High Society - Page 71

She left the room, leaving me and Enoch alone.

“I feel a lot better now,” I said with a slight smile.

“You shouldn’t have to feel better,” he scoffed. “My sister should leave you alone. She shouldn’t have attacked you, or set fire to your room, or poisoned you.” He clutched my upper arms. “I am so sorry I couldn’t keep you safe.”

“You have.”

“Says the woman who was just poisoned. I didn’t even recognize the taste until it was almost too late.”

“Enoch, it isn’t like you sip poison for fun. And you can’t hold yourself responsible for anyone else’s actions.”

“You do,” he said, pulling me in. My chest rose and fell against his. “You consider yourself to blame for everything Victor and Kael have done to us.”

“That’s different,” I argued.

“But it’s not,” he stressed. “Don’t you see? It isn’t different at all.”

“Then let’s both agree to stop.”

He closed his eyes. “I’m not sure how.”

“Me either.”

“All I know is that I love you. I want to be with you, to protect you. To love you. And I know you want the same. It just seems that the universe conspires against everything we want. How do we fight something so determined to thwart us?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “But we’ll figure it out. Together.”

He hesitated before nodding, and then placed a tender kiss at the corner of my lips. “Are you really okay?”

“I’m fine now,” I promised.

“I… if anything ever happened to you,” he said, his voice breaking.

I fought past the knot in my throat to reply, “Nothing will happen.” We both knew it was a lie. I could feel it seep in and form tension in the muscles along his back.

“Shouldn’t you check on Abram?” I asked.

He nodded, distaste curling his lips. “I should.”

“I know. I don’t want you to go either.”

“Come with me?” he asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t want to see him right now.” Or ever again. “Just don’t kill him, okay?”

Have you ever seen a rope that was frayed so that only one strand remained to hold two thicker ends together? That was what Enoch looked like. Like he was barely in control. In seventeen-seventeen, agony was his anchor. In seventeen-seventy-seven, he had none but me.

I knew I couldn’t stay here forever. The steady throbbing of my head continued a staccato rhythm behind my eyes. It wasn’t an effect of the oleander; Kael’s poison was a thousand times more potent.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Enoch promised.

I pulled away, squeezing his hand. “I’ll be here.”

* * *

Titus slipped inside when Enoch was gone.

He shook his head in amazement. “I’ve been thinking maybe we should unlink him. If I can figure out how to only cut him out, that is.”