Her gaze locked on his wrists. “I saw something in that pit… I saw you. Did that really happen?”
She flattened her palms against his. Odd—she’d expected a flash of something, but nothing came. Perhaps because they’d already been touching so much. Perhaps he could block her reception.
“It happened,” he said.
“Why?”
“I found a way to release the curse I’d set over the pits. I’d tried so many times before and wasn’t successful. But last night, I was. And I was attacked at the end of that process. The things that attacked me slaughtered the people who’d survived my curse. So I was elated I’d been able to remove the curse, and horrified at what came after.”
Ash stared into his eyes as he spoke, determined to find any hint of a lie. Funny how the truth could be distorted just by taking things out of context.
She believed him, but that didn’t resolve anything. “Where does that leave us?”
He stared at her mouth. The tension in his face was terrible. “There is no us.”
She nodded. She’d known they had no future from their first time together. Made no difference that she craved him, that she wanted him in her mind and in her life, with her always. There could be nothing between them.
His eyes were sad as he brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. “There are two things I have to do, then I’m taking you home.”
The thought of being separated, for any amount of time, sent her into a panic. She shut her eyes and forced herself to take calming breaths. “So the game’s over?”
“No. But it just got too dangerous for you to be here.” He gave her a hard stare. She didn’t blink or look away until he said the truth. “I don’t want to take you home yet. I don’t want to be away from you, either.”
Ash wrapped her fingers around his thumb and brought his hand up for a kiss. “What’s happening to us? I’ve never felt this way. You’re like a fever to me. A madness. A hunger.”
He cupped her cheek with his free hand, letting his thumb stroke her. “You’re an endless need for me.”
She nodded.
“It’s the Matchmaker’s Curse.”
“You mean this isn’t us? It’s coming from somewhere outside of us, something in the game? Are we under some hypnosis?”
He stared at her and slowly shook his head. “I don’t think so. This is us, with our blinders off, our hearts open.”
“But how do we know?”
“You can try to resist this. See how that goes.”
“Are you saying we have a chance?”
“Not really.” Merc kissed her forehead then walked naked out of the room, to his Jeep. He came back in with a duffel bag. He said nothing as he changed into fresh clothes. At last, he faced her. “I have to leave us, our future, up to you. Once you come into my world, you won’t get out alive.”
“That’s ominous.”
“It is ominous.”
“Summer’s in, right? Selena too?”
“Yes to both.”
“And Kiera?”
“No.”
“Does it hurt to come into your world?”
“Yes.”
“Would I have to be a fighter?”
“You aren’t a fighter now, so no one expects you to be a fighter after.”
“I’ll have you if I come into your world?”
“Always.”
“And if I don’t join you? Will I lose you?”
Merc’s eyes held hers. “I can’t walk away from you. So in or out, you’ve got me. But if you’re out, you won’t remember me.”
“Do you want me to become one of you?”
“I want you to do what you want to do. There are risks to both sides.” He brushed her hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead. “Come with me now. See for yourself. Then decide.”
“I don’t know how to play your game. I hate role-playing games.”
He nodded. “If you come in, we’ll all help you adjust.”
“And if I don’t come in?”
“It may already be too late, now that Flynn’s found you. But either way, my friends and I will protect you.”
“Tell me one thing. Just one thing. How were you able to trick the villagers into seeing you differently?”
“Close your eyes.”
She did, feeling a little apprehensive.
“Open them.”
Ash gasped. Summer was standing in front of her.
“Close them again.”
She did, and when she opened them next, it was Sam standing in front of her.
“It’s harder to convince you that I look like someone you know than a complete stranger. It takes more concentration.” It was Merc’s voice coming out of Sam’s mouth.
Ash took a step back. And another, until she was sitting on the bed. “How do you do that?”
“Basically, hypnosis.” He was back to himself. “I haven’t been letting the people here see me as I am on this trip. Lautaro scrambled their thoughts of me after I was medevaced out.”
Well. That made everything clear. Not. She was sorry she’d asked. “What happens now?”
“We go steal the priest’s bloody robe.”
“What? No. We can’t. That’s a horrible idea.”
“Sorry, love. It is what it is. I can’t leave my blood on a robe where my enemies could take it. Fastest way to lose the game.”
“But I thought you were forfeiting the game anyway?”
“I may be. But I’m still not leaving my blood for them to capture.”
23
Merc helped Ash to the Jeep. They drove a couple of blocks around the plaza before parking in the alley beside the church. A cold chill tightened her nerves as she got out of the Jeep. She hurried to follow him up the steps to the side the door. “We aren’t really going to take the robe, are we?”
“We are.”
She touched his shoulder, forcing him to face her. “You can’t. Think of how many people came just to see it—how many will still come. The tourism is giving the town a new life.” She swallowed hard. “It’s all that’s left of your miracles.”
“I can’t leave it, Ash.”
“Please.”
He shook his head. “Flynn will soon figure out he has a fake. He’ll come back. The dead guy you saw today will become one of many. He will slaughter villagers until he gets what he’s after.”
“That was Flynn’s doing?”
“He caused the man’s death, yes.”
“No wonder he looked happy. Why does he want the robe?”
“He wants to reverse-engineer my genetic modifications. He can’t set curses. He wants that skill. It’s right in his bailiwick.”
Right. Everything came back to the damned game.
Merc opened the church door…without touching it. It reminded her of all the times he’d opened the door to their room. She tucked that away too. He had more explaining to do—and soon.
Ash moved on tiptoes as they walked right past a night watchman, who never roused from sleep. She grabbed the back of Merc’s T-shirt and said, “Are there cameras? Will Father Eduardo know we took the robe?”