Valentine laughs coldly at this, and I can’t help but feel like Dante has somehow betrayed me.
“Then he really hasn’t claimed you, yet,” he says, his voice quiet as he mulls this over. “The fool. Those absurd rules of his will be the death of him.”
“What should he have told me?” I ask, leaving out the claiming part.
Valentine clicks his tongue as he steps closer, and I can’t help but shrink away … inwardly.
“I suppose I could tell you, but what would be the fun in that? No, I think you’ll just have to wait to hear it from him. If he ever gets the chance to tell you, that is,” Valentine says, a malicious grin spreading across his face.
“Why wouldn’t he get to tell me?”
Valentine chuckles, turning to walk back to the wall of windows. He stands, looking out over the city with his hands held behind his bask for several quiet minutes as the morning sun warms the world.
“Because, Evi,” he finally says, a sinking feeling settling in my stomach at the chilling tone of his voice, “the only way he’ll ever get the chance to tell you that again, is over my dead body … or yours.”
For perhaps the first time since I escaped out of the secret tunnel, I’m starting to hope that Dante, Seven, and Luciaren’tdead.
Or, I will be soon.