’m not strong enough,” he admitted.
His emotional display scared me. “Do what? What’s wrong?”
He reached up and cupped my face, staring intomy eyes and taking the breath from my lungs. Just one touch from him and my entire body was buzzing. There was more than a spark, there was an entire forest fire.
“You’re mine, Aisling. And I can’t watch other men throw themselves at you when Iknowthat you will be mine.”
His words knocked my heart from my chest, and dizziness washed over me.
Heknewthat I would be his? What the hell did that even m?—?
It hit me then. His power. It was unheard of. Not permitted. A power so hard to handle that the few people in history who carried it killed themselves or went insane. If my father didn’t kill them first.
“You can see the future,” I breathed.
He whimpered in relief that I had figured it out and then released my face. “Yes, and it’s a curse because no one around me understands what is coming, or what we will do.”
He shook his head and tapped the side of it with a fist. “I can’t sleep. I just want it to stop. I just want to transport myself to the future when it’s over.”
Holy effing shit. Kohen could see the future?No wonder Liana kept this from Sahiri. He would have been torn apart on the spot. It was a forbidden power to carry. Outlawed by my great-grandfather.
“Kohen…” My voice shook. “My father will kill you if he finds out you can do this,” Isaid.
He looked at me and swallowed hard. “I know.”
Did he know or did heknow?
I couldn’t handle this right now. It was too much. I came here to blow off some steam with Tetra and now I knew too much to go back to my relaxed state of mind.
He reached up and grasped the back of his neck. “Please don’t flirt with Alek or I’ll have to kill him.”
I barked out in laughter at the ridiculous comment, and then stopped when I saw that he was serious.
He stepped forward, locking his gaze with mine, and then leaned into my ear, bringing the heat of his body with him and sending an inferno through my veins that settled between my legs. “Aisling, I’ve seen myself make love to you under a bed of stars, and I’ve heard you cry out my name begging for more. Anything with Alek or Jace would be fleeting. You are mine, and I am yours.”
I stumbled backward, emotion clogging my throat.
His words were crazy. It was too much. I couldn’t make love to the prince of Imbria. My father would kill me. It would be the ultimate betrayal.
“I’ve freaked you out.” He took three giant steps backward and then gave me his back, squatting on his heels and hanging his head in his hands.
“Kohen, it’s just… a lot.”
