Ruby Shadows (Born to Darkness #3)(99)

“What secret?” he asked quietly. “That you love so intensely and care so deeply you are willing to do anything to save those you love? That is no secret to me, mon ange. I only wish I could count myself among their numbers.”

“Yeah, right.” I tried to pull away from his grip on my arms but he wouldn’t let me. “Let me go!” I yelled. “Don’t talk to me about love—you don’t know the meaning of the word!”

“You think not?” His voice was still quiet, introspective. “Once I would have agreed with you—now I am not so sure.” He frowned. “But I do know what danger you’ve put yourself in. I felt you gathering evil energy into yourself—what were you thinking, opening yourself to such forces?”

“What do you care?” I snapped sullenly. “Afraid I’ll stain my soul before you can suck it out of me?”

“Suck it out of you?” He frowned. “What are you—”

“I heard your conversation with Belial through the bathroom door,” I told him, my voice rising with anger. “I heard how he told you that you should have left me to the Skitterlings and kept your dragon form.”

Laish’s face darkened. “There is no way you should have been able to hear us—we were cocooned in a circle of silence.”

“Well, I heard anyway,” I snapped. “Heard exactly what you and Belial think I’m worth—nothing.”

“It is not that Belial is an uncaring monster or that he dislikes you—he is simply protective of me,” Laish said, frowning.

“What about when he asked you why you bothered with me?” I demanded, not willing to let it go. “When he asked why you went to all the trouble and pain for me and you said…” My voice cracked but I forced myself to hold my head up and keep the hot tears that were stinging my eyes from falling. “You said you didn’t know. You didn’t know how you felt about me or even why you cared.”

“Because I didn’t!” For the first time, Laish raised his voice. “I didn’t understand the hold you had on me, my little witch. If I were still the being I was created to be, I would have said that I loved you. But I am a demon—I have no love in my heart. For that matter—I barely have a heart to love with. And yet, you draw me to you like a moth to the flame. I cannot free myself from your spell.” His voice dropped. “I do not even want to.”

“Right.” My voice trembled, tears threatening to push through my wall of protective sarcasm. “Why should I believe you?” I asked him. “Why should I believe your lies?”

“Because they are not lies. Look.”

Turning me around, he marched me back towards the mirror. When I realized where we were going, I began to struggle in his arms.

“No—no! I’m not looking in there again!” I shouted.

“Be still, Gwendolyn,” he said firmly. “You are not going to look into it—I am.”

“What are you talking about?” I demanded as he reached the mirror with me in tow.

Laish turned to face me.

“Belial told you how it works, did he not? That the first thing the mirror shows you is the thing you love the most?”

“Well…yes,” I admitted grudgingly. “He said something like that. It showed me Grams the first time I looked into it.”

“Of course it did.” He sighed. “And the second time it showed you your sister. Do I dare to ask if it showed me to you at all?”

I thought of the brief glimpse I’d gotten of his face before the strange blonde girl with the feathery wrap around her shoulders showed up.


“No,” I said firmly, lifting my chin. “It didn’t show you at all.”

His mouth tightened. “Then this should be a humiliating experience.”

“What should?” I asked, frowning.

“We are going to look into the mirror together, Gwendolyn. Or rather, I am going to look and you will stand behind me, looking over my shoulder—in this way you will see what I see.”

I didn’t want to do it but he seemed determined. He positioned himself in front of the cracked surface of the mirror and I stood just behind him, standing on my tiptoes to get a look over his broad shoulder.

At first I saw only the two of us reflected in the silvery surface. Laish standing there, his broad, bare chest hiding my smaller form and me peeking over his shoulder like a little girl afraid of monsters. Which I was to be honest—no way did I want to see that freaky HellSpawn coming after me again.

Then the kaleidoscope colors began. When they finished swirling, Laish had faded from the picture and it was just me, standing there in my white nighty and robe, looking frightened and unsure.

“I don’t get it,” I said, frowning. “You disappeared and it’s just me.”

“Exactly.” His voice was low and warm and when I looked away from the mirror—I was able to do it somehow, maybe because it was showing things to him and not me—I saw there was an unreadable look in his ruby red eyes.

“Laish…” I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I,” he murmured. “But the Mirror of the Eye cannot lie—it shows what is in a person’s heart. And you are in mine, mon ange.”